Knowing academic words
is a significant skill so that students are not only able to understand and
absorb the knowledge that professors in college want to convey, but also attain
high scores in the learning process. That is, a well-developed vocabulary will
help you reach achievements in your studies, and a job with higher salary.
However, it is not easy to obtain new academic vocabularies, so a great number
of international students meet obstacles in acquiring them. Therefore,
selecting the best ways to acquire new academic words is an important goal.
One of
the best ways to improve a student’s academic vocabulary is through intensive
reading. While reading, you not only find the most common words you should
learn, but also can review words that you have already learned. It is a good
means to inculcate new words in your mind. In addition, you
should choose newspapers, magazines, and books that will help you pay attention
and acquire new words more quickly and easily. Moreover, you do not have to
read too much in a day, but you should keep reading books regularly to get into
the habit. This method is really useful.
Another way to recall
and increase academic word knowledge is by using them as much as you can in
your life. When trying to use academic words in your communication or when writing
an essay, you have to think of the correct words and use them many times. That
means, you are conveying these new words to your long term memory. By frequent
academic word practice, you will become comfortable with their meaning and
usage in various circumstances. In other words, learning new words will not be
useful if you do not promptly utilize them.
In addition, a fun way
to attain academic words is to play with them. There are many games that will
help you learn them much better such as crossword puzzles, Scrabble, Boggle.
They are always available online, so you can find them easily whenever and
wherever you want. These games are used not only to review words, but also to expand
your word knowledge. Importantly, they are designed in various types and levels
so that you can enjoy learning and do not feel as if you are studying. Therefore,
with these games, you can obtain more vocabulary words while enjoying yourself.
In conclusion, although
everyone has a specific learning style to acquire new academic words, reading,
using them in speech as much as possible, or playing word games are common ways
that will be very useful for you. If you persistently and regularly implement
these methods, you will realize that your academic vocabulary is much improved.
Thank you, Sr. Hang, for your insightful suggestions and comments. I too believe practice makes perfect. And of course reading and practicing with games helps a lot, too! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your methods to learn more new academic words. These three ways are very suitable for college students. It is helpful for me! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI like when you said "a fun way to attain academic words is to play with them" I think this is new way to learn new vocabulary
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ReplyDeleteThanks Sister Hang. I always found it difficult to use elaborate words with people around me, as I may come across as pretencious. It's still something fun to do, though. And I definitely agree on the intensive reading, but also, it is very helpful to write in your free time and try to use this vocabulary in context. Good job
ReplyDeleteI had hard time improving my academic vocabulary. I, as well, think that reading the book I'm interested in is one of the best way to improve my vocabulary skill because I learned loads of words through reading books. Well, it's still difficult and boring to study vocabulary, though, but as you suggest, there are loads of ways to improve my vocabulary skill, such as cross puzzle games, so I'll try those methods. Thank you Sr. Hang, for sharing your thoughts.
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