Three ways to learn new English words

Vaughan Jones
Vaughan Jones
A young woman sat on a laptop outside, smiling and pointing to her laptop

It’s more important for teachers to help students find ways to practice their English outside the classroom. The more efficient students become at autonomous learning, the better they’ll be able to overcome interruptions and make up for lost time.

It will be even more challenging if you're a self-learner as you do not have a teacher looking over you and steering your learning. But it’s helpful to learn from the teaching world and pick up teacher tips that you can apply to your own studies and techniques.

Why are learning new words so challenging?

Students learning new words in English generally progress steadily up until the pre-intermediate and intermediate levels. But after that, they start to struggle.

This is because there’s a big difference between the volume of the vocabulary that intermediate students and upper-intermediate students need to know.

  • Intermediate (B1/B2 level) students need to know about 2,500 words
  • upper-intermediate (B2/C1 level) students need to know about 7,500-9,000 words.

That’s a big jump in numbers. But the real challenge is that those 5,000+ new words are not very frequent. Consequently, students don’t encounter them very often, making it difficult to recall them and leap from one level to the next.

While there’s no simple answer to this problem, there are ways to help students overcome it. The following framework can be a big help in any classroom:

  1. Focus on the most important words:Always teach appropriate words for the levels your students are currently at.
  2. Provide memorable first encounters:You never get a second chance to make a first impression. So, ensure your student's first encounter with a new word is as memorable as possible.
  3. Teach effective word-learning strategies:Provide your students with valuable tools, tactics and resources so that they can learn new words outside the classroom, too.
  4. Organize repeat encounters:Vocabulary works on a “use it or lose it” basis, so ensure your students encounter the vocabulary you want them to learn repeatedly.

How to teach effective word-learning strategies

There are three steps to teach students how to learn new words effectively:

1. Help learners maximize their exposure to English and find opportunities to use English outside the classroom

Thanks to the internet and technology, there are many ways that students can engage with the English language outside the classroom.

However, simple exposure to a new language is not enough – it takes much longer and is less effective than active learning. When students do something with the language they’re exposed to; it is far more memorable.

That’s why it’s crucial for teachers to help their students seek out English in their own time and use the language, turning passive exposure into active learning.

  • Encourage students to read, listen and view things that they’re interested in or passionate about in English. For example, introduce them to new blogs, podcasts, YouTube videos, or TV series that fit their interests – since personalization leads to more effective learning.
  • Help students find ways to use English in different ways. For example, they can start a learning diary, make to-do lists in English, write social media posts, and create word cards to practice their writing. For speaking, they can record voice memos or video stories, take part in Zoom discussions, or participate in speaking projects and live classes.

2. Provide ways for students to discover the meaning of new words

It’s crucial to help students improve their guesswork. Instead of asking online translators to translate every time they encounter a new word, they should be able to guess the meaning of new vocabulary differently.

  • One approach is to look at the morphology of words and consider word families. For example, you can ask your students to brainstorm words with a common root. Or, you can have them identify and practice common suffixes.
  • Explore “true friends” or words that are similar in English and your student's native language.
  • Help your students figure out how to guess the meaning of a word from the context. To do this, you must ensure that your students don’t just hear or read new words but also put them into use.

One way to get students to learn and retain vocabulary is to get them to create word cards:

  • Ask students to collect ten new words that they’re exposed to throughout the week and bring them to class, like a “show and tell” for words.
  • Then have a debate about how useful each of those words is.

This helps to connect learning inside and outside the classroom, and it’s fun!

3. Provide students with strategies to consolidate their knowledge of new words

Finally, teachers should give students ideas on how to memorize words outside the classroom. You can have your students produce word cards and use a Word Store booklet to practice tasks like matching words with images or definitions.

Lastly, it’s important to teach students memory tricks or mnemonics so they can retain the new words they encounter.

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    Criteria for measuring language popularity

    Measuring language popularity is a complex task that involves various factors, including the number of native speakers, global influence, and use as a second or foreign language. The criteria for measuring language popularity include:

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    • Global influence: This measures the extent to which a language is used in international communication, business, science and diplomacy. Languages with a broad global influence are often used as lingua francas in various regions.

    • Use as a second or foreign language: This considers the number of people who speak a language as a second language or foreign language. Languages that are widely taught and learned around the world tend to have a larger speaking population.

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    Top 10 most spoken languages in the world

    Here’s a closer look at the ten most spoken languages by number of speakers:

    When evaluating these languages, it's important to consider not just the number of native speakers but also the total number of language speakers, including those who speak it as a second language.

    1. English

    Speakers: Approximately 1.5 billion

    Native speakers: Around 360 million

    Regions: Widely spoken in the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

    Highlights: English is the most widely spoken language worldwide when combining native and non-native speakers. It's the primary language in countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. English is the dominant language in international business, science and technology.

    2. Mandarin Chinese

    Speakers: Over 1.1 billion

    Native speakers: About 920 million

    Regions: Mainly in China, Taiwan and Singapore

    Highlights: Mandarin is the language with the largest number of native speakers. It's one of the six official languages of the United Nations and has a significant cultural and historical importance.

    3. Hindi

    Speakers: Around 600 million

    Native speakers: Approximately 341 million

    Regions: Predominantly in India and Nepal

    Highlights: Hindi is predominantly spoken in India and Nepal, with approximately 341 million native speakers. It is one of the official languages of India and is spoken by a large portion of the Indian population. It has numerous dialects and is written in the Devanagari script.

    4. Spanish

    Speakers: Approximately 560 million

    Native speakers: About 460 million

    Regions: Spain, Latin America and parts of the United States

    Highlights: Spanish is the official language in 21 countries and is widely spoken in the Americas. In many of these countries, Spanish serves as the national language, playing a crucial role in government, education and media. It’s known for its rich literature and cultural heritage.

    5. French

    Speakers: Around 280 million

    Native speakers: About 77 million

    Regions: France, parts of Africa, Canada, Belgium and Switzerland

    Highlights: French is another of the six official languages of the United Nations. It's widely used in international diplomacy and has a significant number of speakers in Africa due to France's colonial history.

    6. Arabic

    Speakers: Approximately 270 million

    Native speakers: Around 310 million

    Regions: Middle East and North Africa

    Highlights: Arabic is a central Semitic language that is the liturgical language of Islam. It has many dialects, with Modern Standard Arabic being used in formal settings and media. Arabic has numerous spoken forms, with significant variations in dialects across different regions.

    7. Bengali

    Speakers: Around 265 million

    Native speakers: About 230 million

    Regions: Bangladesh and parts of India

    Highlights: Bengali is the official language of Bangladesh and the second most spoken language in India. Alongside other languages like Hindi and Urdu, Bengali plays a crucial role in the cultural and linguistic landscape of the region. It’s known for its rich literary tradition.

    8. Portuguese

    Speakers: Approximately 220 million

    Native speakers: Around 220 million

    Regions: Brazil, Portugal and parts of Africa

    Highlights: Portuguese is mainly spoken in Brazil, which is the largest Portuguese-speaking country. It has a growing number of speakers in Africa.

    9. Russian

    Speakers: Around 258 million

    Native speakers: Approximately 154 million

    Regions: Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia

    Highlights: Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations and is widely spoken in the former Soviet Union countries.

    10. Japanese

    Speakers: Approximately 128 million

    Native speakers: Around 128 million

    Regions: Japan

    Highlights: Japanese is predominantly spoken in Japan and is known for its three writing systems—Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. It has a rich cultural history and is influential in technology and entertainment.

    Conclusion

    Understanding the most spoken languages in the world can provide valuable insights for language learners. Developing strong language skills in these world languages can open up numerous opportunities for travel, business and cultural exchange. Whether you’re looking to enhance your travel experiences, broaden your cultural horizons, or improve your career prospects, learning one of these widely spoken languages could be a significant advantage.

    Ready to start your language learning journey? Learn a new language with Mondly by ɫèAV.