Expand Your Word Bank: 19 Strategies for Students to Improve Vocabulary

Vocabulary is a collection of words in a person’s lexical repertoire. The term vocabulary comes from the Latin word “vocabulum,” which means “a word, a name.” 

Vocabulary is a critical component of language and communication, aiding in transmitting thoughts, ideas, emotions, and information.

It can be vocal, written, or signed and is divided into two categories: active vocabulary and passive vocabulary. 

Active vocabulary consists of words you use frequently, and passive vocabulary refers to words you recognize but do not use frequently.

That said, as a critical skill, if you dont have enough of it in your lexical repertoire, you will find it challenging to read and understand texts.

Any student who wants to excel in their academic success or beyond an educational setting must develop this skill. 

So, how do you improve your vocabulary? What strategies can you implement to make learning new words easy?

Many unique strategies, thankfully, are available to help you learn new words quickly. 

This post will teach you 19 word learning strategies to improve your vocabulary immediately.

1. Foster word consciousness

Word consciousness refers to the habit of finding new words, figuring out their meaning, looking for multiple meanings, and adding them to your linguistic repertoire. 

Fostering this habit in students will help them develop their vocabularies swiftly. By becoming word-conscious, you build awareness and interest in words. 

Some tactics to help foster this habit include engaging your student in word games and activities that make learning fun. 

Word puzzles, crosswords, word searches, and vocabulary board games are practical tools for developing word consciousness.

Other exciting tactics you can implement include researching word origins or histories. 

As Graves, M.F. puts it, “If we can get students interested in playing with words and language, then we are at least halfway to the goal of creating the sort of word-conscious students who will make words a lifetime interest.”

2. Introduce each new word one at a time

Introducing one new word one at a time is an effective strategy for helping students develop new vocabulary.

If you are an instructor teaching vocabulary to students, here’s how you can do it with them:

• Start by saying the word aloud clearly, then have your student repeat the word after you. This process helps students to become familiar with the pronunciation. 
• Next, add visual support by displaying the words and their meaning for students to see on visual aid tools like a word wall, flip chart, or vocabulary graphic organizer.

Adding pictures related to the word can be helpful, too. This visual representation helps reinforce the connection between the word and its meaning in your student’s minds.

For those learning English but English is not their first language, utilizing cognates can be helpful. 

Cognates are words from different languages with similar meanings, spellings, and pronunciations in English and the student’s native language. 

Some examples of English cognates in Spanish are family and familia, center and centro, class, and clase.

By using cognates, you can help English language learners (ELLs) make connections and understand new words more easily.

3. Understand the true meaning of words

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