Unlock the secrets to mastering English vocabulary with innovative methods and personalized techniques! In this guide, you’ll learn about the tools and strategies that you need to build a robust vocabulary and retain it effectively.
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The Key Role of Vocabulary in Language Learning Success
Vocabulary is integral to language learning success. You can learn grammatical structures, phrases, and numbers, but you need vocabulary words to lay the foundation for a successful language-learning journey. Vocabulary plays a critical role in communication and overall language proficiency, and we’ll break down how a strong vocabulary impacts your ability to speak, listen, read, and write effectively.
Why Vocabulary Matters
Expanding our vocabulary can lay the foundation for our communication abilities in any language. Without improving our vocabulary, we are unable to articulate our thoughts and ideas clearly with others.
While grammar is fundamental to learning English and speaking with accuracy, we can’t necessarily communicate with grammar alone. On the other hand, we can communicate and convey our ideas, thoughts, feelings, and desires with even a few key vocabulary words.
Vocabulary vs. Grammar: What’s More Important?
One isn’t necessarily more “important” than the other. We need to develop our grammatical accuracy and vocabulary together in order to develop English fluency and accuracy.
However, one cannot speak a language without vocabulary, and understanding grammar structures means nothing if we do not have the keywords to pair with this knowledge. In as little as a few key or “buzz words”, we can communicate our thoughts or ideas.
For example, the sentence “I want apple” is grammatically incorrect. However, we can understand the objective, goal, or thoughts of the speaker simply because of the key vocabulary words used. We are provided key elements of the sentence such as the subject, object, and verb.
We can often still communicate with speakers who haven’t mastered the accuracy of spoken English. While grammar can help us develop accuracy, vocabulary helps us develop fluency. Fluency is the ability to speak a language in a smooth and quick manner.
How Vocabulary Impacts Communication
When we keep improving our English fluency and accuracy, we also need to improve our vocabulary. This is important because we need to develop the confidence to express more complicated ideas, thoughts, and arguments.
This is particularly important in real-life situations. If a person’s English is only able to say “danger”, or “hospital”, we can understand what they are saying. They are either warning us of danger, or they want to go to the hospital, for example. They don’t necessarily need the grammatical accuracy to explain to us exactly why they need this. This highlights the value of learning vocabulary – even individual words – in practical, real-life situations.
Expand Your Vocabulary: Fresh Approaches for Effective Learning
Students have different learning styles, and methods will appeal to students differently based on their unique personalities. This allows us to learn vocabulary words in a great variety of ways.
Let’s dive into some of the methods to customize your vocabulary learning based on your needs and preferences:
Self-Assessment and Goal Setting
Students have different learning styles, and methods will appeal to students differently based on their unique personalities. This allows us to learn vocabulary words in a great variety of ways.
Let’s dive into some of the methods to customize your vocabulary learning based on your needs and preferences:
When setting your goals, you’ll need to factor in whether you’re an auditory learner, visual learner, kinaesthetic (feel) learner, or prefer reading and writing. Take an online quiz to find out what type of learner you are here.
Here are some popular learning techniques for each learning style:
- Auditory: Listening to podcasts, participating in conversations, using language apps, watching media with subtitles
- Visual: Using flashcards, reading comics, watching videos, picture-based games, board games, and multimedia presentations (e.g. Powerpoint)
- Kinaesthetic: Roleplay & acting, participating in conversations
- Reading & writing: Storywriting, creative writing (using key vocabulary), journaling
How to Assess Your Vocabulary
It’s impossible to set realistic vocabulary learning goals if you don’t understand your current level. You’ll need to take a test in order to understand how extensive your vocabulary is.
Self-assessment and goal setting is a simple way to seek to improve your vocabulary. You’ll need to assess your current vocabulary level, by taking an online test for example, and then setting achievable goals based on your results. You can use Cathoven’s CEFR analyzer to find out your vocabulary level!
The Oxford Online English Vocabulary Test is another great way to understand more about your current level. Here, you’ll need to answer 40 questions by using the correct vocabulary word in each sentence. Don’t use a dictionary!
Setting and Tracking Goals
Depending on your score on a test or an analysis tool, you’ll want to set a realistic goal to improve your vocabulary.
Your goal could be to improve this score by 10% by the end of the month. Or, maybe you want to be able to use 5 new words confidently by the end of the week. You can test yourself by learning the definition and using these new words correctly and independently in new sentences.
Take Cathoven’s CEFR analyzer, you may want to increase your IELTS score the next time you write about a particular topic. For the Oxford Online English Vocabulary Test, for example, you may set goals to increase the number of words you know and confidently that appear in the test.
Keep track of and highlight the words that you struggle to define and use in sentences. Consider using journals, spreadsheets, apps, and more to track which words you struggle to define and use independently. When you are confident in defining words and using them in sentences, cross these words or highlight them in a different color to show that you’ve mastered the word.
Contextual Learning: The Power of Real-Life Examples
Contextual learning refers to practical learning where information is presented and you absorb it in its context. This can mean learning new words while speaking to friends and colleagues applying technical terms in conversations, and more. This is important for learning new vocabulary words because you’ll want to understand how it is used appropriately.
When you learn new vocabulary words, it’s important to be able to see them being used in sentences and also to be able to use them practically yourself. Rather than only repeating words and researching the definition, it’s important to prioritize context. You may not understand whether it is a verb or a noun, or whether it can be both. Because of this, you’ll need to understand how to use it.
“I [exercise] quickly.” (verb)
“The [exercise] is very difficult.” (noun)
Let’s start with an easy example. Exercise in the first sentence is a verb, but a noun in the second. It’s important to understand how we can use certain words in sentences. While some words can be used as nouns and verbs, this isn’t the case for all. We need to understand how to use these words.
Immersive Reading and Listening
Reading for fun is also one of the best ways to expand your vocabulary. Whether you’re reading Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, or the Spiderman comic books, you’ll learn plenty of words when reading a new piece of literature.
This is a fantastic way to not only expand your vocabulary but to also understand how it is used in context. When you encounter a new word, consider stopping where you’re reading, and writing down this new vocabulary word in a journal or a spreadsheet. After you’ve finished reading, you can research the definition, and other examples of how this word is used in context.
The same can be done for movies, TV shows, and gaming. Listen carefully to what the characters are saying. Turn on the subtitles, and when you come across a new word, pause the movie or TV show, and write this word down, and use our CEFR dictionary to find out its definition! This is especially helpful because you’re invested in the story, and this word will help you understand the character’s situation and environment!
Using New Words in Conversation
Using new words in the classroom is different from using them in real-life conversations. While the classroom creates a safe space for us to learn and use new words, using these new words in real-life situations will help develop our confidence significantly. This is because we are exercising our independence, without the observation or assistance of our teacher. This is when we know that we can truly use new vocabulary words.
Creating Memorable Associations
Imagery is important to help remember new vocabulary words, especially for visual learners. When you are learning new words, consider using flash cards or pictures to help connect this word to an image in your mind. This will make the learning process much easier, and it will make it more difficult to forget.
When you think of the word “research”, picture a scientist. If you’re struggling to remember the word “environment”, picture the world and its nature! Everyone’s experience and relationship with language are different, and the images that these words will evoke will vary from one person to another.
Daily Habits for Building Vocabulary
Learning doesn’t only have to take place in the classroom. In fact, if you turn it into a habit, rather than a chore, you’re likely to learn much more.
Integrating Vocabulary into Daily Life
When you learn new words in the classroom, or at home, challenge yourself to use them in daily conversations, writing exercises, and other activities in real-life situations.
Learning to use them independently will further solidify your ability to use new words.
Using New Words Every Day
Set yourself the challenge of incorporating new words into your daily speech. If you want to learn a new vocabulary word outside of the classroom, consider using our CEFR dictionary to discover new words and add them to your vocabulary every day!
Here, you can learn a new word, its definition, how to pronounce it, and also how to use it within an example sentence. Each day, you have a new opportunity to incorporate new words into your daily life! If you aren’t feeling particularly social that day, consider incorporating this word into daily journals, or creative writing, or use the word in a sentence when in a search query online!
Fun Ways to Engage with Words
Learning new words doesn’t have to be just about studying. You can incorporate new words within games, puzzles, activities, and more.
Playing games can actually disguise the process of learning. This can increase participation, sociability, and motivation, and also help students associate words with meaning. Whether you are by yourself or with your friends, consider playing games such as these to improve your vocabulary:
- Crosswords
- Wordle
- Connections
- Word search
- Scrabble
- Hangman
- Word Wheel
Routine Review and Reinforcement
In your journal, spreadsheet, or other vocabulary development tracker, consider regular review sessions to reinforce your learning. It’s easy to forget how to use a word if it has been a while since we’ve used it, especially if we don’t practice this language as frequently as our mother tongue.
Creating a personalized review schedule can help reinforce our vocabulary development. When adding new words to our list of things to learn, be sure to also add a time and a date to review these words after you’ve successfully learned them.
Leveraging Technology for Vocabulary Learning
Be sure to explore reliable online dictionaries and thesauruses for accurate definitions and synonyms. Sometimes, using synonyms is a great way to further understand a new vocabulary word. This can also help us memorize the definition of a word more clearly, by categorizing the new word.
Enhancing Learning with Our CEFR Dictionary
Thankfully, learning materials have never been so accessible for students such as yourself. You can discover the unique features of our CEFR dictionary which is designed to support and enhance your personalized vocabulary learning.
Extensive Word Database Across CEFR Levels
Our CEFR dictionary has thousands of words across different levels from A1 all the way to C2 for you to learn. Whether you’re writing an assessment, reading a novel, or just want to learn new words, our CEFR dictionary can help you master new vocabulary.
The definitions and examples in our dictionary have been carefully selected in order to maximize understanding for students of a particular level.
Clear and Simple Definitions
It’s no use throwing complicated language at students who are learning new words. This is why we use clear and simple definitions to help students understand complicated new words. When communicating, simplicity is key, and that is why our straightforward definitions improve the level of understanding for students.
Real-Life Example Sentences
It’s no use learning a word if we don’t know when it’s appropriate to use it. Not only do we provide the definition, but we also provide practical example sentences extracted from real-life contexts. These examples help illustrate the correct usage of words within specific contexts.
CEFR Level Labels for Every Entry
We’ve ensured that our CEFR dictionary is friendly for every level. Each dictionary entry is tagged with its corresponding CEFR levels. You can learn this feature to help you identify new words that are appropriate for your English proficiency level.
Easy-to-Use Search Functionality
Our CEFR dictionary is not only accessible but also user-friendly. You can enjoy the intuitive search functionality and easy navigation to explore a whole new avenue of vocabulary words. Find new words, definitions, pronunciations, and CEFR levels instantly!
Develop Your Vocabulary With These Habits!
Expanding our vocabulary is integral to our language-learning journey, and while understanding grammar structures is also important, we can’t do so without words. Learning new vocabulary words not only allows us greater communication potential, it also allows us to understand more about specific contexts.
Using one method will only take you so far. By combining tools such as our CEFR dictionary, games, in-class activities, and daily habits we form, we can expand our vocabulary significantly and become more confident in English communication!
