How To Expand Vocabulary In English
Students
need to be able to do so much more than reel off lists of vocabulary. They need
to be able to manipulate the language so that it can support their
communicative needs. Below are 6 ways to help students really learn vocabulary;
to help them write, speak and communicate confidently and correctly.
Read many
book. The more
you read especially novels and literary
works, but also magazines and newspapers
the more words you will be exposed to. As you read and uncover new
words, use a combination of attempting to derive meaning from the context of
the sentence as well as from looking up the definition in a dictionary.
Keep a
dictionary and thesaurus handy. Use whatever versions you
prefer in print, software, or online.
When you uncover a new word, look it up in the dictionary to get both its
pronunciation and its meaning. Next, go to the thesaurus and find similar words
and phrases and their opposites (synonyms and antonyms, respectively) and learn
the nuances among the words.
Use a
journal. It's a good idea to keep a running list of the new
words you discover so that you can refer back to the list and slowly build them
into your everyday vocabulary. Plus, keeping a journal of all your new words
can provide positive reinforcement for learning even more words especially when
you can see how many new words you've already learned.
Learn a
word a day. Using a word a day calendar or Website or developing
your own list of words to learn is a great technique many people use to learn
new words. This approach may be too rigid for some, so even if you do use this
method, do not feel you must learn
a new word every day.
Etensive
reading.It is better if your students read small amounts regularly, rather than
large texts infrequently. (In an ideal world they would read a lot
frequently)They should not use a dictionary. This means they need to be reading
at the right level and understanding about 95% of the text. They will be
extrinsically motivated if they are interested in the topic, so they should be
choosing what they read themselves. The more they read, the more they will be
reviewing vocabulary and that increased exposure will help the vocabulary get
stored into the students long term memory. This in turn will enable better
spoken and written production.
Engage in conversations. Simply talking with other people can help you learn
discover new words. As with reading, once you hear a new word, remember to jot
it down so that you can study it later and then slowly add the new word to your
vocabulary.
The
conlusion the students should know ways to improve and expand their vocabulary,
because vocabulary can help students to write, speak and communicate
confidently and correctly.
