4 Tips for Expanding your Vocabulary Size

Do you think it’s challenging to learn new words? Have you ever struggled to use the new words correctly in writing or speaking? If your answers to these questions are ‘yes’, keep reading to find out more about how you can learn vocabulary in a more effective way!

(1) Learn phrases, not just words

Multiword units (e.g. phrasal verbs, idioms) are commonly used in everyday communication. Various meanings can be conveyed when a word is combined with different words and used in a phrase.

For example, ‘put’ can be used to form different phrasal verbs.

• ‘put up with’ = to accept something unpleasant

• ‘put something off’ = to delay an event

Also, when you find a new word, remember to pay attention to its collocations (how it is used with other words) apart from checking its meaning.

For example, if you look up the word ‘chance’ in an online dictionary, you’ll notice that it is usually paired with verbs like ‘have a chance’ or ‘stand a chance’. You can also refer to the example sentences so as to understand how the word is used in different contexts (e.g. ruin any chance of something).

Source: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

(2) Record and retrieve the new words and phrases regularly

Once you’ve selected the new words and phrases that you’d like to learn, remember to jot them down in a notebook or a note-taking app (e.g. Notion).

Pay attention to these three aspects:

• Meaning

  • What does it mean?

  • Does it have a positive or negative meaning?

  • What are the synonyms and antonyms of the word?

• Form

  • What is the word form (e.g. noun, verb, adjective, adverb)?

  • Can you break it into smaller parts? Any prefixes or suffixes (e.g. uncomfortable)?

  • How do you pronounce the word/ phrase?

• Use

  • What are the collocations of the word?

  • Is it used in formal or informal settings?

To store the new words in your long-term memory, you can try to study the words after a certain period of time (e.g. several days). This kind of spaced retrieval helps retention (Nation, 2020).

Creating flashcards and using them for revision can be helpful for mapping the words with their meanings (Reynolds, 2023). You can also try to categorise the new words/ phrases by topic (e.g. education, technology).

(3) Activate what you’ve learnt in writing and speaking

Learning vocabulary is a cumulative process which requires practice and revision (Nation, 2020). For some words, you may need to know what it means only (a.k.a. receptive knowledge). If you’d like to use them in your own production, it takes time and practice to develop this kind of productive knowledge. You can use the new words/ phrases in your next writing or speaking practice and ask for your teacher’s feedback to see if you’ve used them correctly.

(4) Read and listen to different materials at the right level

Maximise your exposure to English outside the classroom. Try to read and listen to a range of materials at the right level in order to get large amounts of input (Nation, 2020). It’ll be more likely for you to notice the high frequency words/ phrases and see how they are used in different contexts.

Useful tools

(1) Notion (www.notion.so)

• For jotting down new words/ phrases and making flashcards
  

(2) Thesaurus (https://www.thesaurus.com/)

• For finding out the synonyms and antonyms of a word
  

(3) YouGlish (https://youglish.com/)

• For checking how the words/ phrases are used in real life
  

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在學習單字的時候，你有遇過什麼困難嗎？如果你發現自己常常忘記了新學的單字，或是不懂怎樣在寫作或說話時運用新學到的單字，可以嘗試參考以下四個方法，更有效地學單字！

(1) 學習詞組，不要只是學習單字

詞組（例如：phrasal verbs片語動詞、idioms 成語）十分常見，當一個字配搭不同的字，帶出的意思可能都會不同，所以學習一個新的字的時候，可以注意它和其他字的配搭。而且，相比起只記背誦一個字的意思，學習字詞的配搭可以幫助你去了解怎樣在句子中使用單字，讓你日後在寫作或說話時更容易運用它。

(2) 記錄和定期溫習單字

選擇好想學習的單字/ 詞組後，記得要記下來（例如用Notion），可以注意以下三個方面：

• Meaning 意思

  • 單字的意思

  • 有正面或負面的意思嗎？

  • 單字的同義詞和反義詞

• Form 詞形

  • 單字的詞性

  • 可以把單字拆解嗎？有沒有prefix 前綴或suffix後綴？

  • 單字的讀音

• Use 用法

  • 單字和其他字的配搭

  • 用於正式還是非正式的場景？

如果要建立長期記憶，你需要隔一段時間再溫習單字，再配合其他方法（例如製作單字卡、按主題把單字分類、把單字讀出來）。如果沒有溫習，很容易就會忘記了單字。

(3) 嘗試多運用新學到的單字

有些單字可能你只需要記它們的意思，在閱讀或聆聽時能夠理解到意思就足夠。但如果你想應用在寫作或說話時，就需要多些時間去溫習和練習，盡可能請你的英文老師幫忙，看看你在寫作或說話練習中，有沒有正確地運用新的單字。

(4) 盡量多閱讀和聆聽不同材料

在日常生活中多抽時間閱讀和聆聽英文，除了可以令你接觸到更多單字之外，你都會更容易分辨哪些是常用的字詞，以及可以怎樣在不同的場景使用它們。

推薦工具

(1) Notion (www.notion.so)

• 記錄單字和製作單字卡

(2) Thesaurus (https://www.thesaurus.com/)

• 搜尋一個單字的同義詞和反義詞

(3) YouGlish (https://youglish.com/)

• 了解怎樣在現實不同情況下使用單字

References

Nation, P. (2020). Is it worth teaching vocabulary? TESOL Journal, 12(4). https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.564

Nation, P. (2022). Teaching and learning vocabulary. In E. Hinkel, Handbook of Practical Second Language Teaching and Learning (pp. 397–408). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003106609-33

Reynolds, B. L. (Ed.). (2023). Vocabulary Learning in the Wild. Springer Nature.