Vocabulary tests are rare opportunities to easily earn A's on tests. Consider the following:
1. Research done at UCLA over 30 years
ago tells us that vocabulary words become a part of our
vocabularies after an average of 17 exposures (hearing, seeing, saying,
writing). Some words require
more exposures while some particularly evocative words are remembered
after just one exposure.
2. Students who study lists of words
with dictionary definitions forget the words soon after study,
and those words do not become a part of the students' vocabularies.
3. When a group of students is given two
different tests drawn from a particular word list, one test
with the words in the same order as on the supplied list and the other
test with words presented in a
different order, students score more correct answers on the first test.
Word order is a context clue
which helps on the test but is unrelated to long term use of the
word. You should study the words in scrambled order.
4. Students who use vocabulary flash
cards score higher on tests than students who do not. Flash
card use can make studying more efficient because previously
learned words are
not studied.
5. When students are given vocabulary
tests with the definitions worded differently than on the
word/definition list, students score many fewer correct answers than
students given tests with the
same wording for the definitions as on the list. If a student has a
deep understanding of the meaning
of the word, alternate wording for the definition should make little
difference.
6. Students learn words when they have significant experience with the words in a variety of contexts.
1. Students should study the vocabulary words in various contexts, in literature if possible.
2. Supplement actual experience with the words with flash card study.
3. Study alternate dictionary definitions.
4. Do not study words only from the word/definition list: that is a waste of time in terms of long-term retention of the words.
1. Make/use vocabulary flash cards. Study the cumulative stack of cards; that is, always review all the cards, and study the ones you do not know.
2. Look up alternate wording for definitions and study the similarities and differences.
3. Use Google™ to find each of the words
in context using the
following procedure:
4. You could also type the name of a comprehensive web site which interests you; for example, site:oprah.com or site:dirtbikes.com. Few special interest websites will have the rich vocabulary resources of msnbc or latimes, but the context may be more interesting for you.