Enhance Vocabulary Skills

Why Develop Vocabulary?

• Thinking is expressed through words.
• More precise and extensive vocabulary improves communication and writing.
• Building vocabulary is a necessity in student development.
• Vocabulary is important for professional and personal life.

Improving Vocabulary

• Read a lot.
• Reading a variety of texts extends vocabulary.
• Covering various areas of interest and subjects in texts is useful.

Student Vocabulary

• Work independently to expand your vocabulary.
• Identify and use specialist terms in your field of study.

Skills to Develop

• Skills needed for guessing word meanings, and when to use a dictionary.
• Know the use of general, bilingual, and subject-specific dictionaries.
• Understand common affixes and roots.
• Use key terms/technical words correctly.
• Use informal, formal, and specialist words, and registers appropriately.

Using a Dictionary

• It is important for developing vocabulary.
• It provides the meaning or description of a word.
• Dictionaries indicate word pronunciation using phonetics.
• Indicates how a word functions as different parts of speech, such as noun or verb.
• Dictionaries indicate if a word is countable or uncountable.
• In explaining a word, dictionaries provide a synonym for that word
• Dictionaries show differences in American and British English.
• Dictionaries indicate whether a word is used formally or informally.
• Words may have different meanings depending on the context.

Using Context Clues

• You can understand word meanings by how they are used in a text.
• Literature includes context clues for unfamiliar words.

Definitions as Context Clues

• Writers include a definition to help readers understand a word's meaning.
• For example, 'homogeneous' means 'people with the same characteristics'.

Synonyms as Context Clues

• Writers include synonym to help the reader understand the meaning.
• A synonym is a word that means the same as, or nearly the same, as another
• For example, the synonym 'overjoyed' helps the reader understand the meaning of 'exalted'.

Antonyms as Context Clues

• Writers include antonym to help the reader understand the meaning.
• An antonym is a word that means the opposite of another word
• For example, the antonym 'eager' helps the reader understand the meaning of 'reluctant'.

Descriptions as Context Clues

• Writers include one or more descriptions to help the reader understand the meaning.
• Descriptions of the CEO as having charm, enthusiasm, and a magnetic personality help the reader understand the meaning of 'charismatic'.

Statements as Context Clues

• Writers make statements to help the reader understand the meaning.
• Statements about being rude, showing no respect, having poor manners, and being impolite help the reader understand the meaning of 'impertinent'.

Visuals as Context Clues

• Writers may include a picture, chart, graph, or other visual aid to expand understanding of the meaning.
• Pictures and captions serve to help the reader understand a word.

The Word "Model" in Context

• The word "model" has varied meanings depending on context.

Economic Model

• The dictionary definition reads, 'a computerised plan of an economic situation, used in forecasting economic trends.'

Different Dictionaries

• The treatment of a word depends on the type of dictionary.
• Dictionaries have different target-user groups.

Learning Words for a Specific Subject

• People from another area of study may not understand specific words.
• Understand meanings of the subject you are studying.

Differences Between Everyday and Subject-Specific Dictionaries

• Subject-specific dictionaries do not contain pronunciation information, whilst everyday dictionaries do.
• Subject-specific dictionaries do not contain example sentences, whilst everyday dictionaries do.
• Subject-specific dictionaries only contain the technical or scientific sense of the word, whilst everyday dictionaries contain all potential meanings.
• Subject-specific dictionaries do not contain example sentences, whilst everyday dictionaries do.
• The definitions of the technical senses are far longer in subject-specific dictionaries than in everyday ones.
• Everyday dictionaries have cross-references to related words

What it Means to Really Know a Word

• There is passive or active knowledge of a word.
• Passive knowledge lets you understand a word, but makes it hard to use it correctly.

Knowing a Word

• Recognizing parts can help you work out meaning.
• Words in an academic context are comprised of different parts.

Word Types

• A root word has nothing added at the start or end; it is a word on its own.
• A prefix is a particle at the beginning of a word that changes the meaning.
• A suffix is a group of letters added to the end of a word that changes its function.

Knowing a Word

• Knowing all aspects of a word.
• Includes meaning, denotation, connotation, use, collocation, register, metaphor, idiom, form, affixes, parts of speech, spelling, pronunciation, grammar, countability, phrasal verbs, and adjective/adverb position.

Meaning of a Word

• A word meaning relies on the correct context.
• Words have denotations, such as dictionary definitions.
• Words have connotations, such as emotional associations.

Connotations

• Connotations can be favorable, negative, or neutral.
• They can be formal or informal, and useful in casual or colloquial contexts only.
• Academic writing should be neutral, formal, and unemotional.

Use of Words

• You can use a word appropriately and effectively when you really know it.
• Words are used in relation to other words.
• Putting words that belong together is known as collocation.
• Collocation involves putting the right adjectives and the right adverbs with the appropriate nouns.
• The context of a word is an important consideration.
• 'Kid' is colloquial in a business report.

Word Form

• Knowing a word means knowing what part of speech it is.
• Recognizing the root, suffix and/or prefix of a word is useful.
• Understanding spelling and pronunciation is also key.

Word Grammar

• Knowing how to use a word in a sentence so that it makes sense.
• Know whether nouns are countable or uncountable.
• You need to know where adverbs or adjectives fit in a sentence.

Compound Words

• Compound words increase vocabulary and improve spelling.
• Adjectives and nouns are combined into compound structures in English.
• A compound word is made up of two words joined together to make a new word.

Types of Compound Words

• In the closed form, words such as firefly, secondhand, softball, childlike, crosstown, redhead, keyboard, makeup, and notebook are melded together.
• In the hyphenated form, words such as daughter-in-law, mass-produced, master-at-arms, over-the-counter, 6-pack, and 6-year-old are combined.
• In the open form, such as post office, real estate, middle class, full moon, half-sister, and attorney general, words are joined.

Homophones

• These are words (or phrases or letters) that differ in meaning but are pronounced the same.
• Examples include "to", "too", and "two".
• Knowing homophones is important as computer spell/grammar checkers cannot always pick them up.

More on Homophones

• You will need to use a dictionary, and read sentences in context.
• Knowing your word's strengths and weaknesses builds vocabulary.
• If they do confuse you, make a list of their meanings for quick reference.

Checking Your Vocabulary in Writing

• Use precise words instead of vague ones.
• Determine if there is unnecessary repetition.
• Ensure that the words you use are formal and academic.
• Do the words you choose make sense in the sentence?