Best habits to improve your english vocabulary

Last updated: February 10, 2025

This article is going to focus on best ways to improve your english vocabulary, and certain habits that you can implement today, and with ease!

Active and Passive habits

Before getting to the advice we should establish some definitions!

Active habits require deliberate effort and conscious engagement. These are behaviors where you must actively choose to do something, like:

• Going to the gym for a workout
• Sitting down to meditate
• Writing in a journal
• Practicing an instrument
• Meal prepping for the week

Passive habits, on the other hand, happen more automatically and require minimal conscious effort. They often involve avoiding or not doing something:

• Drinking water instead of soda
• Taking the stairs rather than elevator
• Not checking your phone first thing in morning
• Leaving your credit card at home to avoid impulse purchases
• Having healthy snacks readily available instead of junk food

The key distinction is that active habits typically need more motivation, energy and dedicated time. They’re harder to maintain because they compete with other priorities and require overcoming inertia. Passive habits are easier to sustain once established since they involve tweaking existing routines or removing friction points. This is why behavior change experts often recommend starting with passive habits when building a new routine. For example, if you want to exercise more, you might first establish the passive habit of laying out workout clothes the night before. This makes it easier to then develop the active habit of morning workouts.

The same is true for learning, when aiming to learn more new words you might want to start with some Passive habits in order to move to more time-consuming and effort requiring Active habits!

Passive habits

First let’s discuss the vocabulary improvement habits that require less effort, and can be done by asserting just small actions!

Vocabulary Acquisition

Understanding the Silent Period

According to modern teaching practices and Cambridge, Language Acquisition is one of the most important steps in improving one’s language on any level and it conspires during so-called “silent period”.

The silent period is a crucial phase in language acquisition where learners absorb language through listening and reading without the pressure to produce sentences. This natural process is exemplified by newborn babies, who spend their early months listening intently to conversations around them before beginning to speak their first language.

Challenges in Second Language Learning

Learning a second language during teenage years or adulthood presents unique challenges, particularly when learners aren’t immersed in an environment where the target language is commonly spoken. Creating an effective silent period in these circumstances can be both difficult and demanding, but it remains an essential part of the learning process.

Practical Implementation Strategies

There are several ways to incorporate a silent period into your language learning journey:

• Request English-only lessons with your private tutor
• Switch your video consumption to English-language content
• Read English versions of books you enjoy
• Focus on vocabulary-rich grammar exercises to enhance learning
• Utilize resources like Grammartrack for additional practice with new vocabulary while studying grammar concepts

Utilize etymology approach

Etymology as a passive learning approach for vocabulary improvement is a fascinating method that can transform how you naturally absorb and retain new words. And incorporating it into your daily routing is not that hard!

Basic Etymology Approach: When you encounter an unfamiliar word, take a moment to break it down into its root components. For example, if you see “photosynthesis,” recognize “photo” (light) and “synthesis” (putting together). This creates a logical connection that makes the word more memorable and helps you understand similar words.

Making it a Passive Habit:

Start with common prefixes and roots you encounter regularly:

“bio-” (life) in biology, biography, biodiversity

“tele-” (far) in telephone, television, telescope

“-logy” (study of) in psychology, biology, theology

Notice word patterns in your daily reading. When you see words with similar components, mentally connect them. For instance, when you read “telepathy,” your mind might automatically link it to other “tele-” words you know. Use etymology-based associations in your natural thinking. For example, when you see “submarine” (under-sea), connect it mentally to similar words like “subterranean” (under-earth) or “subconscious” (under-conscious).

Mental Framework Development:

As you practice this approach, you’ll develop a natural framework for understanding new words. When you encounter “philanthropy,” you’ll instinctively recognize “phil-” (love) and “-anthropy” (humanity), making it easier to understand and remember “love of humanity.” Long-term Benefits:

• Improved word recognition
• Better retention of vocabulary
• Enhanced understanding of technical terms
• Natural growth in reading comprehension
• Ability to guess meanings of unfamiliar words accurately

You can learn more about it from this video by Oxford Language, a part of Oxford university!

Active habits

Moving on to active habits, they reqcuire more effort, but the payoff is also much higher!

Start a word journal

Keeping a word journal is a powerful tool for vocabulary development that combines active learning with systematic record-keeping. A word journal acts as your personal vocabulary database where you record new words, their meanings, and examples of their usage. This practice is particularly valuable when you’re working on expanding beyond basic English words, as it creates a structured approach to vocabulary acquisition. Here’s why maintaining a word journal is so beneficial:

Active Engagement

When you write down new words you encounter, you’re actively participating in the learning process rather than passively reading or hearing them. This physical act of writing helps create stronger neural connections, making it easier to remember the words later.

Contextual Learning

By recording the context in which you found the word, you develop a deeper understanding of how to use it correctly. This is far more effective than trying to learn new words in isolation.

Progressive Learning

A word journal helps you learn new words everyday at your own pace. You can set manageable goals, like learning 3-5 new words per day, which adds up to a significant increase in vocabulary over time.

Pattern Recognition

As your journal grows, you’ll start noticing patterns in word formation, prefixes, suffixes, and word families. This understanding helps you expand vocabulary more efficiently by making connections between related words.

Personalization

Unlike standard vocabulary lists, your word journal contains words that you personally encounter and find relevant. This relevance makes the words more meaningful and easier to remember.

Review and Reinforcement

Regular review of your journal entries helps reinforce your learning. You can track your progress as you gradually expand vocabulary and move from basic English words to more sophisticated language.

Possible problems

Keeping a journal requires a lot of effort and might be hard if you don’t have time to study a lot, but it doesn’t always need to be a notebook that you are writing in, it might be highlighted words in a book, that you google and save in browser, or an application where you save all your new words, and then they show up to you as flashcards! there are a lot of different tools to help you with that, but I personally found anki as one of the most useful!

Use Vocabulary learning apps

Revolutionizing Language Learning Through Apps

Learning apps have revolutionized how we approach vocabulary enhancement, offering an engaging and systematic way to build language skills. These digital tools transform what could be a mundane task into an interactive and personalized learning experience.

Apps to improve vocabulary often utilize spaced repetition, the same method that we are using at Grammartrack to improve your grammar, a scientifically-proven method where words are reviewed at increasing intervals as you master them. This approach helps move new words from short-term to long-term memory. Many apps also incorporate gamification elements, turning vocabulary building into an enjoyable daily habit through points, achievements, and competitive features.

Tailored Solutions for Adult Learners

For adults specifically, vocabulary-building apps offer flexibility that fits busy schedules. These apps to improve vocabulary for adults often include context-relevant words for professional settings, academic pursuits, or specific fields of interest. They typically allow users to learn at their own pace and focus on sophisticated vocabulary that’s actually useful in adult life.

The best expand vocabulary apps combine multiple learning methods. They might present new words through:

• Real-world context and example sentences
• Audio pronunciation guides
• Visual mnemonics and associations
• Writing exercises and quizzes
• Etymology explanations

Apps to increase vocabulary often track your progress and adapt to your learning style. They can identify patterns in the words you find challenging and adjust their teaching approach accordingly. Many also offer features like:

• Personalized word lists based on your interests
• Daily challenges and reminders
• Integration with your reading materials
• Synonym and antonym networks to build word relationships Perhaps most importantly, these apps make vocabulary learning a consistent, daily practice rather than an occasional effort. The convenience of having a learning tool in your pocket means you can use short breaks throughout the day to expand your vocabulary, whether during a commute, lunch break, or before bed.