Words matter.<\/h2>\n
Bottom line: you can\u2019t attain advanced proficiency without grammar and pragmatics, but nothing drives proficiency gains faster than building vocabulary (especially for beginners).<\/strong><\/p>\n All four skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) require vocabulary. For example, vocabulary has been shown to account for up to 72% of the variance in reading scores among language learners[1]<\/a>. Another meta-analysis of many language-related studies found strong correlations between vocab size and reading comprehension[2]<\/a>.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t take our word for it (pun intended)\u2014look at all these independent studies that show how proficiency level increased in tandem with vocabulary.<\/p><\/div>\n This is probably confirmed many times over by your own experiences trying to use and understand your second language. You know how disruptive it is to try to read a sentence or ask someone a question and realize you don\u2019t know the right words.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t believe the myth that explicit and purposeful vocab study is somehow inconsistent with the principles of communicative learning.<\/p>\n But by \u201cexplicit and purposeful\u201d vocab study, we do not<\/em> mean endless textbook vocabulary lists. We encourage you to learn vocabulary in the wild, through authentic sources like news articles, podcasts, songs, literature, social media, and beyond.<\/p>\n Authentic sources provide an opportunity for real-world, \u201cscenario-driven\u201d vocabulary learning.<\/strong> Our brains don\u2019t organize vocabulary into semantic lists like \u201ccolors\u201d and \u201cnumbers\u201d\u2014they organize it into situations like \u201crainy day\u201d, which might include a bunch of topically-related nouns, verbs, adjectives, and expressions: puddle, umbrella, to downpour, raining cats and dogs, etc. Scenario-driven learning helps because it mirrors how vocabulary gets stored in our brains.<\/p>\n Ok, ok, you get it, vocab is important!<\/p>\n But vocabulary is not learned incidentally. Doing lots of reading or listening exposes you to a lot of contextualized learning, but for beginner or intermediate learners of a language, that context doesn\u2019t help if you don\u2019t have the requisite vocabulary (or cultural knowledge)!<\/p>\n One study found that readers need to know 98% of the words in a text to comfortably read and understand it<\/strong>[3]<\/a>. Here\u2019s what a passage from The Wizard of Oz looks like with almost 30% of the vocabulary blanked out:<\/p>\n Completely unintelligible, even for a native speaker, right? That 70% doesn\u2019t get you very far!<\/p><\/div>\n Unless you\u2019re a very advanced learner, you can\u2019t expect to read or hear a word in context and just use context clues to figure it out like you might in your native language.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Before you make a big stack of flashcards, we have some ideas for you! Join Bridgette Claery (a 5-year veteran language teacher!) to explore her favorite methods to make vocab learning fun and effective\u2014no index cards required.<\/p>\n![\"language](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2021\/03\/vocab-by-level.png\")
Authenticity matters.<\/h2>\n
Interaction matters.<\/h2>\n
![\"vocabulary](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2021\/03\/wizard-of-oz-blanked.png\")
So what can you do to learn vocab that\u2019s fast, fun, and effective?<\/h2>\n