Mastering Vocabulary Learning: Inspired by Others

In my previous post about vocabulary learning I tried to explain my own strategy of how I study vocabulary. I am still convinced that this is the most efficient way for me, as I can be really flexible using my flashcard app on the phone when I am on the bus or tram (and staring on my phone anyway), or when I am using my laptop (which is the case most of the time). The only thing I really need to change about this: be more consistent and go through my vocabulary decks more regularly. The more often I go through my word decks, the shorter and less painful my revising sessions will be will be.

However, I was looking through other strategies on the blogs of some fellow students to find further ways to improve my strategy. One thing I definitely want to include in my daily routines is what Nina mentioned in her post. She reads through interesting newspaper articles, collects interesting phrases and words from them and adds them to her personal glossary. Actually, it is less the fact that she collects these things from articles than that she has a personal glossary. 

I sometimes also write down phrases I come across and find interesting, but never try to study them in fear of occupying too much brain capacity I'd need for my studies for university. But after reading Nina's post, I felt encouraged to actually do study them. After all, there is a reason I find them interesting, so why not include them in my active vocabulary? My English skills should not solely depend on what I learn at university. However, most phrases I've collected so far are from movies or fiction literature, therefore more colloquial. That's why I will now try to include words from more sophisticated sources, such as newspapers or other articles.

In short, what I try to improve is: learn to be more disciplined and go through my vocabulary more often, and don't shy away from collecting and studying words that are not asked in exams. These sound like really nice resolutions for 2015.

Mastering Vocabulary Learning: Routines

Before I started university, I had no system for learning vocabulary efficiently. I would usually just write down a list of words and their translation, and hope for the best to magically memorize them. This lack of a system soon turned out to be insufficient for my studies, and so I tried out several techniques to find one that helped me. Not too long ago, I finally found a method that works well for me: digital flashcards.

Prior to making flashcards, I analyze the words I need to study thoroughly: I look up explanations, synonyms, common collocations and, most importantly, example sentences. My favorite tools include Vocabulary.com and the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, and for further collocations, I have recently started using COCA. Unfortunately, collecting all this information is very time-consuming, which is definitely a drawback. However, in the long term, I benefit from it immensely, as I really get to know the contexts the words are likely to appear in and therefore get a feeling for how to use them properly.

Based on this analysis, I put together digital flashcards in a computer program called anki. It works just like physical flashcards: you put one piece of information on one side of the card, and put its definition on its on the other side. I usually type in collocations or phrases, rather than a single word, on the front side, and use synonyms or English explanations for the flip side. For words I don’t know how to pronounce, I also insert audio files, most often taken from the online pronunciation guide Forvo.com. After having typed in my list of words and their explanations, I can start studying these cards right away.

There are several reasons why I prefer anki over other flashcard programs. Firstly, anki exists both as a computer program and as an app, and will synchronize changes and learning progress across the devices it is used on. It also lets you modify the way you review cards: you can either simply look at the answer after guessing it in your head, or force yourself to manually type in the answer and compare it to the original solution. However, what I like the most about anki is that after answering a question, you have to rate how well you actually knew the answer. Based on these ratings, the program will ask you cards you were not so sure about more often and cards you knew for sure less often. It generally restricts the number of cards you revise per session to a realistic amount, but also provides a “cram mode” for emergencies. I think all these features really make a difference as I feel I am learning more efficiently now than before I started using anki.

In my experience, what really counts when learning vocabulary is discipline. It’s the true key to success. It is crucial to start studying early enough and to do it regularly; otherwise, there is simply not enough time to get it into your long-term memory. Unfortunately, discipline is not something a computer program can provide me with, so this is one factor I still have to work on. However, if I keep my motivation up, I think I will get better in learning vocabulary, especially now that I finally have an efficient method of doing it.