A yellow dandelion amid mayflowers and little daises.
How to learn vocabulary
Introduction
Learning vocabulary is a very important part of learning
a language.
The more words you know, the more you will be able to
understand what you hear and read;
and the better you will be able to say what you want to
when speaking or writing.
Which words to
learn
Every day you hear or read many new English words. You
also find them in your dictionary
when you are translating from your own language. You
can’t possibly learn all these new words,
so your first problem is to decide which ones to
concentrate on. Here are some suggestions:
*learn the words that are important to the subjects you
are studying
*learn the words that you read or hear again and again
*learn the words that you know you will often want to use
yourself
* do not learn words that are rare or not useful (your
teacher can help you with this)
Once you have chosen which words to learn,
you next have to decide how you are going to learn them.
Here are a few ideas:
*write the words in a notebook (with their translations
or definitions)
*write the words and definitions on small cards
*say the words many times
(if you have an electronic dictionary you can hear how
the word is pronounced)
*put the words into different groups (you could use a
graphic organiser)
*write them in a file for use with a computer program
(such as Quizlet or the one on this site)
*make associations (in pictures or with other words)
*ask someone to test you
*use the words in your own speaking or writing
*Some students put a tick or cross in their dictionary
next to every word they look up.
The next time they turn to a page with a marked word,
they quickly check to see if they remember the meaning of
that word.
In all of the above ways, you are doing something with
the words. It’s usually not enough to just read through a list of words with
their definitions or translations and try to remember them.
Most students find that they memorise words better if
they do something with them.
Even better is to try and learn the word in a typical
combination with other words. Learning that
to apologize means to say sorry is a
good start, but it's much better to learn a whole expression containing the
word, e.g. He apologized for being late. Not only is this often easier to
remember,
but you are also learning some very important information
on how the word is used.
Learning for
vocabulary tests
The previous section on this page gives general advice on
how to learn the words
that you have
chosen as important for you. Often, however, you will be given a set of words
by your teacher and told to learn them for a vocabulary
test. In this case you need to be sure
exactly how you will be tested, because this will
influence how you learn the words.
There are several ways that the teacher might test your
vocabulary learning,
but the ways are broadly divided into two categories:
You will be given the word and have to:
*write a definition
*use it in an example sentence
*translate it into your language
You will be given:
*a definition
*a gapped example sentence
*the translation in your language
*and you have to write the English word.
If you do a vocabulary test from the second group above,
then in most cases you will need to learn the exact spelling of the word and
will lose marks if you misspell it. As with all tests,
be sure to ask the teacher exactly how you will be tested
and exactly how you will be graded.
You will then avoid wasting time studying something that
you will be not be tested on.
Learning vocabulary by reading
The way you learned very many of the words in your own
language was by meeting them
in the books and magazines you read. The context of a new
word in a sentence or story
was often enough for you to guess the meaning. Meeting
the word again and again in your reading helped you learn it for use in your
own speaking and writing. Doing lots of extra reading for pleasure - both
fiction and non-fiction - is an excellent way to learn new English words, too.
But choose books that you find quite easy to read.
Difficult stories or texts that you struggle
to understand will not help you to develop your
vocabulary the natural way.
But remember: to learn new words from reading you have to
read A LOT!
More information
about learning words
The vocabulary you know can be divided into two groups -
passive vocabulary and active vocabulary. Passive vocabulary contains all the
words that you understand when you read or listen,
but which you do not use (or cannot remember) in your own
writing and speaking.
Active vocabulary is all the words you understand, plus
all the words that you can use yourself.
Your active
vocabulary, in English and your own language,
is probably much smaller than your passive vocabulary.
The more you work on learning a word, as suggested above,
the more likely it is that
it will become part of your active vocabulary.
Things to know
about the words you learn
Usually the first things you learn about a new English
word are what it means and its translation
in your own language. But there are other things you need
to find out before you can say
that you know a word like a native speaker does. For
example, you have to learn:
*how it is spelled
*how it is pronounced
*how it is inflected (i.e. how it changes if it is a
verb, noun or adjective)
*other grammar information about it
*how it collocates (i.e. what other words are often used
with it)
*if it has a particular style or register
*if it has a particular style or register
*the context in which it is most likely to be used
Native speakers learn these things about words by hearing
them and reading them again and again. This is the best way for you to learn
them, too.
http://esl.fis.edu/learners/advice/vocab.htm
You can TCR specialist and language dictionaries that
are spontaneously accessed.
I can Turbo Charge Read a novel 6-7 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
I can TCR an instructional/academic book around 20
times faster and remember what I’ve read.
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
How
to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?
Perhaps
you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
www.innermindworking.blogspot.com
gives many ways for you to work with the stresses of life
www.ourinnerminds.blogspot.com which takes advantage of the experience
and expertise of others.
www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com just for fun.
To
quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will
know.
The
more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”
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