Week 7: Learning new specialised and academic vocabulary
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Week 7: Learning new specialised and academic vocabulary
Introduction
If you decide to study at university, you will need to learn new vocabulary. This will allow you to become a member of the academic community that studies your chosen subject.
Learning to read and use new words may appear difficult at the beginning but with time it is possible to build a good academic and specialist vocabulary. This week you will learn a range of strategies that will help you to understand, learn and record new words.
Transcript
Welcome to Week 7!
This week you continue working on academic and specialised vocabulary. Academic and specialist terms can help you to write about your chosen subject in a much clearer and more precise way and to be understood by people who have the same interests both in academic and workplace contexts.
This week you will learn a range of strategies that can help you choose which words to learn and do so in an effective way. In particular, you will learn how to make the most of online dictionaries and look at ways to record new words for future use.
By the end of this week you will:
- be aware of a range of vocabulary learning strategies
- be able to make the most of the available online dictionaries
- be able to choose which words to learn
- be able to record new words.
1 Learning new academic and specialised words
Studying a university course involves reading and writing texts containing words that may be new to you. There are specialised (or technical) words and word groups that are associated with a particular subject area (for example, chromosome in biology, derivative in economics, baud in ICT, global integration in business studies). There are also many general academic words that are used across most subject areas (for example, concept, equitable, capitalism, exclusive, comprise).
While it is possible to acquire some new vocabulary naturally, simply by using it, you can also use strategies to enhance this process.
In this section you will reflect on your current vocabulary building strategies and consider other ways in which you can develop your ability to learn new words.
1.1 Reflecting on your current vocabulary building strategies
Both at work and in your leisure time you may have needed to learn new technical terms related, for example, to machinery or techniques you have had to use. For instance, when preparing for a driving test, it is necessary to learn the correct words for the various parts of a car and its accessories, as well as for different types of signs, roads and crossings. You may also remember learning new words when studying a foreign language.
In the next activity you will reflect on the vocabulary building strategies you have used so far.
Activity 1
Using the headings in the boxes below, note down the strategies you usually use to check the meaning of new words and to record and learn them. Type your answers in the boxes below.
Consider the answers you have just written and think about the following questions:
- How effective have your vocabulary building strategies been so far and why?
- How could they be improved further?
1.2 Looking at some more strategies
Reflecting on your current strategies is very useful but by comparing them with those of other people, particularly with students who are currently learning new words, you are likely to discover new vocabulary learning strategies. You will do this in the next activity.
Activity 2
Sharing and comparing ideas with your fellow students can help you improve your vocabulary learning strategies.
Below is a list of messages written by some students who used their tutor group forum to exchange tips on how to record and learn new words. Think about the strategies they mention and identify which ones you already use and which ones you would like to try. Type your answers in the boxes below.
- When I’m reading, I underline all the words I don’t know and, when I’ve finished reading, I look up them up in a dictionary. I add the words to a long word-processed list that I started a while back and try to remember them.
- Some readings contain too many words I don’t understand, so I note down and try to learn only those I think are important first to recognise and later to use myself. These will be technical terms that are essential to talk about my subject or more general academic words I can use in my essays.
- I agree that sometimes it is not necessary to learn the new words contained in a reading. Sometimes I try to understand the key ideas by focusing on the words I do understand. These help me to understand the context in which the new words are used.
- When I’m not sure about a particular term, I sometimes ask other students for help with its precise meaning. Often they find the same term difficult too, so we help each other make sense of it.
- English is not my first language so I look up unfamiliar words in a
bilingual dictionary , checking their translation and pronunciation. I then copy the word, translation and pronunciation into a notebook, sequenced in alphabetical order. I read the new additions out aloud until I’ve memorised them. - I prefer to use a monolingual dictionary to look for a definition in English rather than in my mother tongue. In this way I get used to thinking about it in English.
- I do the same, but I also note down one or two examples of the word being used in different texts. Using a contrasting colour to highlight the word makes it stand out in the example sentences. Having a record of the word in use makes me more confident about using it appropriately myself.
- I write new words on post-its which I stick on the wall next to my computer. Seeing them every day helps me remember them. Once I’ve started using them, I replace them with new ones.
- I use mind maps or tables to organise words according to particular topics or themes so that they are linked by their meaning.
Comment
Your preferred strategies are likely to depend on your past experience and your learning style. In general, however, students find that the most effective strategies are those that involve focusing on a selection of new words, classifying them, reviewing them regularly, and making an effort to use them in their own speech and writing.
Whatever your usual preference, you may find it useful to try out some new strategies, to see if they work better for you.
2 Looking up words in an English language dictionary
There are many reasons for looking up a word in the dictionary and finding a definition is just one of them. As you may need to use as well as understand new words, you may also want to:
- learn how to pronounce the word
- check how it is spelled
- find words that have a similar meaning (synonyms)
- find out what role it plays in a sentence
- see some sentences that contain that word
- find out which other words can be used with that word.
This information is particularly valuable if you want to use the new word in your own writing. If this word is new to you or you are not very familiar with its use, you may not know how it is used in a sentence or which words normally precede or follow it. If you need to paraphrase it or you want to find an alternative way to refer to the same meaning, you will also need to find its synonyms.
You will learn how to find this information through the following activities.
2.1 Different types of dictionaries
There are many types of dictionaries:
- Generic English language dictionaries – these are monolingual dictionaries, which are dictionaries that provide a definition in English.
- Bilingual dictionaries such as the Collins English–French Dictionary.
- English language learner’s dictionaries, such as the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary and The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary of Academic English, which provide simple definitions for students.
- Specialist dictionaries such as the Dictionary of Science, which define specialist terms.
Collocations dictionaries such as the Oxford Collocations Dictionary, or the sites, Ozdic and Just the Word, which allow you to find the most common combinations of words.- Thesauri such as Thesaurus.com, which provide collocations, synonyms and related words.
Dictionaries can be accessed in a variety of ways. You have the option to use:
- Print dictionaries which you can purchase online or from a bookstore. These normally provide a CD ROM containing additional resources such as advice on how to learn vocabulary, exercises, pronunciation and a full thesaurus.
- Online dictionaries available only on subscription such as the Oxford English Dictionary. This dictionary, which gives comprehensive information, can generally be accessed for free from university libraries by enrolled students.
- Dictionary apps that you can access through a smartphone of tablet.
- Free online dictionaries such as The Collins English Dictionary.
- Search engines such as OneLook which find definitions from several free online dictionaries.
2.2 Using an online search engine to find information about a word
As you have seen, there are many reasons for looking up a word in a dictionary and one dictionary may not provide all the information you need. For example, you may want to look at more examples in which that word is used or you may find that looking at the definition given by another dictionary can help you clarify the meaning of the word.
It is therefore useful to look up new words in more than one dictionary through a search engine. You will practise using a search engine in the next activity.
Activity 3
In this activity you will learn how to use the search engine OneLook to find information about a word.
Go to OneLook, enter the word ‘strategy’ in the search window, click on ‘search’ and look at the page displayed by the search engine. What kind of information does it provide?
Answer
The page provides the short version of the Macmillan Dictionary’s detailed definition of the word ‘strategy’ as well as a list of links to 65 dictionaries which also define the word. These dictionaries are classified according to their specialism: the list includes 28 general English language dictionaries, 8 dictionaries specialising in business terminology, 1 specialising in art, 3 on computing and many others.
Some of the dictionaries included in the general list may already be familiar to you. Note that the list includes both American English and British English. These two varieties of English sometimes use different vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation.
The list also includes the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. This dictionary is very useful to anybody who is looking for a definition expressed through simpler words and for additional grammatical information.
Comment
This search engine allows you to look up the same word in more than one dictionary. This allows you to search for more information about the word and also to look for information that is clearer to you. In addition, if you found the word in a business studies text or needed to write a business studies essay, you will be interested in the definition given by a dictionary that specialises in business terminology.
2.3 Finding and understanding specific information about a word
In the next activity you will practise finding information about a word.
Activity 4
Look again at the list of dictionaries displayed by OneLook when you entered the word ‘strategy’. Find the Macmillan dictionary definition of the word ‘strategy’ in the list of general dictionaries. Note down the kind of information it provides. How can each piece of information be useful to you?
Answer
This dictionary provides:
- Two definitions. This word has two meanings, so two definitions are given.
- Frequency of use. Three stars indicate that strategy is one of the 7500 most used words.
- Grammatical information. Strategy is a noun and can be both countable and uncountable. The meaning of countable and uncountable will be explained in the following section.
- Word forms. For this word, the dictionary gives the singular form (strategy) and the plural form (strategies). This information is very useful when using words that have unusual plural forms such as man (singular) and men (plural) or analysis (singular) and analyses (plural).
- Pronunciation. By clicking on the British or American flag, you will be able to look up the British English and the American English pronunciation as, occasionally, these can be different.
- Origin of the word. The word ‘strategy’ comes from Greek and French. If you know either or both these languages, this information can help you to better understand and remember the word strategy.
- Examples. These are very useful examples that can help you to see how this word is normally used in the context of a phrase or sentence.
- Some collocations. These are words that normally precede or follow the word ‘strategy’. For example, ‘devise a strategy’, ‘plan a strategy’ and ‘adopt a strategy’ are common combinations of words. This information helps if you need to use this word in your own writing.
- Synonyms. These can be found by clicking on the red symbol ‘T’ (Thesaurus). You may need to find synonyms if you need to paraphrase a text or wish to refer to something in a variety of ways throughout your essay. More synonyms can be found by looking up the word in a specialised website such as Thesaurus.com
Comment
This is very useful information if you want to use a word in your own writing. While it is not necessary to look up all this information, it is important to know that dictionaries provide it and that these are available online. Many of the dictionaries listed by OneLook.com are also available in hard copy.
2.4 Using several dictionaries to find more information about a word
If you wish to find additional information about a word, you can look it up in more than one dictionary. You will practise this in the following activity.
Activity 5
Go back to the OneLook page and look up the word strategy in the Collins Dictionary, and in Vocabulary.com. What additional information can you find?
Answer
The Collins English Dictionary gives more synonyms and links to translations of the word in several languages. Vocabulary.com gives more examples showing how ‘strategy’ can be used in a sentence. It also provides other words that are part of the same ‘word family’. These are all the words that have a similar form and meaning. The word family of strategy includes: strategic, strategies, strategically, strategist, and strategists.
These words allow you to express an idea in a different way, perhaps when paraphrasing. For example, the phrase ‘adopt a strategy to deal with a problem’ can be turned to ‘deal with a problem strategically’. A list of all the academic word families is provided by the Academic Word List (AWL) provided by the website UEFAP.
2.5 Finding collocations
If you have never seen or used a particular word before or need help paraphrasing a phrase, you may want to look at different ways in which this word is normally used with other words. These combinations of words are called collocations.
You will practise this through the following activity.
Activity 6
Log on to the Just the word website and enter the word ‘strategy’. You will be taken to the following page.
Use just-the-word.com to find more formal equivalents for the words in bold in this sentence:
Management came up with a good strategy and used it throughout the organisation.
Answer
More formal equivalents of ‘To come up with a strategy’ are most of the items in the first cluster: adopt, develop, devise, draw up, formulate, outline and plan a strategy. The verbs devise, develop and plan are the most commonly used.
The phrase ‘good strategy’ is very general. To find the best equivalent, it would be necessary to know in what way the strategy was good. Possible alternative collocations are: comprehensive, effective, successful and clear strategy.
Equivalents of ‘use a strategy’ are: adopt, implement and pursue a strategy.
3 Understanding the grammatical information about a word
Understanding the grammatical information about a word helps to make correct use of that word. In this section you will learn how to use dictionary information about:
- countable and uncountable nouns
- word classes.
3.1 Countable and uncountable nouns
Knowing if a word is countable or uncountable helps to use it in the context of a sentence.
Uncountable nouns are nouns that cannot be counted. These include names of substances such as rice and milk and
These words cannot be plural. It would be incorrect to say rices, milks, musics, funs and happinesses.
As these words refer to things that cannot be counted, it is incorrect to use ‘many’, ‘a few’, ‘several’, ‘a’ or ‘an’ when talking about their quantity. However, it is correct to say:
a bag of rice, a grain of rice
a glass of milk, a lot of milk, some milk, no milk
some fun, a lot of or a little happiness or, more formally, a great deal of happiness.
Countable nouns are words that refer to things that can be counted. These are both
These words can be plural (dogs, girls, books, ideas and strategies) and can be preceded by ‘many’, ‘a few’, ‘a’ or ‘an’ as in:
a dog, a few girls, several books
a few ideas, many strategies.
Some words can be both countable and uncountable. This is because they have more than one meaning. For example, the word ‘room’ can be used to refer to the parts of a building (countable) or the amount of space needed (uncountable):
3.2 Distinguishing between countable and uncountable nouns
If you know that a word is uncountable, you will be able to use correctly. The following activity gives you an opportunity to practise this skill.
Activity 7
You will now look at two sets of words. The first set includes common everyday words, while the second set contains academic words.
Question 1
Which of the following everyday words are countable and which are uncountable nouns?
If you are unsure, try to place the word ‘many’, ‘a’ or ‘an’ before it. If this seems correct, that word is countable; if it doesn’t, it is uncountable. Some words can be both countable and uncountable. If you are unsure, look them up in the dictionary.
- pen
- car
- light
- luggage
- computer
- information
- time
- traffic
- sadness
- pound
- butter
- skill
Answer
Countable: pen, car, computer, pound.
Uncountable: luggage, information, traffic, sadness, butter.
Countable and uncountable: light, time, skill.
Comment
Did you classify all the words correctly? Words that are both countable and uncountable have more than one meaning. They are therefore difficult to classify and it is necessary to look them up.
Question 2
Unlike familiar vocabulary, specialised and academic vocabulary can be difficult to classify and therefore to use. Which of the following are countable, which are uncountable and which can be both? If you are in doubt, consult a dictionary.
- clarity
- consumer
- expertise
- cycle
- knowledge
- location
- culture
- progress
- evidence
- function
- research
- information
- expert
- experience
Answer
Countable: consumer, location, cycle, function, expert.
Uncountable: clarity, expertise, knowledge, progress, evidence, research.
Countable and uncountable: experience, culture.
Comment
If a word is unfamiliar to you, or you rarely use or hear it, you may not know how to use it. This leads to errors such as ‘many researches’ or ‘an information’. These errors can be avoided by using a dictionary.
3.3 Word classes
Dictionaries also define words in terms of the class to which they belong. Words that belong to the same class behave in the same way within sentences.
Knowing whether a word is a noun, a verb, an adjective or some other type of word will help you to use it correctly. In particular, it helps university students to understand their tutors’ corrections and explanations.
The table below presents the word classes.
You can also download a version of the above diagram.
Activity 8
The table below defines each word class but it is incomplete. Using the information contained in the mind-map, fill the empty boxes. One has already been filled as an example. You can download a version of the table.
| Definition | Word class | Examples |
| Words that describe what happens, an action or something someone does, or a state of being. | verbs | Dictionaries are useful The student wrote an essay. It rained all day. |
| Words that identify: people, things, states, qualities, ideas. | Dictionaries are useful. The student wrote an essay. Tiredness can kill. | |
| Words that give information about a noun. | An important point. A good idea. | |
| Words used to describe an adjective, a verb or an adverb; for example they may explain how, when and where and how action takes place. | Private and public spaces differ greatly. | |
| Words that take the place of a noun that has already been mentioned or is known. | Sam walked all day. In the evening, she was very tired. | |
| Words that express emotion, such as joy or anger. | Wow! I can’t believe it! | |
| Words that are used to connect other words and sentences. | I have a dog and a cat. | |
| Words that indicate whether the noun contained in a sentence is general or specific. | I bought a (general) new computer. This (specific) car is quite powerful. |
Answer
| Definition | Word class | Examples |
| Words that describe what happens, an action or something someone does, or a state of being | verbs | Dictionaries are useful The student wrote an essay. It rained all day. |
| Words that identify: people, things, states, qualities, ideas. | nouns | Dictionaries are useful. The student wrote an essay. Tiredness can kill. |
| Words that give information about a noun. | adjectives | An important point. A good idea. |
| Words used to describe an adjective, a verb or an adverb; for example it may explain how, when and where and how action takes place. | adverbs | Private and public spaces differ greatly. |
| Words that take the place of a noun that has already been mentioned or is known. | pronouns | Sam walked all day. In the evening, she was very tired. |
| Words that express emotion, such as joy or anger. | exclamations | Wow! I can’t believe it! |
| Words that are used to connect other words and sentences. | conjunctions | I have a dog and a cat. |
| Words that indicate whether the noun contained in a sentence is general or specific. | determiners | I bought a (general) new computer. This (specific) car is quite powerful. |
3.4 Avoiding word class confusions
Understanding the role that a word plays in a sentence can help you to use and spell it correctly.
For example, some students confuse the words advise and advice. They often find it difficult to decide which should be used in the following two sentences:
(a) I always accept his _______
(b) Your tutor will be able to _______ you.
To decide, it is useful to first of all determine the class of the word missing in each case.
For the first sentence to make sense, the missing word must be a thing and therefore a noun. The second sentence needs a word describing an action, therefore a verb is missing.
If you look up advice and advise, you will find that advice is a noun and should be used in the first sentence. Advise is a verb and should be placed in the second sentence. Dictionaries also provide examples which help to check that your spelling is correct. If you listen to the pronunciation of these two words you will also notice that their pronunciation differs.
Activity 9
Use the following words to fill the gaps in the sentences below. Use a dictionary to help you decide.
Practice or practise
- To learn a language you need to ______ it regularly.
Answer
Practise
Practice or practise
- Including a reference is considered good academic _______.
Answer
Practice
Accept or except
- Children should never _______ a present from a stranger.
Answer
Accept
Accept or except
- All my friends will be able to come _______ Louise.
Answer
Except
Cite or site
- It is very important to _______ your sources.
Answer
Cite
Cite or site
- I found a very useful _______.
Answer
Site
Lose or loose
- To _______ weight it is important to exercise regularly.
Answer
Lose
Lose or loose
- This path is dangerous because of _______ stones and snow.
Answer
Loose
4 Deciding which words to learn
While it is good to extend your understanding and use of new vocabulary by looking up new words in your dictionary, it is important to remember that it is not always necessary to know or learn every word in a text. In this section you will consider situations in which you may not need to understand every word, and cases in which you may want to choose to learn only some words.
4.1 Understanding texts that contain specialised and academic vocabulary
Sometimes you may just want to quickly read a text to test your previous knowledge about a subject and decide if it is worth reading it in more detail later. Alternatively, you may read it just to find some specific information and you may not be interested in understanding every word. You will practise this skill in the next activity.
Activity 10
The text below is about infectious diseases and, in particular, about AIDS. You may want to download and print this text as you will need it again to complete Activities 11 and 12. Skim read it and then scan it to decide if the statements below are true or false.
Try to do this activity without stopping to look up unfamiliar words.
The global threat of infectious diseases
- Since the 1980s, infectious disease has re-emerged at the top of the global health agenda, destroying the optimism following World War 2 that modern medical interventions, such as antibiotic therapy and mass vaccination programmes, could eliminate deaths from infection. The new awareness of infection as a major threat to health has centred on the AIDS pandemic.
- Acquired immune deficiency syndrome had already claimed over 21 million lives by the start of 2001, including 4.5 million children. By that date, new infections with HIV (the human immunodeficiency virus) in Sub-Saharan Africa had accelerated past 16,000 per day; in some regions over 25% of the adult population were already infected and average life expectancy at birth had fallen by more than 10 years.
- AIDS was not the only apparently ‘new’ infection to threaten human health. Later in this chapter we review some other ‘emerging’ infectious diseases in the twenty-first century, which have risen in importance against the general downward trend globally in infection as a cause of death.
- The impact of HIV/AIDS on the economies, and hence the political stability, of heavily affected countries, is a major cause for international concern, and reminds us that an infectious disease still has the potential to alter the course of a nation’s history. Past epidemics and the long-term impact of diseases have been among the most potent forces shaping the current global distribution of population and cultures. Their influence can be seen in the balance of political and economic power in the modern world.
a.
True
b.
False
The correct answer is a.
a.
True – AIDS is mentioned at the end of the first paragraph, which is about infectious disease. The same paragraph also states that AIDS is seen as a ‘major threat’, which suggests that there is concern and explains that awareness is now centred on AIDS. The word pandemic (worldwide/global epidemic) is not essential to decide if the statement is true or false.
a.
True
b.
False
The correct answer is b.
b.
False – Paragraph 2 states that 4.5 million children died of AIDS (claimed over 21 million lives by the start of 2001, including 4.5 million children).
a.
True
b.
False
The correct answer is b.
b.
False – Paragraph 2 states that over 25% of adults in some regions in Sub-Saharan Africa (and not all Africa) are affected.
a.
True
b.
False
The correct answer is a.
a.
True – Paragraph 3 explains that some new infections have started to appear and AIDS is ‘not the only new infection’. It is not necessary to understand the word ‘emerging’ as the words ‘new … infectious diseases’ are sufficient to answer the question.
a.
True
b.
False
The correct answer is a.
a.
True – The answer is in Paragraph 4, which is about the impacts (i.e. a synonym of effects) of AIDS. The first sentence mentions effects on economies and political stability. The last sentence mentions an ‘influence’ on the ‘balance of political and economic power’. The key words that are necessary to decide if the statement is true or false are all the synonyms of ‘affect’ and ‘effect’ (e.g. influence, impact, cause).
Comment
If your purpose for reading is to get the general gist or to answer some general questions, it may not be necessary to understand all the words that may not be clear. As you have seen in Week 1, reading words in context can help you to guess their meaning without needing to use a dictionary. This involves focusing on the words you do understand and, in particular, using your understanding of the words around the unfamiliar ones in order to guess their meaning.
After answering your initial questions, you will need to decide if it is worth gaining a deeper understanding of the text. This may be because new questions have emerged or while reading the text you may have found information that can be used in an assignment.
If you decide to read the text in more depth, you will probably need to gain a better understanding of the technical and academic terms it contains. This decision will depend on your reason for reading it and how you will use the information it contains.
4.2 Deciding which words to learn
In order to expand your specialised and general academic vocabulary more rapidly and effectively, it is helpful to distinguish three types of words in the texts you read:
- Words and word groups that are highly relevant to your present studies that you already use. These words are part of your active vocabulary.
- Words and word groups that you understand but would not be able to use when speaking or writing. These words are part of your passive vocabulary, as you can recall their meaning only when you encounter them in the speech and writing of someone else.
- Words and word groups that you don’t understand but could be relevant to your present studies.
The following provides an opportunity to practise distinguishing between these three types of words.
Activity 11
Look closely at the text from Activity 10, ‘The global threat of infectious diseases’, and note down examples for each of the three categories described above. Type your answers in the boxes below:
Answer
Of course, it is impossible to predict what you have written as your answer will depend on your background and your first language. Here are some possibilities:
- Words and word groups that you already understand and use: infection, birth, cause, impact
- Words and word groups that you understand but cannot use: infectious disease, optimism, interventions, mass vaccination programmes, claimed, accelerated, infected, average life expectancy, threaten, emerging, downward trend, concern, potential, alter the course of, shaping
- Words and word groups that you don’t understand: antibiotic therapy, pandemic, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, human immunodeficiency virus, hence, epidemic
Having identified the words in the text that are part of your active vocabulary, your passive vocabulary, and those that are completely new to you, it is important to decide if you need to upgrade your knowledge of any of them. Look again at the lists you have made and answer the following questions. Type the answers in the boxes below.
Which of the words and word groups that you only understand should become part of your active vocabulary? Why?
Which of the words that are completely new to you should become part of your active or passive vocabulary? Why?
Answer
Your answer will depend on your interests and on the subject you are thinking of studying. For example, active knowledge of specialised terms such as human immunodeficiency virus is likely to be essential if you are interested in science or medicine, but less so if you want to learn English literature.
However, general academic terms such as concern, emerging and potential can be used in many academic contexts, so you will probably want to be able to understand and use these, whatever your interests.
Comment
Identifying and classifying new words after reading a text can be a time-consuming process. However, being selective about the words that you wish to focus on and deciding that some of these will be for passive, rather than active, use can make your vocabulary learning more efficient. As you study new modules, selecting which new words and word groups to learn for either active or passive use will become easier.
4.3 Identifying specialised and general academic vocabulary
One of the ways of selecting the words you want to learn consists in distinguishing between specialised vocabulary (technical terms that are specific to a particular subject) and general academic vocabulary (formal vocabulary that you may find in many subject areas).
Activity 12
The text from ‘The global threat of infectious diseases’ is copied below (under the main source heading 'A force in human history'). Some words and word groups have been highlighted in bold. Decide whether each one is specialised vocabulary (which in this text means medical terminology) or general academic vocabulary. Highlight in yellow the words or word groups that you think are specialised vocabulary, and in green the words or word groups that you think are general academic vocabulary.
Answer
| Specialised vocabulary | General academic vocabulary |
|---|---|
| infectious disease | re-emerged |
| antibiotic therapy | eliminate |
| mass vaccination programmes | claimed |
| pandemic | accelerated |
| human immunodeficiency virus | review |
| epidemics | downward trend |
| impact | |
| potential |
Comment
As you notice new specialised vocabulary related to your field of study, you may want to build a glossary of terms which you can use in your essays.
5 Recording vocabulary
One way to learn and remember new words consists in recording them. You can write the meaning of the new words on the readings in which you found them or in your notes, or you can use post-its or lists.
This section introduces you to two effective methods: the use of vocabulary cards and mind maps or tables.
5.1 Using vocabulary cards to record vocabulary
A vocabulary card is a card containing useful information about a word. The kind of information you record on your vocabulary cards depends on your needs, but it is normally useful to include the definition, synonyms, the most common collocations and some examples. If you know the phonetic symbols, you may want to also record the pronunciation.
Activity 13
Download the printable version of the table below to record information about ‘stability’, one of the academic words contained in the reading ‘The global threat of infectious diseases’. While dictionaries provide several definitions, examples and collocations, it is only necessary to record information related to your interests. For the purposes of this exercise, just record information that would interest somebody who studies or is interested in economics and politics.
Word Word class Countable/uncountable Pronunciation | Definition/s | Word family | Example/s | Collocations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Answer
My card contains information taken from the Macmillan Dictionary, Just the Word. To find the word family, I have used the Academic Word List provided by UEFP.
Word Word class Pronunciation | Definition/s | Word family | Example/s | Collocations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Stability noun uncountable /stəˈbɪləti/ | A situation in which things happen as they should and there are no harmful changes. | instability, stabilisation, stabilise, stabilised, stabilises, stabilising, stable, unstable | The rise of nationalism could threaten the stability of Europe. The country must achieve political stability. | Economic/social/political/ financial stability Achieve/maintain/ensure/promote stability Threaten/undermine stability Period of stability Threat to stability |
Comment
Vocabulary cards can be kept in alphabetical order for easy reference. They can also be used as flash cards. Just write the word on the back of the card. When you want to revise, look at the word, try to remember its definition and then turn the card to check.
If you use a smartphone or a tablet, you could search the internet and download a flash card app that will allow you to revise your list of new words wherever you are
5.2 Using mind maps and tables to record vocabulary
Another way to record the new words you have decided to learn is to group them according to their meaning and to present them using a diagram. You will practise this skill through the following activity.
Activity 14
The words and word groups below have been selected by a student who read the text, ‘The global threat of infectious diseases’, and decided to record them using a mind map. The student decided to group them using the following three branches:
- Words related to health problems.
- Words related to the effects of these health problems.
- Words related to medical interventions, i.e. solutions to the health problems.
Drag these words and word groups into the gaps in the mind map below to complete it.
[If you are accessing this activity using only the keyboard, tab to a target and press the Enter key to cycle through the choices.]
Answer
You should have placed the words and word groups in the appropriate branches of the mind map as shown below. However, within each branch you may have the items in a different order.
Comment
This activity has shown you how new words can be grouped using a diagram. This can also be achieved by using a table or three lists under different headings.
| Health | ||
|---|---|---|
| Health problems | Medical interventions | Possible effects of new diseases |
epidemic pandemic infectious AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infectious disease immunodeficiency | antibiotic therapies vaccination programmes | death reduced life expectancy |
Alternatively, you can write the three groups of words in different colours. Whichever method you use, you will find that both the process of deciding how to classify new words and the physical act of creating a diagram, a table or a list will help you to recall them when necessary.
6 This week's quiz
Well done, you’ve just completed the last of the activities for this week's study before the weekly quiz.
Go to:
Open the quiz in a new tab or window (by holding ctrl [or cmd on a Mac] when you click the link).
7 Summary
In Week 7, you have learned that:
- Specialised and academic vocabulary is often used at university.
- Many strategies exist that can help you to learn new vocabulary.
- There are many types of print and online dictionaries.
- Dictionaries provide a great deal of information.
- The grammatical information given by dictionaries can help you to avoid errors.
- Using a collocations dictionary helps choose the most appropriate combinations of words.
- It may not be necessary to learn every new word.
- It is advisable to distinguish the words that should be part of your active and passive vocabulary.
- New vocabulary can be recorded through vocabulary cards, lists, mind maps and tables.
Further reading
References
Acknowledgements
This course was written by Anna Calvi.
Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see FAQs), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence.
The material acknowledged below is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this unit:
Images
Figure 1: Marek Uliasz/Dreamstime.com.
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