| p>Teachers report that the most common mistakes | | | | correct context for the word. Write down two or |
| that ESL students make are vocabulary mistakes. | | | | three or four different sentences where you've seen |
| English learners most often choose an incorrect | | | | the word. Write down the definition of the word. |
| vocabulary word when they try to express | | | | Pay attention to the part of speech of the word: is it a |
| themselves. Why is vocabulary so difficult to learn | | | | verb, a noun, an adjective or an adverb? This is also a |
| correctly? | | | | common mistake that students make; sometimes they |
| The most important reason is that students often learn | | | | choose the correct vocabulary word, but they use the |
| vocabulary out of context. Maybe they try to learn | | | | incorrect part of speech. For example, they use a |
| vocabulary by reading the dictionary. Or maybe they | | | | noun instead of a verb. They say "arrival" instead of |
| collect lists of words and memorize them. Some | | | | "arrive." Or "departure" instead of "depart." So when |
| people buy vocabulary books. The problem with all of | | | | you find a new word, make sure to learn its part of |
| these methods is that you don't learn vocabulary in | | | | speech. And then write down every part of speech |
| context. You don't see enough examples of the word | | | | for that word. For example, if your new word is |
| in sentences. So you never really learn the correct | | | | "protect": protect is the verb form, protection is the |
| way to use the word. | | | | noun form, protective is the adjective form, and |
| Research shows that the best way to learn new | | | | protectively is the adverb form. Write down all four |
| vocabulary is to read read read. Seeing vocabulary in | | | | forms. |
| a natural context - for example, in a newspaper or | | | | You can write your new words on a sheet of paper. |
| magazine article - will help you to use your new | | | | Or you can write them on flashcards. You can even |
| vocabulary correctly, and seeing it in context will also | | | | make flashcards online, on some online dictionary web |
| help you to remember it better. | | | | sites. |
| So this is what you need to do. Read English books. | | | | In order to remember your new words better, try using |
| Read English magazines. Read English newspapers. If | | | | them. Write some practice sentences and include |
| you're in an English-speaking country, read the | | | | some good context. Write a couple of sentences. Ask |
| advertisements on buses and signs on the streets and | | | | your English teacher or any English speaker to check |
| highways. Read English stories. Read graphs and | | | | your sentences. Do they make sense? Are they good |
| tables and charts. Read the English operating manuals | | | | sentences? |
| for your TV and washing machine. | | | | When you learn vocabulary this way, you learn to use |
| When you see a new word, write it down. Write down | | | | it correctly and naturally. It is the best way to learn |
| the whole sentence because this will remind you of the | | | | new vocabulary. So start reading! |