On Learning Vocabulary At the risk of being lynched by many of my fellow English teachers I am going to state quite

openly that in my opinion learning grammar is of secondary importance when learning a

foreign language. What we should concentrate on first is vocabulary learning and

communicative competence. Most people after all learn another language in order to be able

to communicate with others in that language. And in order to communicate you need to

know enough vocabulary so that you can express your ideas, opinions and generally be able

to describe the world about you.

Not that grammar is unimportant. (I‟m not that radical!) It is just that learning grammar

comes more naturally and easily after you have acquired a reasonable vocabulary and

communicative ability. This is the way, after all, in which we learn our own language and is

generally the way in which people “pick up” languages when they live in the country where

the language is spoken or have a lot of contact with people who speak the target language.

(How many sailors, for example, have ever bothered to read an English grammar book?)

I remember from my own experiences of learning Swedish how ineffective a strict

grammar-based course can be. After 200 hours or so of continual drilling on irregular verbs,

word endings, plural forms, word order, “huvudsats”, “bisats”, etc. etc. there was not really

a great deal I could actually say or understand outside the classroom or that was directly

useful to me in my day-to-day existence in Malmö.

I could tell you all about what the Svensson family did in the morning – when they got

up, washed, brushed their teeth, got dressed, and so on, but this was hardly a useful topic of

conversation outside the classroom. Nor was it especially useful in generating conversation

with the few Swedes I managed to come into contact with. You could hardly at a party go up

to someone with:

“Hello. My name‟s Peter. I got up at 6.30 this morning. Then I had a shower, brushed my

teeth…What about you? What time did you get dressed this morning?”

No, the most useful part of my Swedish course was the coffee break. There at least we

were actually forced to use Swedish in a natural way – namely in order to communicate with

one another.

In fact during my first year in Sweden I made virtually no progress at all until I started to

systematically teach myself essential vocabulary – basic nouns, verbs and adjectives. And

what a difference it made! All at once I began to understand my students in the coffee breaks

(though I never let on, of course) and the television news suddenly took on a new meaning. I

still couldn‟t say very much but at least my increased store of words gave me the courage

and the confidence to try.

Students often ask:

“What‟s the best way of learning English?”

I am tempted to reply:

“Learn the 1,000 most common English words and then go and live in the country for 3

months. If the latter is impracticable, then try living with someone who speaks English for a

while.” (You‟ll save on both the rent and course fees, and you‟ll learn to drink tea with milk

into the bargain!)

But to be serious, it is very seldom that vocabulary is systematically taught. What usually

happens is that you are left to “pick up” words on your own. To most people this means

learning lists of words by rote or parrot fashion. Most educationalists now agree that parrot

fashion repetition does not work – at least not in the long run. You may be able to cram in

words the day before a test, but chances are that very soon after the test you will have

forgotten the majority of the words you have “learnt”.

So what alternatives are there? Although it is impossible in this short article to cover all

aspects of memory and vocabulary learning, here are one or two suggestions that you might

find useful – or at least be prepared to try out.

Before starting any learning session, do two minutes breathing and relaxation

exercises. Tension inhibits memory and learning, so you need to get rid of it before you start.

Where possible make use of imagination and association. Make a “mental picture” of

the word or a special association – really try to see it in your mind‟s eye. For example, this is

how I taught myself the following Swedish words:

dimple – smilgrop. I imagined myself taking a photograph of a group of Japanese tourists.

As I took the photograph they all smiled and every one of them had two large dimples – one

on each cheek! (smile, group)

purr – spinna. I imagined a cat sitting on a gramophone turntable which was „spinning‟

faster and faster all the time. The faster it got the more the cat purred.

All-in-all I learnt approximately 40% of my Swedish words in this way. Although it was

quite hard work at first it got increasingly easy to make associations and pictures.

Occasionally group new words (or even old words) into categories – plants, animals,

things in the home, verbs to do with speech, etc. The act of grouping seems to aid memory.

Use rhythm, rhyme and mnemonics where possible. English children, for example, are

taught which months have thirty days by reciting:

“Thirty days hath September

April, June and November.”

Similarly, the spelling rule “I before E except after C” will help you to spell “field” and

“receive” correctly. Many of my students were having difficulty in remembering the English

word for „rödspätta‟ (plaice). So I taught them the phrase “Place the plaice on the plate, please!”

at the same time as they imagined themselves sitting in a restaurant saying this to the waiter

carrying a 2-metre plaice above his head.

Other aids for learning prepositions might be:

interested in (starts with in)

married to (two people)

Wine, water, whiskey and washing-up liquid with the meal? (Words begin with w to

remember to use the preposition with.)

Another way is to make up a rhyme to go with a new word you have just learnt – the

sillier the better. So if you had just learnt the word “ladle” (slev) you could say:

Put the ladle on the table

Not you David! I meant Mabel!

OR: next to the statue of Clark Gable.

The possibilities are endless!

Take regular breaks. Work for about 30 minutes, then take a break for 5 minutes.

During the break just relax. This is far more effective than working for two hours than

having a break for 15 minutes.

Use motivation. Reward yourself for a successful learning. For example, for every 50

words you learn and remember, buy yourself something – a new blouse or a tie, or treat

yourself to a meal at your favorite restaurant etc.

Revise regularly. First after 10 minutes. Then again after one day. Then again after one

week. Then again after one month… three months… nine months. The revision doesn‟t have

to be for long – five minutes will do. But it will ensure that the words are not forgotten.

Make up your own sentences using the new word you want to learn and imagine

yourself saying the sentence to someone. Alternatively, take 3-6 new words and try to

combine them into a single sentence or make up a simple story using the words. The very

effort of concentrating on the words will help to “fix them” in your mind.

Finally, make your own flash cards (approx. 105x74 mm) with the English word on one

side and the Swedish word on the other. Pin them up around the house or flat if necessary.

Place the word “jug” on a jug, for example, or the word “coffee table” on the coffee table, the

word “loo”… and so on. In this way you will often pick up the words quite subconsciously.

Cards are also easy to have with you on long train journeys. You might even get your fellow-

passengers to join in with you!)

Peter Watcyn-Jones

Discuss the text with a friend.

1. What do you think is more important to study, vocabulary or grammar? Or do you

find them equally important? Motivate your answer!

2. What tips did you get on learning English in this text? Are there any good tips you

want to try out?

3. How do you learn new words? How can you study vocabulary effectively?

4. How do you learn English grammar? How can you study grammar effectively?

Write your own wordlist.

5. Go through the text once more and write down words that you think are useful for

you to know. Write a wordlist and study the words. How can you learn these

words effectively? (Consider pronunciation, spelling and how to use the words in

different sentences.)