There were two ways I learn (at least consciously) new vocabulary. Whenever I enroll in a new class, I notice each professor uses certain words. The words I don’t know, I write down and look up later. By the end of the semester, I know most, if not all, the words and concepts my professor uses. The other way I learn new vocabulary is by reading. Depending on the text, I’ll keep my computer nearby with dictionary.com open. When I come across a word I don’t know, or a word I’m not sure about, I quickly type it in and read its definition. These strategies seem to work for me. While learning these words doesn’t always translate to my using them in my own diction, I can at least comprehend them. As far a vocabulary instruction goes, I think the main goal is comprehension. When students learn to comprehend new vocabulary, they will be able to read and understand a text. The vocabulary usage will come, but I think comprehension is the most important.
Blake, this is what I like--you take concepts and simplify them for your own use. These are great strategies for vocabulary learning, and surprisingly effective. I do exactly the same things. When I took statistics, for instance, in my PhD. program, at first I felt quite lost with all of the unfamiliar terminology, but by looking up and using the terms, they quickly became part of my functional vocabulary. I agree that comprehend vocabulary--there is a slide on my powerpoint that has an image of a lightbulb lighting up--there are simple steps that need to be taken to learn and use new words.
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