Final Entry/Reflection on Vocabulary Learning

Keeping this vocabulary journal has been one of my favorite parts of class this semester.  Completing a vocabulary blog forced me to notice (and look up definitions for) words that I might previously have only noticed briefly and then forgotten about.  While completing this blog, I realized that most of my words were taken from conversations that I have had or books that I have read.  These two forms of communication seem to impact me the most.  Only a few of my vocabulary words were taken from television shows or commercials.  I also tend to focus on words that I encounter rarely, but that are also complex with numerous syllables.  The most interesting and enjoyable entries for me to complete were those involving a word that is completely new to me.  While completing these types of entries, I was learning the word as I completed my blog entry, which for some reason is extremely thrilling to me.

I benefited in many ways as a word learner as a result of keeping a vocabulary journal this semester.  First, the journal helped me to pay closer attention to the types of words that I encountered on a daily basis.  Knowing that I needed to find words for my vocabulary journal forced me to continuously be on the lookout for any unusual or unfamiliar words.  In addition, because I needed to know the words' definitions for my journal, I took the time to actually look up the meanings of those words that had attracted my attention.  If I had not been responsible for knowing the definitions of these words, I would most likely not have remembered to look up the word later (after reading it or hearing it).  As a result, while I may have paid more attention to the types of words I was encountering, I would not have actually learned any new words and their meanings.  Having access to other students' vocabulary journals also aided my word learning, as I was able to see the types of words others were using for their journals and, as a result, learn new words simply by reading others' vocabulary journals.

Taking the vocabulary tests helped me to focus on committing the words and their definitions to memory.  These tests also brought to my attention the words that my peers felt were important to know.  Also, since we had to be able to use these words in a sentence that reflects the context of the word as it was originally used, I found myself reading others' posts more carefully and studying words whose meanings I was already relatively familiar with.  The vocabulary tests definitely helped me to learn a more diverse set of words and to expand my overall vocabulary knowledge.  In addition, these tests helped me to notice what aspects of vocabulary learning might be challenging for my students.  As a result, I will be more aware of these challenges and better able to deal with any potential issues when they arise.

I think that keeping a vocabulary journal has helped me to notice when I come across words that I am unfamiliar with or whose meanings I am unsure of.  As a result of this increased awareness, I am sure I will continue to look up the definitions of any unfamiliar words.  While I don't think I will be able to keep up with posting 2-3 entries per week on my blog, it would be nice if I could keep posting from time to time, especially whenever I find a particularly unusual word.  Whenever I read, I remain aware of new words, and I plan to continue to build on this awareness by looking up the definitions of the new words that I encounter.  Hopefully determining these definitions (along with the occasional blog post) will be enough to help me commit these words to memory, as is usually the case.  However, I may need additional exposure to these words in order to remember their meanings.  The vocabulary blog has been extremely useful in helping me to commit the meanings of words to memory, as I keep returning to my blog in order to check my total number of entries, revise my entries, and nominate words for the VSS tests.  Completing this blog has really brought my attention to word learning and how to make the processes of word learning and vocabulary study more interesting and beneficial for my future students.