Outcome: Vocabulary

Identify Techniques for Strengthening Vocabulary

The English language includes over 1,025,000 words. The average English-speaking adult has a working vocabulary of about 20,000 words.  That means most of us have about a million words that we could potentially add to our vocabulary!

Pie chart showing 98.1% as blue, "Words in the English Language," and 1.9% Orange, "Words Used by Most Adults"

Having a strong vocabulary makes reading more meaningful and enjoyable, and reading helps build a strong vocabulary.  There are lots of other ways to pick up words, though.  This module includes several tactics for expanding your word power.  Music can be a fun option, as this video illustrates.

Click here to download a transcript for this video

See related activities, here.

What You Will Learn to Do

  • identify strategies for defining words from context
  • identify additional tools for defining words (i.e. dictionaries)
  • identify strategies for retaining new words in a working vocabulary

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