In the structural approach, the predominance of structures made people disparage the role of
vocabulary. In the current communicative approach, the overwhelming interest in language
functions and communicative skills has pushed back the elements and units of language to
the farther reaches of attention. In language use, the learner’s background knowledge of the
topic, not only in comprehension but also in expression, plays a very important role. In fact,
this schema enables people to talk, to write and to understand what is being said or written.
This schema is stored in people’s mind in the form of linguistic elements, especially words
and lexemes (i.e. Wordlike phrases) (Khoo, R. 1994).
Ruth Wajnryb (1992) shares this view by saying thattraditionally, lexis has not been given
pride of place in teacher’s priorities, serving more as a cushion on which to practise
grammar patterns than as an important section of the learning curriculum in its own right.
This contrasts strikingly with learners’ perceptions about vocabulary: very often learners
equate language learning with learning new labels for familiar concepts.
In the context of Vietnam University of Commerce (VUC), English is being taught as
Business English and a compulsory subject for non-major students. The teaching and
learning of vocabulary, therefore, is obviously a very significant aspect in foreign language
methodology and needs to be taken into much consideration. For the teachers of English,
what vocabulary teaching strategies and techniques should they use to maximize the
student’s learning effectiveness? For the students,what learning strategies or techniques
should be used to satisfy their needs when they arewell aware that English is increasingly
considered their instrumental objective to help them succeed not only in their semester
exams but also in their future job seeking after graduating from university.