4 Time-Tested Tricks to Learn Vocabulary Quickly

Semester after semester, year after year, we watch our students stress over their most heavily weighted evaluations: chapter tests, midterms, final exams. It’s easy to get so wrapped up in the big grades that we lose sight of the smaller, routine tests and quizzes they must prepare for each week.. Ironically, these assignments can be the most difficult to get right: students have less time to study, and the material is often formatted in ways that just aren’t conducive to real learning.

Among these week-to-week assignments, vocabulary quizzes are some of the most problematic. Unlike other subjects, vocabulary is rarely taught in easily learnable ways. Whereas we might spend an entire class period explaining a math formula, students of vocabulary are typically given a list of words to take home and memorize on their own.

That list itself is the real problem. We learn vocabulary best by hearing it in context. When we’re in active, memorable situations (not just sitting in front of the TV), and encounter an unfamiliar word, we take note and quietly commit it to memory–usually without even realizing it! Experiencing a word for the first time by simply reading its definition on paper just isn’t how we’re wired to learn. And that problem becomes more exaggerated when we’re given a list of twenty-five words to learn by the week’s end. At best, students will “memorize” them for the test, but that doesn’t mean the words will stick with them afterward.

In many ways, as far as weekly vocabulary tests go, the system is stacked against our students. But that doesn’t mean you should give up. It just means you have to get creative. Here are a few of the best tips and tricks you can use to beat the inefficiencies of “force-fed” vocabulary.

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