Vocabulary and understanding

How to help your reading

How to improve your reading skills

The best way to improve your reading skills
is, of course, to read. Read a little everyday;
this will help you with vocabulary, grammar
and writing skills as well. How? As you
read, your brain will start to understand
how the English language works; you can
see how grammar actually works and is
used, and will learn new vocabulary (and
also how these words are used).

How to study vocab most effectively

It takes many years to learn vocabulary,
and English has over a million words. So,
you cannot learn all of these words.
Native speakers of English do not know all
the words in English, so you dont need to
either. Your strategy is to learn the words
you need to know.

How to study vocab most effectively

Two kind of vocabulary:

1) basic (common) words in English: the ones you

will see over and over.

2) technical words: the words that apply to your

field of study or major.

Dolch word list (220 words)

Dolch word list websites

http://www.dolchword.net/dolch-word-list.html
http://www.k12reader.com/dolch-word-list/
http://bogglesworldesl.com/dolch/sightwords.htm

Academic Word List (570 words)

The Academic Word List (AWL) was developed by
Averil Coxhead of Victoria University of
Wellington, in New Zealand. The list is divided into
10 sublists of word families and contains 570 words
selected because they appear with great frequency in
a broad range of academic texts.

Academic Word List

http://www.esldesk.com/vocabulary/academic
http://www.englishvocabularyexercises.com/AWL/

General Service List (2000 words)

The General Service List is a list of the 2000 most

common words in the English language. Therefore
the General Service List plus the Academic Word
List cover nearly 90% of academic texts. Again, you
dont need to know all of these words.

General Service List

http://www.uefap.com/vocab/select/selfram.htm
http://www2.elc.polyu.edu.hk/CILL/generalServiceLis
t.htm

Vocabulary learning strategies

There are three stages in learning vocabulary:
introduction (you first see it), recognition (you have
seen the word, but may not know the definition),
and mastery (you know the definition, and can use it
in writing/speaking). There are many strategies for
learning new vocabulary (and remember, you want
to learn the ones you will use a lot, see a lot, and/or
are technical words used in your field). Repetition is
the key: the more you review words, the quicker you
master them.

Vocabulary learning strategies

1. Use flash cards (write the word on one side of a
paper, and the definition on the other). Then quiz
yourself from time to time.
2. Make your own dictionary: write the word,
definition and use in a sentence (see SS handbook
for a form you can use).
3. Use online sites for vocabulary quizzes to review.
See recommended sites for some of these. 4ESL is a
good one.

Vocabulary learning strategies

4. Word family charts: group words according to part
of speech (noun, verb), singular/irregular charts, or
similarity/synonyms
5. Create sentences of your own for the words you are
learning. You need to be able to use your words, not
just define them.
6. Write a story that includes all the words you have
learned.

Vocabulary learning strategies

7. Say or write the words you are learning this can
help you remember them.
8. Play audiotapes or videotapes repeatedly (e.g. songs
or part of a movie) this is a great way to learn
new words
9. Write the words you are learning on pieces of paper
and tape them around your room.

Vocabulary learning strategies

10. Play online games:
http://www.vocabulary.co.il/
and
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games_voca
b.htm
are two good sites.

Dictionaries

Are easier to use than a print dictionary

Many pronounce the word for you.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/learnerenglish/

dictionary.reference.com

http://www.rong-chang.com/dictionaries.htm

http://esl-dictionary.com/

http://www.merriam-webster.com/

http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/

Encyclopedias

Wikipedia is often the first online encyclopedia

students turn to, but the English in these articles is
often complicated, and the information is not often
updated or complete. Encyclopedias are your first
search sites when doing research.

Encyclopedias

http://www.encyclopedia.com/

http://www.britannica.com/

http://www.libraryspot.com/encyclopedias.htm
of online references, hyperlinked)

(list

http://www.refseek.com/directory/encyclopedias.html
(as above, with other information )

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/

http://kids.britannica.com/

Ebooks

You can read these online, or download them to a

PC or Smartphone. If you copy/paste them onto a
Word document, you can use the thesaurus to define
words as well.

Ebooks
The National Library of Rwanda has free e-books and
journals:
http://197.243.18.32:8080/jspui/

http://www.openculture.com/free_ebooks list of many free

books to read online or download

www.ProjectGutenberg.org

(classics)

http://www.kidsworldfun.com/ebooks.php kids books: fun

http://classroom-aid.com/open-educational-resources/fre
e-ebooks/
http://www.textbookrevolution.org/index.php/Main_Pag
e
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page