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Article: Students fall short on Vocabulary

 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
319 messages over 40 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 35 ... 39 40 Next >>
s_allard
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 Message 273 of 319
27 April 2014 at 4:27pm | IP Logged 
Part of the problem of using these astronomical vocabulary size numbers for the CFER tests is how to use them to
prepare for the tests. For the C2 level, do you make a 10,000 Anki stack for your active vocabulary and work
through it systematically? Or maybe 10,000 flashcards. In the last three months before the exam, you study 100
words a day?

I think this would be pure folly. Your time would be certainly better spent discussing with your tutor and developing
true fluency and grammatical precision.
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Serpent
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 Message 274 of 319
27 April 2014 at 6:52pm | IP Logged 
And nobody is suggesting working through isolated cards. Anki is useful but it's much better to have a lot of input and get your cards from there, if you use them at all. And thematic textbooks for the vocabulary are also a great tool for those who like them.

Edited by Serpent on 27 April 2014 at 6:53pm

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Iversen
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 Message 275 of 319
27 April 2014 at 10:54pm | IP Logged 
I don't use Anki, but wordlists. I have however solved the problem with growing stacks and proportionally growing bad conscience in a radical way: after one or two repetitions I put the old wordlists on a heap, and I rarely look on anything older than a couple of days. If it is older then I feel that I could just as well make a new list and learn that. I know this runs against all the wisdom about the Ebbinghaus effect etc., but all common words will return again and again in my daily reading, and so will the less common words within my scientific fields of interest. And besides I'll do large surveys once in a while where I get through thousands of words and anything that didn't fit the previous two categories will fit this one. Besides I would drown in new words from new texts if I didn't put the old lists aside.

In fact I could just as well kick them out. I mainly keep to them for sentimental reasons and to check whether I can recognize the majority the words on the old lists, and as long as this is the case I don't see any reason to keep repeating old lists again and again and again.

Edited by Iversen on 28 April 2014 at 2:04am

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s_allard
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 Message 276 of 319
27 April 2014 at 11:09pm | IP Logged 
Far from me to denigrate Anki, flashcards or vocabulary in general. I use these tools myself, but my emphasis is on
using everything I learn in some practical way. Otherwise it just goes in one ear and out the other.
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Serpent
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 Message 277 of 319
27 April 2014 at 11:39pm | IP Logged 
s_allard wrote:
my emphasis is on using everything I learn in some practical way. Otherwise it just goes in one ear and out the other.

That depends. Listening is not necessarily like you described.
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s_allard
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 Message 278 of 319
28 April 2014 at 2:16pm | IP Logged 
British English usage never ceases to amaze, especially for those words that we North Americans use all the time.
For example, from today's Guardian I read:

"Garnham is a leading silk in public inquiry law, acted as counsel to the Victoria Climbie inquiry, and sits as a deputy
high court judge."

What in the world is a "leading silk"? This is a barrister having the rank of QC or Queen's Counsel, if I've got that
right.

All of this to add to the debate about what it means to know a word.

Edited by s_allard on 28 April 2014 at 4:56pm

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lichtrausch
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 Message 279 of 319
28 April 2014 at 2:32pm | IP Logged 
s_allard wrote:
British English usage never ceases to amaze, especially for those words that we North Americans use all the time.
For example, from today's Guardian I read:

"Garnham is a leading silk in public inquiry law, acted as counsel to the Victoria Climbie inquiry, and sits as a deputy
high court judge."

What in the world is a "leading silk"? This is a barrister having the rank of QC ou Queen's Counsel, if I've got that
right.

All of this to add to the debate about what it means to know a word.

As North Americans, neither of us can be expected to know that usage. :)
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Elexi
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 Message 280 of 319
28 April 2014 at 2:51pm | IP Logged 
That's correct - a normal barrister wears a robe of black stuff (e.g. a wool-cotton
blend) but one who successfully applies to be Queens' Counsel wears a robe of black
silk. Hence, to become a QC is 'to take [a] silk [gown]'.

Edited by Elexi on 28 April 2014 at 2:53pm



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