Vocabulary

This page is mostly focussed on academic English but many of the principles are generic.

Academic vocabulary learning process
Developing vocabulary involves the following stages.


 * 1) Finding new words
 * 2) Checking and understanding the meaning (including the register)
 * 3) Selecting new words to try to remember
 * 4) Making a record
 * 5) Remembering
 * 6) Using

1. Finding new words
The most logical place to find new words is through reading. When you encounter a new word (one that you don't know the meaning of) you may want to underline or highlight it and continue reading to see if you can make sense of the text you are reading. You can come back later to check your understanding.

Sometimes you find new words through thoughts in your own first language that you want to articulate in the new language. This highlights the importance of writing and speaking as early as possible to turn your first language thoughts into new language communication.

Refer to the pages on reading and listening for ideas on resources to use to find new words.

2. Checking and understanding the meaning (including register)
There are many types of dictionaries, although generally they can be divided into monolingual and bilingual categories, the latter providing equivalents and translations between two languages. Many monolingual dictionaries, especially learners' dictionaries provide grammatical information and collocations. Sometimes it can help to understand and remember the meaning of words if you understand their origin and development; an etymological dictionary provides such information.

Some suggested monolingual dictionaries online
Cambridge Dictionary

3. Selecting new words to try to remember
Ultimately you probably make a decision based on how useful the word seems when you translate it into your own language. There are tools that help you understand how frequently occurring words are (more frequent words are priorities to learn). For example, here you can copy and paste a text and select different colours for different level words to be highlighted. Level 1 contains the most frequent 1000 words of English and their word families; Level 2 contains the second most frequent 1000 words and families; Level 3 contains roughly 800 of the most frequent words found in secondary and university level reading material, but does not include any words from Levels 1 and 2; Outside Levels contains all the words outside the 3 frequency levels mentioned above. Words in this group are NOT divided into word families.

There are several word list highlighter tools linked here at eapfoundation.com

The above links tend to focus on individual words. It is also important to learn phrases and collocation


 * Manchester University phrasebank has identified many common academic writing functions and phrases for these e.g. for definitions

4. Making a record
There is a lot of information you can note down about new words. See uefap for a detailed list.

You also need to think about where and how you will record words. There are lots of apps that can provide a place to store, or go beyond that to help you practise too.

5. Remembering
Some suggestions from Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) include flashcards, rhymes, action (acting out words and sentences), using in sentences, and creating images or diagrams.