Most advanced students express themselves clearly but struggle with vocabulary. How can one help?
They tend to use the same vocabulary everytime they speak.
10 answers from our tutors
Best answer
In situations like that, I have discovered that reading helps a lot. Reading has an interesting way of streamlining the students speaking skills and perfecting them. Enriches vocabulary, expressiveness, and many more. Thank you
The students needs to focus in learning collocations n idioms
Expressing oneself and having a command of English vocabulary are two different things. This is because one can express themselves with basic vocabulary but to overcome struggling with vocabulary requires reading books, articles and other write-ups in order to be conversant with new words. In addition, those with the problem should be taught how to build up vocabulary.
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Theses advanced students need to be given the techniques of learning and memorizing vocabulary. They need to discipline themselves to learn few new words each day.
- Robert PickacardRobert Pickacard Certified English Teacher / Professional Magician
When I get a response from a student to a question, I usually give them a couple more alternatives using different words or an expression or even an idiom.
I would recommend writing down a list of synonyms of the words you use the most often and repeat most often. Every time you want to use the same word, for instance "good" try to look at the list and replace the word :) Might be an idea.
- Sherif HafezCertified Online ESL Tutor And Arabic Tutor For Non-Native Speakers
I think it happens when students are too lazy to push themselves to learn something new, or they are just happy with what they have got already and don't want to get out of their comfort zone. I used a technique with my students before, I used not to focus on all new vocabulary we go through in a lesson, I just choose one or two and I tell them that I want them to be using it in the coming lessons. Then in the next 2 or 3 lessons, I deliberately ask them questions that they can answer with these specific words. I hope this can help.
To help advanced students who struggle with vocabulary, you can focus on teaching them collocations and idioms. I think in that way you will help them improve their vocabulary and sound more natural when they speak.
You can also try idioms, let them read it, understand meaning, then let them make sentences using them.
In this case, when they are already much aware of the grammatical rules and exceptions as they are at an advanced level, reading different types of content can help them with expanding their vocabulary.
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Best answer
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