What to Keep in Mind when Expanding Your English Vocab

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What to Keep in Mind when Expanding Your English Vocab Building up your English vocabulary for PTE shouldn’t just be about memorizing as many words as you can. It should also be about mastering their usage. Here are two other things that you need to keep in mind when expanding your vocab during your PTE review.

Context is crucial in vocabulary acquisition Studies suggest that most—if not all—words are learned from context. Here’s why.

Picking up new words in context has a significant impact on the three key aspects of vocabulary acquisition: learning, recall, and retention. Imagine words are puzzle pieces. Picture them strewn at random atop a table. Scattered as they are, it’s impossible to retain what each piece looks like, let

alone understand the picture that they form. Put together a couple of pieces, however, and a meaningful and memorable context is sure to appear. Identifying and retaining the distinctions of each piece suddenly becomes easier.

Given these points, using word lists of unrelated contexts to expand your vocabulary is not ideal. So, don’t rely solely on word lists. Here are some things that you can do to highlight context when you learn new words. 

Pick up new words in sentences.

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Learn new words with news, stories, songs, and other conventional mediums.

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Pay attention to the terminologies often used with the unfamiliar word.

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Consider how the word was used in conversations.

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Find out if the word is used in other contexts.

Keep these in mind during your PTE Baguio training sessions.

Subjective meaning is an effective retention device It’s why PTE review instructors encourage their students to add personal meaning to unfamiliar words and phrases.

Consider the survivors of vehicular accidents. When asked, most of them can vividly recall every little detail of what happened before the disaster. Why? Because the event holds subjective meaning to them. Since they have no personal or emotional investment on what happened, people who heard about the accident on the news will probably forget it after an hour or two. This is also why you won’t have any trouble remembering moments that moved you or touched your heart.

Make this phenomenon work to your advantage. Find ways to instill the words that you learn with subjective meaning, so that you’ll remember them better. Let’s use the word “academic” as an example. Instead of using a generic sentence like “There are two academic institutions in the city,” opt for something that taps into your memories like “My academic institution specializes in medical courses, it’s why I chose to study nursing there.”

Stop needlessly memorizing word lists. Consider these points to expand your vocabulary effectively for PTE and beyond. Learn more ways to learn and retain new words, expressions, and collocations by enrolling in the JRooz review center for PTE in Baguio.