The more words you know, the better your understanding of the IELTS Listening and Reading sections will be. Similarly, the more words you know, the better your communication skills will be in the IELTS Speaking and Writing sections.
The Speaking and Writing sections of IELTS have separate assessment criteria. One of the four areas you are assessed on in each of these two skills is vocabulary knowledge (labelled ‘Lexical Resource’). The average of the four criteria determines your final score. To answer our question, vocabulary is extremely important in the IELTS test, accounting for one-quarter of your overall Speaking and Writing scores.
The Speaking and Writing sections of IELTS have separate assessment criteria. One of the four areas you are assessed on in each of these two skills is vocabulary knowledge (labelled ‘Lexical Resource’). The average of the four criteria determines your final score. To answer our question, vocabulary is extremely important in the IELTS test, accounting for one-quarter of your overall Speaking and Writing scores.
Helpful Hints For Expanding Your Vocabulary
Many of you probably already keep lists of new words and their meanings that you study, learn, and memorise. This is a good start, but there are other things you can do to make vocabulary learning easier and more successful. Consider some of the suggestions in the step-by-step guide to learning vocabulary below.
The first thing to consider is what it means to know a new word. To learn a new word, you must first determine:
• Definition of the word – What does it mean?
• Spelling – How does the word appear?
• Pronunciation – How is the word said and how is it stressed?
• Grammatical Structure – Is it a verb, noun, or adjective? Can it change, and if so, how does it affect spelling and pronunciation?
• Collocation – What other word or words are naturally associated with it? For example, fast + food.
• What is the word’s usage? – Writing example sentences in your vocabulary records is a good idea.
• Synonyms and antonyms – What words have the same or similar meaning? What words, if any, have the opposite meaning?
These eight points are the first steps to truly understanding a new word. All of these factors come into play when keeping a vocabulary record.
Paraphrasing
Another important vocabulary skill to develop is paraphrasing, or finding new ways to say the same thing. This means that you should pay special attention to synonyms, or words with similar meanings. Paraphrasing is a skill that is tested in all four IELTS skill tests. For example, in both the IELTS General Training and IELTS Academic Writing tests, you must paraphrase the titles of Task 1 and Task 2. You must be able to identify keywords in the questions in the IELTS Reading and Listening sections. This will assist you in recognizing if the same meanings, expressed in different words, appear in the reading text or listening script.
Another important vocabulary skill to develop is paraphrasing, or finding new ways to say the same thing. This means that you should pay special attention to synonyms, or words with similar meanings. Paraphrasing is a skill that is tested in all four IELTS skill tests. For example, in both the IELTS General Training and IELTS Academic Writing tests, you must paraphrase the titles of Task 1 and Task 2. You must be able to identify keywords in the questions in the IELTS Reading and Listening sections. This will assist you in recognizing if the same meanings, expressed in different words, appear in the reading text or listening script.
World Families
Words do not exist in isolation. They exist in our minds as groups of related meanings, and it can be beneficial to keep them that way in your vocabulary records. Take some time while studying for your IELTS exam to consider different word families and relationships. Many IELTS tasks deal with fundamental relationships such as cause/effect and problem/solution.
Language Chunks
English, like most languages, has many unique expressions or phrases. These are groups of words or chunks of language, that have a different meaning when used together than when used separately. These expressions can only be learned by storing them as a chunk of language.
Which Vocabulary Should I Study For The IELTS?
A typical native English speaker has a vocabulary of 20,000 to 30,000 words. This may sound concerning to IELTS test takers, but don’t worry; there are ways to limit the vocabulary you need to learn so that it is useful for IELTS tests. So, where to begin?
There are some topics that appear frequently on the IELTS exam. While it is impossible to predict which topics will appear in any given IELTS test, the list of topics below is a good place to start. These types of topics may appear in any part of the IELTS test, and you are to speak or write about them, or they may be part of the Reading or Listening section:
Fitness and health
Technology
education
pollution
climate
weather
transportation
Remember that you do not need to record and learn any specialist technical terminology, such as that found in scientific and medical texts or discussions. This specialized vocabulary can be difficult for anyone to grasp. If a test contains any technical terms, the test writers will ensure that the meaning is provided as part of the reading text or the listening test script.
So, in order to improve your vocabulary in preparation for your IELTS exam, you must:
assemble all of the information required to fully comprehend the new term;
Investigate the relationships and connections between the new words you encounter;
keep detailed vocabulary records and keep them up to date;
Regularly review and practice.
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