Many people ask me how to study English.
This time I want to look at vocabulary.
I assume you are studying by yourself, so these ideas are for self study without a partner.
Let's take a look at basic study principles because we often forget them and that makes our study longer and less fun.
Different Ways First of all, remember the basic rules for studying things.
You should study the same thing in different ways.
For vocabulary, that means you should write it, read it, hear it (listening) and say it (speaking).
If you can each of these four in different ways, that's even better.
Reviewing Next, is reviewing.
Reviewing is the king of all study techniques.
You are making new paths in your brain, and they need to be travelled many times before they become good paths.
That means review a lot, but not too much.
Copy Things The next principle is to copy.
If you copy the model sentences, you will build a good base.
Many people think copying is not very good for studying, but in fact it is great, when you also follow the other principles, especially the next one.
Imagine And the next principle is use the principle of imagination.
Try to use the new vocabulary in new ways.
Try to use it in novel ways, and ways that apply to you and your own situation.
And now enough theory, lets start to talk about how to really study vocabulary! Reading You want to start off small and easy.
Read vocabulary lists.
Just read them.
Make yourself familiar with the new vocabulary that you want to study.
Even after you have studied it for a while, always start off your study session with a quick review of the lists you have been studying.
It is surprising how much difference this simple step can make.
Next, put your list onto flashcards.
Flashcards have been used for a long time.
They work.
And they work great.
But these days they work even better because they have been computerized.
computerized flashcards help decide when to review a card so that you get it at just the right time: not too much and not too little.
After all this work you want to begin reading the vocabulary in written examples - stories, etc You may do this anytime of course.
You do not have to do the other two activities first.
Reading the stories that use the vocabulary will help you understand and remember the words.
But more importantly you will see how they are used, and what words come around them.
Writing You should start your writing practice with a nice simple activity: spelling.
If you don't need to ever write English, you can skip this activity.
Use your judgement.
Be sure you do not study spelling too much.
It helps for review, but there are much more important activities to get on to.
One of the more important activities you need to do is write sentences that use the vocabulary.
Of course, you can copy sentences when you are just beginning, and later start to write your own creative sentences.
Be sure to write them, and if you have a daily writing routine, that is even better.
A good form of daily writing is journalling.
Everyday, write in a journal.
Write about what happened, or about some topic of your choice.
You may wish to promise yourself to write a minimum everyday, for consistency at the beginning, until this activity becomes easier.
Listening Start listening practice with listening flashcards.
You can make these flashcards with various software programs available now, such as Mnemosyne, or Supermemo.
This lets you use MP3 recordings for one 'side' of the flashcard.
After you hear the word, you may choose to say the equivalent in your language, or to say the definition in English.
Its your choice.
Of course, be sure to include shadowing as one activity for your vocabulary study.
Remember the object is the vocabulary, so try to use short stories that use the vocabulary.
Short stories are more efficient than long stories, and easier to remember.
Speaking Your shadowing practice also gives you great speaking practice, so be sure to do it.
As you shadow, don't worry about the meaning of what you are saying.
You can think about that later when you read the script.
You may want to use speaking drills as well.
When you work alone, these may be simple patterns that you repeat, or you might read sentences that have your vocabulary in them aloud, then try to rephrase the sentence in new words.
Summary Practice vocabulary by reading, writing, listening and speaking.
Use several different activities for each.
When you begin to study a new word feel free to copy other places that use the word.
Then as you become more comfortable, try to use the word in a new way that you have not studied before.
Be sure to review often, and practice regularly.
If you want to study slightly higher level vocabulary you can find good listening material at the English Listening World.
com website.