Oh yeah, circumlocution (using other words to describe a concept without naming it) and the ability to infer meaning from root words and context are the goals, but the best way to train them is to put students in situations where they can’t look words up and have to use the knowledge they have. I’m perfectly happy to have them play taboo, but none of my classes have been that into taboo, sadly. Having them give presentations and respond to questions on the spot also works, but they hate that (I get it). That basically leaves me with tests and closed-book assignments unless I want to spend valuable class time individually interviewing each student. I don’t mind doing mostly assignments, but then the students tend to take the “closed-book” aspect much less seriously than they do for tests.

They encounter these situations in their daily lives, but that’s only good motivation for some of them. Some people withdraw into cultural enclaves and try to avoid the language spoken here when they encounter situations where they can’t communicate instead, and they need the training wheels of the classroom environment to get comfortable with and learn how to handle not knowing something.