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. (Im 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 Malm.
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 names Peter. I got up at 6.30 this morning. Then I had a shower, brushed my
teethWhat 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 couldnt say very much but at least my increased store of words gave me the courage
and the confidence to try.
Students often ask:
Whats 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. (Youll save on both the rent and course fees, and youll 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 minds 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 rdsptta (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 doesnt 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 fellowpassengers 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.)