Making It Stick: Towards more effective vocabulary practice in language learning

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Introduction

Vocabulary is foundational to language competence. Yet the ways learners practise & internalise new vocabulary often fall short of the complex demands of actual language use. Traditional techniques such as pre-taught vocabulary, memorisation of decontextualised word lists, or single-sentence definitions neglect the fact that vocabulary acquisition is not merely a matter of pairing words with declarative meanings, but of developing deep, context-sensitive form-meaning connections. To make vocabulary “stick,” language practice must move beyond memorisation & toward meaningful, situated use that reflects how words function in authentic contexts.

The role of meaningful processing in vocabulary development

At the core of effective language learning is the principle that we remember what we understand (or conversely, we quickly forget what we don’t understand). This is especially true in vocabulary development, where understanding a word in use, rather than in isolation, is what allows learners to access & employ it later in speech or writing. Words are not fixed items with single, dictionary-like meanings; in authentic usage, vocabulary is nuanced, flexible, & deeply context-dependent. A word’s function & interpretation can vary widely depending on co-text (surrounding language), situation, & communicative intent, i.e. a word’s functional meaning & syntactic role can change according to the grammatical construction in which it is used; a process sometimes referred to as “coercion.” Therefore, vocabulary instruction that fails to address these aspects deprives learners of the rich network of associations necessary for long-term retention & fluent use. Simply put, language is complex. Students need multiple encounters with words in their respective contexts & with their respective specific meanings in order to develop an intuitive sense of their appropriate use.

Why context matters

A dictionary can define a word in abstract terms, but only context can teach students how to use it. Learning vocabulary in isolation may enable short-term recognition, but it rarely promotes durable, transferable understanding. By contrast, encountering & analysing new vocabulary in whole texts (whether written or spoken) allows learners to process language purposefully: to interpret how & why specific words are used in particular settings. This kind of meaningful engagement generates stronger cognitive connections & better memory retention.

Effective vocabulary learning, then, begins with interpreting new language in context. Once students have grasped a word’s function in a text, they are ready to explore its range of use more deeply. They can then process & develop awareness of lexicogrammatical patterns, typical collocations, & register or genre-specific usages that shape its meaning. This deepening process is central to robust, flexible vocabulary acquisition.

A pedagogical model for deep vocabulary practice

To make vocabulary practice more effective, it must be designed to promote understanding, retrieval, & personalisation. The following is a model activity sequence based on current research in applied linguistics (Web & Nation, 2017) & cognitive psychology (Fiorella & Mayer, 2020):

  • Comprehension first: Students begin by reading or listening to a source text in order to interpret its meaning, social function, & purpose. They should have a strong understanding of the ideas & themes so that they can readily respond to questions & prompts about them in meaningful ways.
  • Contextual focus: For each target vocabulary item, students re-read the original sentence in which it appeared.
  • Guided understanding: They then read a brief but specific, contextualised explanation or definition of the word or phrase.
  • Pattern recognition: Two additional example sentences demonstrate the word’s similar use in different contexts, helping learners to process regularities & associated lexicogrammatical patterns (or constructions, if you prefer).
  • Generative use: Students respond to a prompt or question that requires them to use the word meaningfully, ideally drawing on their own experiences & knowledge. This encourages generative learning, constructing new form-meaning connections rooted in what they already know.
  • Follow-up retrieval practice: Later, in follow-up tasks, students return to similar questions without the above scaffolding. This is a form of retrieval practice, which has been shown to substantially improve long-term retention. By using the vocabulary item from memory, students strengthen their knowledge & build fluency (Carpenter & Agarwal, 2019).

Illustrative examples

To exemplify the approach, here are three vocabulary items; offset by, positively averse, & barely human; taken from a reflective magazine article about ambivalence toward animals. Each is linked back to its context & co-text, expanded upon, & practised through prompts that require interpretation & personalisation: The original sentence, a brief definition, two further examples, a prompt for students to respond to, & a follow-up prompt.

Item: offset by

  • Text sentence: “Their loveability is more than offset by their extraordinary flair in the art of being annoying.”
  • Definition: Balanced or compensated for by something else, often when weighing positives against negatives.
  • Additional examples:
    • The food was delicious, but the long wait for service wasn’t offset by it.
    • The higher living costs were offset by the raise in salary.
  • Prompt: Can love for pets ever truly offset the chaos and inconvenience they bring into a home?
  • Follow-up prompt: Do you think the emotional comfort animals provide is offset by the potential ethical contradictions, such as eating meat or neglecting humans in need?

Item: positively averse

  • Text sentence: “To dogs, I am positively averse.”
  • Definition: Strongly disliking something, with added emphasis.
  • Additional examples:
    • She is positively averse to spicy food; even black pepper is too much.
    • I’m positively averse to small talk at parties.
  • Prompt: What makes someone positively averse to animals, and is this aversion ever as socially acceptable as a dislike for certain people?
  • Follow-up prompt: Is it more honest, or even more humane, to be positively averse to animals than to love them in a sentimental, inconsistent way?

Item: barely human

  • Text sentence: “People who care very little about other species are barely human.”
  • Definition: Used hyperbolically to suggest someone lacks normal emotional responses or compassion.
  • Additional examples:
    • Anyone who skips coffee in the morning is barely human.
    • He’s barely human until he’s had at least eight hours of sleep.
  • Prompt: Why are people who don’t love animals sometimes treated as barely human, and what does this say about our cultural priorities?
  • Follow-up prompt: Is choosing to care more for animals than people a sign of deep compassion, or a sign that someone is barely human in a different way?

The role of generative learning & comparison

To deepen learning further, students can compare their own responses to model answers. This kind of comparison allows them to calibrate their understanding, reflect on language use, & recognise how well they have incorporated the target vocabulary into their own expression. Research on generative learning confirms that such practices not only improve retention but also facilitate transfer; the ability to use vocabulary accurately & appropriately in new situations & contexts (Fiorella & Mayer, 2020).

Consider the model response below to the earlier prompt for offset by.

  • Prompt: Can love for pets ever truly offset the chaos and inconvenience they bring into a home?
  • Example/model response: For some, the affection they get from animals is offset by the constant cleaning, noise, and lack of personal space.

Students compare their own responses to this & consider points of similarity & difference. This reflection not only strengthens memory for the vocabulary but also extends & develops contextual awareness & critical thinking. But the main benefit, which is not immediately apparent is the transfer of learning that typically occurs significantly more frequently, whereby students use the vocabulary items in new contexts appropriately & spontaneously in writing & speech.

Vocabulary learning that lasts

Effective vocabulary instruction is not just about memorising words & their dictionary definitions, it’s about using them meaningfully & flexibly. The example technique outlined here, grounded in authentic context & co-text, generative learning, & retrieval practice, offers a pathway to durable, flexible, & transferable vocabulary knowledge. Language teachers should aim to design activities that require learners to process, interpret, personalise, & re-use new vocabulary items meaningfully & in context within & beyond the classroom.

References

Appendix: Further retrieval practice & generative learning examples

Here are more example responses to the above questions to illustrate how students can compare & contrast their own responses, thereby developing, deepening, & making their vocabulary knowledge more flexible & transferable.

By the way, if you use a learning management system, such as Moodle, you can create activities that precisely control & sequence students’ generative vocabulary practice & retrieval practice for optimal effect, i.e. the student reads a prompt, writes or records their personal response to it, submits it, & is then presented with a corresponding example response for comparison. This allows extensive independent practice outside of guided lesson time.

Item: offset by

  • Prompt: Can love for pets ever truly offset the chaos and inconvenience they bring into a home?
  • Response: For some, the affection they get from animals is offset by the constant cleaning, noise, and lack of personal space.
  • Prompt: Do you think the emotional comfort animals provide is offset by the potential ethical contradictions, such as eating meat or neglecting humans in need?
  • Response: Yes, the comfort is often offset by how people ignore human suffering or their own hypocrisy about animal rights.

Item: positively averse

  • Prompt: What makes someone positively averse to animals, and is this aversion ever as socially acceptable as a dislike for certain people?
  • Response: Some people are positively averse to animals because of bad experiences or discomfort, but this aversion is often judged more harshly than disliking people.
  • Prompt: Is it more honest, or even more humane, to be positively averse to animals than to love them in a sentimental, inconsistent way?
  • Response: Being positively averse might show more honesty than pretending to love animals while still eating meat or ignoring their needs.

Item: barely human

  • Prompt: Why are people who don’t love animals sometimes treated as barely human, and what does this say about our cultural priorities?
  • Response: Because animal affection is often linked to empathy, those who lack it are seen as barely human, which suggests we value emotional signals over deeper ethics.
  • Prompt: Is choosing to care more for animals than people a sign of deep compassion, or a sign that someone is barely human in a different way?
  • Response: It might seem caring, but prioritising animals over people could make someone appear barely human in their moral judgement.

Please note that for copyright reasons, the source text that provides the context, register features, ideas, & themes for the above vocabulary practice activities cannot be included in this blog post.