What role does vocabulary play, and what importance do they have?
This post will discuss vocabulary for IELTS. Everybody knows that vocabulary knowledge is key to a higher score on the IELTS test.
How important and what role does vocabulary play on the IELTS exam?
You will better understand the IELTS Reading and Listening sections if you have more vocabulary. The IELTS Writing and Speaking sections will also benefit from your knowledge of more words.
IELTS has specific criteria for writing and speaking sections. Vocabulary knowledge, labeled ‘Lexical resource,’ is one of four areas you will assess in each of the two skills. The average score across all four criteria is your final score. To answer your question, vocabulary is essential on the IELTS test. It makes up 25% of your last Writing and Speaking scores.
Learn more about IELTS scoring
How can you improve your vocabulary to pass the IELTS test? Below are some easy ideas.
Tips and hints to improve your vocabulary
Many people already have lists of words and their meanings that they keep. While this is a great start, you can do many other things to make learning vocabulary simple and enjoyable. Use the step-by-step guide below to learn a language.
It is essential first to consider what it means to learn a new word. It would be best if you understood the meaning of a new word.
* Dictionary definition What does the word stand for?
* How does the word look write?
* Pronunciation How do you pronounce the word?
* Grammar: Is it a verb or a noun? Is it possible for it to change? If so, how does that affect spelling and pronunciation?
* Collocation What other words or phrases does it naturally match with? E.g., Fast food + fast food
What is the word? You should include example sentences in your vocabulary.
* Synonyms and antonyms What words have the same or similar meanings? What words, if any, have an opposite meaning?
These are eight steps to learning a new word. All these factors are essential for good vocabulary record-keeping. Below is an example vocabulary record for the word “problem.”
Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing is another valuable vocabulary skill that you can learn. It involves finding new ways of saying the same thing. It would help if you also explored synonyms (words with similar meanings). Paraphrasing is an essential skill for all four IELTS skills tests. Paraphrasing is required in IELTS Academic Writing and IELTS General Training. You must identify the keywords within the questions in both the IELTS Reading section and the IELTS Listening section. This will allow you to recognize if the same meanings are used in different words in the listening script or reading text.
Word Families
Words don’t live alone. Words are connected and live in our minds in groups. It can be helpful to keep them in that order in your vocabulary records. Take this example: This word family grouping of different words for emotions.
What vocabulary should I focus on in IELTS?
The average native English speaker uses 20,000 to 3000 words per day. It may sound alarming for IELTS test-takers, but there are ways to reduce the vocabulary you need to make it worthwhile for IELTS exams. Where do you start?
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Vocabulary related to the topic
Certain subjects will be repeated in the IELTS exam. Although we cannot predict which topics will be covered in an IELTS test, this topic list is a good starting point. These topics can come up in any section of the IELTS exam. You could be asked to write or talk about them, or they could be part of the Reading or Listening sections.
- Health and Fitness
- Education
- Technology
- The environment
- Pollution
- Climate and weather
- Shopping
- Transport
You don’t have to learn technical terminology used in medical and scientific texts. It cannot be easy to comprehend this specialist vocabulary. The test writers will ensure that test takers understand the technical words included in tests.
To prepare for the IELTS test, you will need to:
- Gather all the information necessary to understand the word entirely.
- Explore the connections and relationships between the new words that you have met;
- Keep a detailed vocabulary list and keep it updated.
- Review and practice regularly.
