Final Reflection on Vocabulary Learning

Over the course of the semester, I have noticed that most of the words I selected are adjectives. I got a lot of words from sources in the news media as well as from music I listen to. The writing I encountered in these places tended to be very descriptive. Some of the words were very content specific, but for the most part they were transferable; they could be used under many different circumstances (or if I had to take the SAT ever again).

I love to read nonfiction, and I most often read informative writing. I frequently watch, listen to, and read the news. I don't usually read fiction very much. I think it's because I find reality to be far more interesting. I also prefer to read materials that are related to my content area. I did notice that when I come to a word I don't know, I usually look it up for the purpose of understanding it in context. After that, I don't usually remember it. I have also realized that I'm impatient when I read. If the word doesn't impede my comprehension of the text overall, then I tend to ignore it for the sake of getting to the point.

The vocabulary blog assignment made me stop and really consider different aspects of words that I was unfamiliar with. While I don't necessarily remember each word off the top of my head, some of them are still with me. I've even used them in conversations, status updates, and tweets. I took the time to fully understand what the author meant by each word I didn't know.

Instead of omitting words, looking them up and forgetting them, or guessing what they meant, I was able to explore their purpose further. This helped a lot when I was reading to learn about something, especially in the news. I was able to see an author's subjectivity with a lot more clarity than before because I got to know some of the connotations of words, and how they relate to other words. I also began to question why they chose that language in particular to make an argument. The fact that I had to reflect upon each word I listed in my vocabulary blog also helped this process. And I had to think about it in different ways. I had to consider where I saw or heard it, how familiar I was with it already, what it meant, and how it can be used or related to other topics. It also helped to find an image to represent the word. This is something I have never done before.

I still don't like vocabulary tests. It was nice that the words we chose were the ones we were tested on, but it was still a useless process for me. I relied upon my strong short-term memory to successfully complete the assessments, just like I always did in the past. I don't know that it was a productive use of my time. Instead of checking in with everyone when we had to choose words for the tests, it might have been more constructive if we had to comment on other blog entries-- it would have been a more collaborative assignment. I would have liked it, at least. It would have been nice to have the chance to offer some personal connections, background knowledge, or additional reflections. Then perhaps the tests would have been more interesting and relevant?

I'd like to say that I will continue to use a blog to learn new vocabulary, but I know that won't happen. I'm not that ambitious. However, just because I don't feel like carrying out the writing process does not mean that I won't take the time to stop and reflect upon words that are unfamiliar to me. I now know that by ignoring words, I am missing out on so much meaning from the texts I interact with. Because of that awareness, I will make a better effort to pause during reading to carry out the different steps that were involved in creating a reflection for each word.