Improving Vocabulary Blog.ORG

When a child is born, their mind is a clean slate.  They can remember anything given to them since their mind isn’t clouded by the stress and hassles of everyday life that adults endure.

The designers of Ultimate Vocabulary Software took into consideration the implications of creating software that brings back the learning style of a child’s mind.  How else do children begin to speak and have so many new words already installed into their tiny heads?  It’s because they have a clean slate, and every new word is easily stored and retrieved in their young years.

Like a child, the software in CDs keeps your mind learning by allowing you to be inquisitive in vocabulary words.  If there is a word you don’t know, you look it up with vocabulary learning software.  The more inquisitive you are by searching for knowledge, the easier it will be to remember words since you know its background and usage.

Keeping an open mind to learning, using the Ultimate Vocabulary Software will keep you learning and retaining all the words you learn.  These simple ideas are all available in CD learning software such as Ultimate Vocabulary Software.  It teaches you words and helps you find a way to remember them.  Increase your vocabulary and improve your life along the way.

Games are the quickest and most fun way to learn.  Using games with words, puzzles, and anagrams keeps words engrained in your head.  Ultimate Vocabulary Software makes learning into a game, so you can spend a light hearted night playing puzzles and word games while increasing your vocabulary skills and knowledge.

Personal meaning helps you integrate a relation of a word to help you remember it better.  If you can relate to a word and have your mind think of a specific object or another word for its meaning, then you will find yourself remembering the word more easily than just trying to memorize meanings.

The designers created this principle in their software by evaluating the relationship between names and acquaintances.  It’s normal for many people to have difficulties remembering words and names. However, it was found that people tend to remember certain names if they relate to something important in their lives or if it relates to another person, particularly a relative, who is special to them.

The same can be said about words.  If words are used and learned by relating them to specific ideas and experiences then they will be easier for you to learn their meaning and remember them later. It also involves using those words through iteration and remembering their meanings through relation.  The more you say a word, the more you will relate its meaning to important ideas.  It will become second nature to you, and the difficulty remembering will disappear.

Vocabulary tracking involves listing words in which you are unfamiliar and writing them down for future reference.  This helps you focus on words that are more difficult or that you’ve heard in normal conversations and didn’t know the meaning.

For instance, when you read a book and come across a word that is unfamiliar, do you look up the definition or do you skim over the word and try to interpret the meaning from the sentence?  This inhibits learning and you actually lose the opportunity to truly understand the meaning of a word.  You may even guess improperly while reading doing yourself a disservice by convincing yourself of the incorrect meaning and leading you to false information.

Using vocabulary tracking, instead of skimming over words, you write them down and research the word further.  This isn’t to say you need to stop reading your favorite novel to research a word, but rather you write the word down to research it later.  After finishing the section in your book, take the word and plug it into the Ultimate Vocabulary Software and find its meaning, matching synonyms, matching antonyms, and the complementary examples that are included in the software.

This will give you a new word to use, and it increases your reading comprehension.  It’s been proven that the greater your vocabulary, the greater your ability to read quicker and absorb the information.

Iteration is the idea of repeated use of a word until the meaning is engrained in your memory.  Just like anything else, the more you use whatever knowledge you’ve newly been presented the more you will retain that new piece of information.  This is especially true for vocabulary.  You may learn a new word, but the only way to continually remember its usage is to use it randomly when the situation presents itself.

The designers of Ultimate Vocabulary Software liken their methodology to learning a song on the radio.  The first time you listen to the song, you don’t remember the words, but as you continue to hear it on the radio and sing along with the tune you begin to remember the words and memorize the versus.

This is how their vocabulary iteration software works on their CD for the public.  Their goal is to have you continually repeat the word through practice and advanced educational games.  Part of this theory is to take a word each day and repeat that word.  Use it in a sentence in an email or during regular conversation.  The more practice and iteration you have with a word, the more it will roll off your tongue in normal practice and become a part of your everyday vocabulary.

Immersion is one of the primary techniques that is an important way to improve vocabulary.  It’s one of the foundations of proper word usage and increasing your personal knowledge base.

Immersion involves ground rules where readers and students are not only introduced to a word, but they are also continually immersed in its definition and usage.  Vocabulary immersion helps you remember what the word means through continual introduction and reminders.  Having the word repeated to you in normal sentences and conversation will give you the retention you need to use each word in everyday conversation without hesitation.

Ultimate Vocabulary Software presents users with words, and then it gives not one or two samples, but up to fifty different samples to create a very strong, fortified definition of the word.  It helps you understand how the word is properly used and in what context it is used in given conversations.  It provides you with images, encyclopedia definitions, and other examples that make it easier for your learning and retention.

Secondly, Ultimate Vocabulary Software gives you a way to be immersed in words by providing several synonyms and antonyms for each word.  It’s hard to know the proper way to use a word when you’re only given a word and definition.  This software provides you with a word, several definitions, and then lets you interact with the program to match it with synonyms.  Matching words with similar words gives you a better understanding of exactly how to use that word so that you won’t use it in ambiguous ways.

Using CDs to Improve Vocabulary

CDs are the way to learn new vocabulary skills at the comfort of your home and at your own pace.  Ten years ago, the only true way to improve vocabulary was to take a college course.  Taking a college course isn’t as easy as stepping into a lecture and learning vocabulary and grammar.  It involves submitting an application, taking the time to get into the school, and then attending a class at a specific schedule for three to four months.

College courses aren’t always available for people with full time jobs and a busy schedule at home.  CD courses are a great way to take the college course home with you.  It even gives you a better way to learn by giving you the resources to learn multiple vocabulary words within your own scheduled time and at your own pace and limitations.

There are several ways to improve your vocabulary through the help of great CD products.  One of the products that infuse every one of these methods into its software is Ultimate Vocabulary Software.  The designers of this software knew that old methods of learning could be enhanced with better learning tools and better customization through software.

The following are the best ways to improve vocabulary skills and retain the knowledge to make you a more articulate person.  To summarize the methodology used by the Ultimate Vocabulary Software CD, here are the points to remember when purchasing vocabulary software all of which are incorporated into their learning modules.

• Vocabulary Immersion
• Vocabulary Iteration
• Vocabulary Tracking
• Personal Meaning
• In Your Mind’s Eye
• Game Software
• Use the Child’s Method

All of these methods are important to learn new vocabulary words and incorporate them into your regular speech and writing.  The importance of each method will give the reader a way to learn and retain the new words without losing the information within weeks.  This is normally the byproduct of learning – you learn the information but quickly lose it after practice slows or ceases.  These methodologies keep you learning right from your home and at your own pace so you learn and keep the knowledge permanently.

All of these methods are important to learn new vocabulary words and incorporate them into your regular speech and writing.  The importance of each method will give the reader a way to learn and retain the new words without losing the information within weeks.  This is normally the byproduct of learning – you learn the information but quickly lose it after practice slows or ceases.  These methodologies keep you learning right from your home and at your own pace so you learn and keep the knowledge permanently.

Embarking on a doctorate degree can be one of the most rewarding experiences of one’s life. Most people who complete a doctorate treat the work not as just other tasks, but a labor of love. While completing coursework is part of the academic rigor, the dissertation writing process is often considered one of the greatest challenges in one’s life. Writing a lengthy text that will require thousands of hour’s worth of research, writing, and investigation is challenging because one can never predict how the research will turn out. While doctorate students often master the art of research quickly, one of the facets that come as a challenge is a strong discipline of writing. A common gap is being able to analyze ideas and present them with a clear vocabulary and research problem.

In Ellis and Levy (2008), several disciplines capitalize on the use of the research problem as a means to base strong research. The vocabulary used by the scholar is as important as the research question used. As Ellis and Levy point out, “the importance of basing research on a well-articulated problem statement is well accepted across disciplines such as information systems, education, and engineering (Creswell, 2005; Hicks & Turner, 1999; Sekaran, 2003). Unfortunately, just what constitutes a research-worthy problem is not readily apparent, in particular for novice researchers. Although most scholars would agree that not everything that is problematic could serve as the starting point for meaningful research, it is not easy to identify just what does constitute such a problem.” Furthermore, in a study conducted by Casanave and Hubbard (1992), surveys indicate that there are pedagogical issues concerning global versus local writing problems, the role of vocabulary instruction, the need for discipline-specific writing instruction and the need for educating graduate students on appropriate standards in building a vocabulary at the graduate level is necessary. .

As an undergraduate student, assignments are much more behavioral in nature whereby a student is given a task and is expected to regurgitate the information by presenting a case in an elementary oriented analytical framework. The expectation for quality writing and content delivery is fairly broad. As one matures in their academic careers, rigor, discipline, and style are expected to prevail in more of a constructive means. Constructivism, the learning theory developer by Piaget (1967), is a psychological theory of knowledge that asserts humans generate knowledge and meaning from their experiences. As doctorate students, the student takes their passions and interest by creating a refined academic study over the course of several years through research building and experiential opportunities. Like the Casanave and Hubbard (1992) study states, strong writing and the use of vocabulary attribute to stronger performers in the respected academic disciplines.

With automation and new technologies often coming to the educational technology marketplace, one way to improve learner comprehension, writing style, and vernacular is through the use of vocabulary building tools such as Ultimate Vocabulary. Tools such as Ultimate Vocabulary help the doctoral research increase their writing strength as well as provide a powerful vocabulary that often has a direct correlation to success and status in completing the terminal degree. While not every writing will require a verbose range of vocabulary, learning stylistic ways to enhance a terminal research work often makes a doctoral dissertation more than a study, but a timeless reference.

References Cited

Casanave, C. & Hubbard, A. (1992). The writing assignments and writing problems of doctoral students: Facuklty perceptions, pedagogical issues, and needed research, English for Specific Purposes, 11(2), 33-49.

Creswell, J. W. (2005). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson

Hicks, C. R., & Turner, K. V. (1999). Fundamental concepts in the design of experiments. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Ellis, T. & Levy, Y. (2008). Framework of Problem-Based Research: A Guide for Novice Researchers on the Development of a Research-Worthy Problem. Informing Science Journal, 11(1), 17-33. Retrieved from

http://inform.nu/Articles/Vol11/ISJv11p017-033Ellis486.pdf

Piaget, J. & Inhelder, B. (1967). The Child’s Conception of Space. See especially “Systems of Reference and Horizontal-Vertical Coordinates.” p. 375-418. New York: W. W. Norton &Co

Sekaran, U. (2003). Research methods for business (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

There are many components that graduate programs look at when accepting applications for students to attend their universities. One component is usually standardized testing. Another is the personal essay. These two components of the graduate school application stand out because it defines a learner’s academic capabilities as well as ability to communicate effectively. According to Kuther (2009), regardless of discipline, virtually all graduate school applications entail the same basic components: transcript, GRE, letters of recommendation, and admissions essay.

While the transcript and letters of recommendation exemplify the applicants past performance and personal biases from those who know the student best, the GRE and the admissions essay often have greater weight because it is usually an indicator of future performance. In a study conducted by Powers and Fowles (2000), results from the GRE Writing exam had a strong correlation with acceptance rates as the GRE Writing Assessment so long as it was hand scored provided faculty with the ability to see a future learner’s aptitude and writing skills. Additionally, the personal statements often showed a students ability to think logically and clearly while presenting personal or analytical information (depending on the type of essay question). A common theme was that those who demonstrated strong vocabulary and writing skills were often more likely to be admitted into the Graduate School program of their choice and performance at or above the average performer. Essays and Writing Assessments that present an appropriate length (Weins, Jackson, Manaugh, & Matarazzo, 1969); tone, content, and structure (Loher, Hazer, Tsai, Tilton & James, 1997); strong written vocabulary (Ralston & Yoder, 1989); and the presence of specific examples versus generalities (Knouse, 1983) are all fundamental in the success of preparing a strong graduate school application.

Among all these studies, a common theme of building stronger writing skills and a vocabulary is important. As the educational landscape becomes more demanding of today’s students,  training tools such as Ultimate Vocabulary are an integral part of the improving the graduate students writing and comprehension aptitude. Studies at the secondary school level support this based on a study presented by Berson (1996) who indicated that educational technologies and computers contribute to student achievement, motivation, and enhanced performance, especially in areas where writing is associated. Tools such that build a students vocabulary skills are a part of this class of capabilities.

Each year, thousands of graduate level candidates purchase instructional materials to practice for the GRE exams. While there are various forms of practice GRE exams, the one that often results in the most frustration is the writing examination. However, there are a variety of techniques one can use to present a strong written examination during this graduate exam. Such tips include as provided by Peterson’s (2008) include

1. When writing the essays, the examinee should be sure to include a concise introductory and concluding paragraph. Both paragraphs should consistently convey the message and use plain language.
2. Information being well organized is fundamental. Use transitional vocabulary words and catch phrases to help the reader follow the flow of your discussion is important. Before the exam, review sample passages from previous verbal exams are essential. Also, preparing oneself with common vocabulary used in the GRE’s is a good measurement to captivate the reader. .
3. Each point made in a GRE essay must be supported by a reason and example that supports that points being made.
4. Mechanics such as grammar, sentence construction, word usage and diction should be used carefully Usage and the way the message is convey must be clear and concise.
5. While many say an elaborate vocabulary is important to have for the GRE, it is important that an individual use vocabulary that is appropriate an meaningful to the specific subject. Therefore, flowery vocabularies are strongly discouraged as it may appear as a dichotomy for poor written content. Using vocabulary building software such as Ultimate Vocabulary is one way to enhance exam takers skills.

The exam itself consistent of a variety of sections including antonyms, analogies, sentence completion, reading comprehension, and analytical writing which require the test-taker to have a strong vocabulary (Sheehan, Kostin, & Futagi, 2007). While there are a variety of methods to prepare for a graduate level exam such as using vocabulary flash cards, vocabulary building software, practice exams, very few tools help cover all areas of the written and analytical portion of the exam like Ultimate Vocabulary do. In fact, the GRE practice exam tools included as part of the Ultimate Vocabulary skill challenges are not only meant for Master Degree candidates by Doctoral candidates too. Ultimate Vocabulary provides a multimodal approach to learning including integrating customizable flash cards, synonym memory, word antonym memory, and word recall exercises. Given the vast array of methods vocabulary is employed in this exam, the tools offered in Ultimate Vocabulary will certainly improve a test takers skills Furthermore, with six kind of test, learners can be assured that they know how to apply the vocabulary required to ace the GRE exams.

References Cited
Anonymous (2008). Need to know tips and strategies for the GRE. Peterson’s Guide. Retrieved on April 21, 2009, from http://www.petersons.com/testprep/tips.asp?id=453&sponsor=1&path=gr.pft.gre

Sheehan, K.M,  Kostin, I., & Futagi, Y (2007). Supporting efficient, evidence-centered item development for the GRE verbal measure. Research Report for the Educational Testing Service – Princeton, NJ, 7(29), 1-54.