My strong points in vocabulary would have to be finding the right word to put into my paper. Most of the time I can find words that fit the audience level and make sense in the work. However, my weak points are using words I don't already know. I also don't like looking words up in the dictionary because I don't practice it frequently enough.
Describe how you have studied vocabulary in the past. What kinds of class activities and assignments have you experienced to work on your word choice?
In my seventh and eighth grade English classes, we worked on word choice by receiving about 10 vocabulary words per week. Throughout the week we would spend sometime in class using the words in sentences. When the week was done we would take a short quiz- but the words would have been familiar to most of us as we had read them through our literature piece within that same week.
Describe how you, personally, learn new words. Give a specific example of how you have learned a new word recently.
I learn new words spontaneously. I don't usually go out to find new words to expand my vocabulary, on my own. New words come up in reading material or just in conversations. After I have read or heard the word, I would ask someone or "Google" it on a site, like Merriam-Webster online dictionary. Recently I have learned the word 'decimate'. I heard in on the news when they were describing the damage that was caused by the destruction in Haiti. I asked my mom- who is a fifth grade school teacher. She said it was the magnitude of damage- the huge scale on what was destroyed. I figured out the spelling, and checked on an online dictionary afterwards.
What are your specific vocabulary/word choice goals? How many new words would you like to learn this semester? What will be your evidence that you “own them” and can use them in your speaking and writing?
My specific word choice goal is to use at least one third of the words, that we learn in our English class this quarter, in my everyday conversations. This semester I would like to learn at least 20 new vocabulary words- words that I actually understand. My evidence of using the new vocabulary word is that there will be more 'higher thinking' words popping up into my essays and everyday life. I'll use them in my speaking- because using big word correctly make me feel smart. :)
Hi Korie,
ReplyDeletePerceptive commentary on your word choice and how you improve it :)
And decimate is a great word...interesting, too, because since it has its roots in the word "ten" it carries the implication of "one in ten"...and that's a huge part of a population.
Also a good point about the difference between learning a word and being able to use it. That's why learning new words from something like the news, is an excellent way. You're provided with the word and a practical communication context in which it functions.
mrs s