Vocabulary showing English fluency

How does vocabulary show you have a higher English fluency level? This can be an important characteristic if your responses on exams such as the TOEFL iBT, but you should keep certain things in mind.


1.) Should I memorize a lot of exotic or complicated words?

Absolutely not! Exams such as the TOEFL iBT are measuring the quality of your response. If you memorize a lot of exotic vocabulary and fail to use them correctly, you will be hurting your score rather than helping it. Focus on skills that will help make your response clear and easy to follow. I am not advocating that you do not spend any time on studying vocabulary, but the idea is to have a balance of all skills. You should also keep your audience in mind. If they do not understand your vocabulary, you will not be understood.

2.) I am worried about topics I do not understand. What about words from them?

This is part of your preparation. Before taking a TOEFL iBT exam, you should make sure that you are adequately prepared. Rather than reading topics from encyclopedias to try and learn as many academic topics as possible, concentrate on areas such as what you would hear in the news. Exams such as the TOEFL iBT do not require you to have special knowledge in specific subjects such as astronomy or chemistry, but the terminology you will hear in sources such as CBC, CNN, or other English news programs will give you a general background in almost all of the topics you will face. You should also concentrate on your vocabulary in context skills. If you can identify what the word is acting as in the sentence, you will be more likely to correctly guess its meaning even if you have not seen the word before.

3.) Can you give me a list of recommended words?

ESL Study Guide maintains many word lists for it members and even places some in the free section of the website. Feel free to browse the site and see what it available.


Finally, avoid sounding too simplistic. A broad vocabulary base will help you avoid sounding like a child or having a response that is too simple (ie, I am a student. I am from Korea.) and ensure that you are easily understood.



Good luck with your studies,
ESL Study Guide

Vocabulary in context

One practice that all test takers or English language learners should keep in mind is vocabulary in context. When you are faced with an unfamiliar word, learners have several options. Your first option is to skip the word and merely continue. This practice should be avoided.

Proficiency tests are not about achieving a perfect score, language learners should always try to maximize their score.

Your next option, is to randomly guess what the word means. Again this practice should be avoided.

Your biggest advantage is that when faced with an unfamiliar word, you are able to hear the word or see it used in a sentence. Sentences in English are composed of several pieces. A sentence is composed of a subject, a verb, and an object. Looking at a sentence, look at the parts of it that contains the unfamiliar word. Eliminating the parts, what part of the sentence is the unfamiliar word contained in?

Knowing the part of the sentence that the word is contained in tells you what part of speech the word is. The other factors to consider are whether the word has any suffixes or prefixes. Breaking the word or phrase down into its root form is another way to give you a clue to its meaning.

As an example,

The abstract expressionism exhibit opens Friday at the New York museum of art history.

If you are unfamiliar with art, you may be unfamiliar with abstract expressionism. Abstract modifies expressionism. Break expressionism down to its root form, 'expression' and its suffix 'ism'. The rest of the sentence deals with art, giving an additional clue to what abstract expressionism means.

Abstract expressionism is therefore a type of art. Abstract describes the category of art, while expressionism just deals with the fact that art expresses ideas or feelings.

Good luck with your studies,

ESL Study Guide