[The substantive parts of this article are based on an article by Franklin H Potter that appeared in The Classical Journal]
Vocabulary development happens in 4 stages: first impression, first associations, flotation, and fixation. There are several things you can do to accelerate your vocabulary development at each stage.
Stage 1: First Impression
The first stage of vocabulary development is the "first impression". The first impression is the first flash of the word on your consciousness. You might see the word on a flash card, read the word in a novel, hear the word in conversation, or whatever.
Wherever you meet the new word, to learn the word properly you must get a full basic image of the word so that when you meet the word again, you will recognize and identify it. For this, you need an alert and attentive mind focused on the given word exclusively and for the purpose of appropriating the new word to your vocabulary.
Thus, it is better if you can get the first impression of a word from a formal vocabulary lesson, good vocabulary-learning software, or something else directed at improving your vocabulary, rather than meeting the word incidentally from context in, say, a novel (see also, for example, Smith, 238).
At the first impression stage of your vocabulary development, it has been found that a word is most successfully learned if you hear the word pronounced — even before you see the word (Potter, 145). For this, you can use software like Ultimate Vocabulary, which includes audio pronunciation. Once you hear the word pronounced, then you should immediately, or soon, look at the word and link it to the pronunciation you have just heard. For best results, repeat the word after hearing it, see the word, and then write the word.
Stage 2: First Associations
The second stage of vocabulary development is "first associations". First associations happen immediately after the first impression. You want these first associations to have permanent value and be ready for application.
If the first impression of a word happens by your seeing the word, then your first associations will be strongly linked to where you first saw that word. For example, if you first meet a word in context from a passage in a book, then the words directly before and after the word will be included in your first associations. The specific meaning of the word you saw in that passage will be uppermost in your memory, sometimes interfering with the true understanding of the word (Potter, 146).
Here are some strategies for improving the value of your first associations:
- take pains to learn the word in the word's full range of meanings; if you learn only one meaning of the word, then you will have a lopsided and imperfect knowledge of the word; this is why it is important that good vocabulary-development software like Ultimate Vocabulary includes a full range of definitions, and not just one or two meanings that you might find in, say, a typical SAT or GRE Vocabulary Word List);
- similarly, see the word in as many usage examples as possible; uniquely, Ultimate Vocabulary includes "50 Power Examples" for each word, which is far more useful than the few examples you get in most other word lists;
- associate the new word with other related words, such as synonyms and antonyms; again, this is something that Ultimate Vocabulary does well, through its various synonym tests and antonym tests;
- connect the new word directly with the particular object, action, or quality for which the new word stands; use objects and actions and images like those used in Ultimate Vocabulary.
Stage 3: Flotation
The third stage of vocabulary development is "flotation". Even after you have met a new word, have learned its meaning, and have surrounded the word with true, useful, and reliable associations, you still have to fix the word in your memory. The word is still merely floating in your mind.
The word will remain floating there for only a short time. The word will completely fade unless you revive the word by periodically repeating the word. Each time a word is revived, the word will stay afloat a little longer.
This is why repetition techniques, like those in Ultimate Vocabulary, are so useful. Ultimate Vocabulary includes a popular "Word Messenger" feature that periodically reminds you of your new words. Even without buying the software, you can download a free screensaver that displays a selection of words and their meanings. Go to Ultimate Vocabulary to get your free vocabulary-building screensaver.
Stages 4: Fixation
The final stage of vocabulary development is "fixation". To fix the word permanently in your memory, you must use the word and
recognize the word a sufficient number of times in a sentence. The number of times required for this fixation varies according to the word. It has been estimated that fixation requires 100 visual experiences with a word or 20 auditory plus 5 visual experiences (Potter, citing De Sauze, 148). But these figures are too arbitrary to be reliable.
The real test of whether the new word has become fixated is this: when you hear or see the word after the lapse of several days, does the meaning of the word suggest itself to your mind without any conscious effort to recall it? If so, then the new word has passed into the final stage of fixation; and you are unlikely ever to forget it.
References
Franklin H Potter, 'The Teaching of Vocabulary' (1940) 36(3) The Classical Journal 143
Carl B Smith, "Building A Better Vocabulary" (1988) 42(3) The Reading Teacher 238