What are the top five ways, in which a student could improve their vocabulary?

Question

What are five simple steps that could help a student to improve their vocabulary?

Answer 1

Effective Ways to Improve Vocabulary: Tip #1
Studying lists of words is not the way. Spending time at the neighborhood Starbucks, I see plenty of university students preparing for the verbal section of the GRE with storebought word lists, fastidiously prepared flash cards, and other trappings of standardized test mania best served alongside a venti mocha. While not entirely futile, this list-based approach to vocabulary building is misguided at best. Words exist in contexts, and studying words divorced from their contexts makes those words harder to learn - and worse yet, harder to use later. (Think of it this way: if you want to improve your racquetball serve, you'll probably want to position yourself in an actual racquetball court, right?).

Effective Ways to Improve Vocabulary: Tip #2
Read a lot. The experience of encountering unfamiliar words in print is remarkably instructive. First, because you're already engaged in reading something, you are arguably more motivated to learn a new word so that you better understand what you're voluntarily reading. Second, you have come across the word organically rather than artificially (i.e. in a vocabulary list). You'll pick up new words - and clarify meanings of words already in your toolkit - by exposing yourself to them in their, shall we say, natural habitat. The context will enrich your attempt to build a better vocabulary.

Effective Ways to Improve Vocabulary: Tip #3
Read good writing. I admit that "good writing" is a contentious term, but in general, I consider writing to be "good" if it communicates complex ideas in ways that are clear and concise yet thorough and detailed. In other words, there should be a tension between sometimes keeping it simple and sometimes using so-called "big words" words because they communicate something that common words just can't. To put it another way, look for writing that has an intellectual, exploratory bent.

So, what should you read regularly? I'm not qualified to prescribe exact sources for all, but I'll reveal my biases and recommend some periodicals and blogs I like:

The New York Times (especially on Sundays)
The New Yorker
The Utne Reader
Salon (www.salon.com)
Malcolm Gladwell's Blog (www.gladwell.typepad.com)

There's a more liberal orientation to the above, but if you prefer socially conservative reading, try the National Review or anything by Ann Coulter. Also, the above are all periodicals or blogs. Regular books are equally effective, and it would be imprudent to ignore them. Fiction (the sort good enough to be classified as literature) and nonfiction are both bound to build your vocabulary.

Effective Ways to Improve Vocabulary: Tip #4.
Don't (exclusively) read fluff. It's okay to indulge in less intellectual reading and writing. We all do it, and it can be fun. But don't read fluff so steadfastly that you ignore heavier stuff. USA Today is an example of a fluff newspaper notorious for watering down concepts and avoiding sophisticated language in order to appeal to the masses. Although it's arguable that they're doing some good by making news more accessible to a wider group of readers, they're also guilty of neglecting critical shades of grey when it comes to politics, economics, sociology, and the other disciplines they typically cover. Unless your vocabulary is indubitably weak, you're not going to improve it by reading something like USA Today.

Effective Ways to Improve Vocabulary: Tip #5.
Diversity of topics is important. Read some natural science stuff. Then read some applied science stuff. Read some contemporary literature. Then read some Shakespeare. Comb through a pop psychology book and then consume a humorous work (and no fair saying those last two are the same!). Varied reading will sharpen both general and subject-specific vocabularies. The diversity of reading material at liberal arts colleges is one reason that graduates of such schools generally possess better vocabularies. History. Philosophy. Biology. Travel. Anthropology. Linguistics. Art. Gender Studies. Politics. You don't have to be an expert in all disciplines to build a meaty vocabulary, but you do need to be a well-informed reader who's confident and comfortable reading on topics outside your areas of immediate expertise.

I practice them. That is why i could attest to the effectiveness of the aforementioned tips.

Answer 2

1. Begin with the first word of a dictionary. write it down and it's definition and use it in a sentence. This will take time it's not supposed to be done all at once preferably 2-5 words at a time.Pacing yourself will also allow you to learn and retain the word.
2. Read alot. If you find any unfamiliar words look them up. You may need to interupt your reading to do this inorder to be able to understand what you are reading and you learn a new word too.
3. Listen to others especially well spoken people. Ask them what certain words mean, if you're shy write the word down(if you don't know how to spell it, sound it out), look it up later and remember the context it was used in.
4. Do crossword puzzles or word searches.
5. Use a Thesaurus.

I don't know if these are the top 5, but I hope they help.

Answer 3

Read books and newspapers and try to pick ones that everybody says are too old or advanced. Get hold of back copies of Reader's Digest and do the vocabulary exercise. Tackle Shakespeare, it's only a myth that you can't understand him. Most of the school texts include vocabularies for words that have drastically different meanings. In real desperation, leaf through the dictionary and read the meanings.

Answer 4

Well I think Cascade Ranger is difficult to top, but when choosing what to read, you might consider:

Asking your "smarter" friends the title of their favorite books.

Looking on the back of the book or just inside the cover to see if there is a review of the book by either Kirkus Review or New York Times Book Review, as this is a sign that the book is more likely to be considered literature.

Read the first paragraph, then skip to page 50 or so and read another paragraph, if you don't like it, choose something else. Reading should be enjoyable. If you don't like Jane Austin don't force it. There are plenty of fantastic books to read that will help you build a vocabulary.

Happy reading on your way to the mastery of the English lexis.

Answer 5

Read a book a week. Learn one new word a day from the dictionary. Take the Reader's Digest vocabulary quiz once a month. Research topics of interest on the net. Read various newspapers.

Answer 6

1. READ a lot, challenging books
2. Learn the building blocks of words ( Greek, Latin, French, Anglo Saxon) layers of language prefixes, roots, suffixes etc.
3. Learn words in a context ( Check out Nanci Bell's books called Vanilla Vocabulary 1 and 2)
4. Learn to use context clues, use the information around the word to help you determine the meaning.
5. Use the vocabulary words in daily speech and writing.
Practice, practice, practice 70 times 70 ways and you're going it get it one of these days.

Answer 7

Hi, i was very bad with the vocabulary because its so boring to remember words and their meaning but when i found www.mnemonicdictionary.com ,i found the solution of all my memory related issue. This site is so helpful.
Few examples from website:

apropos :=> at an opportune time;of an appropriate or pertinent nature
If you are planning to PROPOSE a girl, propose her on a SPECIFIC TIME or at an opportune time . Not anywhere, not everywhere... Otherwise you are going to loose your heart
slipshod:=> marked by great carelessness
mnemonic : this word sound very close to slip shot (a shot played in the slip in the game of cricket)--and think of a batsman who is playing a slip shot in a VERY CARELESS WAY hence caught by the fielder in the slip.

Answer 8

Read the Encyclopedia
Read the Dictionary.
Pay attention in English class.
Play word games (scrable/crosswords)
Read classic books/plays, ex: Shakespear, Austin, Bronte, Twain, Dickens....

Answer 9

1. Read more books.
2. Try to use the dicitonary more often.
3. Use the thesaurus.
4. Read magazines such as TIMES etc.
5. Watch CNN or BBC news more often.

Answer 10

Reading, writing, learning second language word quiz in Readers Digest, cross word puzzles Tell you teacher Yahoo answers and see what happens