Improving Vocabulary Blog.ORG

In today’s economy, there are millions of people who are unemployed. Just a few years ago, it was estimated that the average employer would receive five to seven resumes for a position. This limited an employer’s interviewing and selection pool. Nowadays though, a position can have as many as forty to fifty applications. Making ones resume stand out is essential to successfully securing a job. Showing written maturity in ones presentation skills, which includes grammar and writing, is paramount. Here are some helpful tips to improving one chances of getting a job in the tough economy.

Power Words

According to CareerOwl, using power words has the potential to distinguish the typical employee from the highly qualified. Furthermore, according to the Rockport Institute, “…even if you face fierce competition, with a well written resume you should be invited to interview more often than many people more qualified than you.” Furthermore, it is important to remember that a “resume is an advertisement, nothing more, nothing less.  A great resume doesn’t just tell them what you have done but makes the same assertion that all good ads do: If you buy this product, you will get these specific, direct benefits. It presents you in the best light. It coveys to the employer that you have what it takes to be successful in this new position or career.”  A strong resume presents power words – or words that are dominant to that industry or business that show the candidate has a strong business acumen and understanding of what it will take to succeed in the corporate culture.

Grammar and Vocabulary

Being sloppy and careless can also cost a future candidate an employment opportunity. According to Bauer-Ramazani (2008), an important element to ensuring a resume is highly marketable is that the resume uses accurate English grammar and vocabulary which includes word form and word choice. Additionally, verbs must be used consistently as in the past tense unless the person is currently working in the specified environment. Punctuation and spelling must also be exact. Furthermore, the resume includes all the necessary items and follows the guidelines required such as objectives, action verbs, dates, places, and so forth with precision all the while being accurate.

Business Words

Bauer-Ramazani (2008) suggests that when writing your resume, it’s important that you are not repetitive with action verbs of business words. Using the same words over and over again will make your resume seem dull. Most employers will pass your resume up because it will show a lack of experience and professionalism. Adding words that convey similar actions in different ways is essential. This means that using a variety of business words to emphasize actions will help to build a strong self image to the potential employer while accelerating one’s own chances of landing the job they are applying for.

Anonymous (2008) English Resources. CareerOwl. Retrieved on April 19, 2009, from http://www.careerowlresources.ca/

Lore, N. (2008). How to write a masterpiece of a resumne. Rockport Institute. Retrieved on April 18, 2009, from http://www.rockportinstitute.com/resumes.html

Bauer-Ramazani, C. (2008) Foundations of Business Administration: Resume Rubrics. Retrieved on April 18, 2009, from http://academics.smcvt.edu/cbauer-ramazani/BU113/Rubrics/resume_rubric.htm

Each year, there are hundreds of products that come onto the market that attempt to assist students in preparing for the Graduate Record Exam (GRE). Most of these products focus on requiring the student to memorize vocabulary lists. Research studies conducted by the Educational Testing Service have proven year after year, that while many of the leading instructional products on the market focus on vocabulary memorization, this may not be the best way to improve your vocabulary. Recent research conducted by ETS and various non-profit educational associations have attributed that if a learner reads more and the readings are more challenging, the learners skills and vocabulary will increase exponentially The problem for GRE test takers is that they have a few months, if that to begin preparing for this important exam.

Some might argue that if you only have a couple of months till you take the GRE’s memorization might be one’s only realistic option. In reality though, there are interactive products out there than build your vocabulary and help you memorize these terms too, such as Ultimate Vocabulary. Because at least two sections of the GRE, analogies and antonyms, depend largely on the test taker’s knowledge of vocabulary, reinforcement of a range of vocabulary terms is essential to a learner’s success. Many students rely on past experience as they follow words that have appeared in the GRE exams in the past. However, a student limits his or her ability to full master the potential for the test. Tools such as Ultimate Vocabulary allow for a learner to build their skills and become stronger for the analogies and antonyms section of the exam.

Universities such as Michigan State suggest that students prepare for the GRE’s following these guidelines.

• The student becomes more aware of what the most common parts of speech are and how they are used in sentences. For the purposes of the GRE, nouns, verbs, and adjectives are most useful.
• The student will learn the vocabulary by putting the words into sentences. This is the best way to become more aware of how the words are used and will help you analyze GRE Analogies questions. Application is key to success in learning vocabulary. You cannot be successful unless you know how to use the words.

Therefore, to succeed in mastering vocabulary for any form of assessment instrument such as the GRE and SAT, this methodology should be used as this strategy has proven to be a wild success. Using software tools that not only teach you the words but how to use them in context and practice is fundamental. Only Ultimate Vocabulary offers learners over 125,000 words and a variety of interactive formats to strengthen vocabulary. \

References Cited

Michigan State University (2008). GRE Vocabulary List. Retrieved on April 20, 2009, from https://www.msu.edu/~defores1/gre/vocab/gre_vocab.htm

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.

As an online learner, it is important to stand out from the crowd when it comes to writing effectively. No one knows your personality and it’s even more difficult to gage your academic capabilities besides how you present yourself in writing. In the online learning environment, individual differences specific to learning and instruction can be found within intelligence, cognitive controls, cognitive styles, learning styles, personality types, and prior knowledge (Jonassen & Grabowski, 1993). Each of these dimensions as described by Jonassen and Grabowski helps the online instructor understand 1) patterns of thinking and reasoning about information as described by the student, 2) how individuals process information to make sense in their world, 3) preferences for information processing, and 4) how the learners past knowledge, skills, or ability influence the learning process. Each of these dimensions, collectively, helps to describe one’s personality.  More importantly though, is how it is reflected in the presentation of regurgitating the online instruction. The written word is the only way to capitulate and measure the student’s full aptitude.

A learner’s writing skills must be sharp but the vocabulary must be even stronger. Many of the United States leading online learning programs advocate the use of automated tools to conduct research. Studies have also shown that there is increasing demand for the use of vocabulary software. Global universities attribute this need to increase ones vocabulary in online forums and in asynchronous communication to effective communication. Flanagan (1996) supported this notion by explaining how a vocabulary learning resource is instrumental into supporting strong writers. Flanagan states “Development of specialized dictionaries rarely pays off in general online environments. The tendency toward topic drift and the large number of writers make for more vocabulary variability than in subject or organization-specific texts” Software developers that build automated learning tools should; therefore, concentrate on building good general dictionaries while taking care to include stable online jargon and software and hardware terminology.

One tool that mixes the dictionary oriented model with targeted instruction based on grade level or business skills is Ultimate Vocabulary. While other vendors are more concerned with vocabulary exclusively, Ultimate Vocabulary learners will develop a vocabulary that is targeted towards their age, educational level, and academic needs. The tools provide an abundant amount of reinforcement and exploratory learning models to achieve tiered levels of mastery. With over 125,000 terms included as part of the program, the learner has the ability to tie the vocabulary context with applicability such as rhymes, etymology, visualization, and interactive testing agents for a variety of testing methods. Of all the products on the market, Ultimate Vocabulary has the potential to be a superstar in any online learning community.

References Cited

Flanagan, M. (1996). Two years online: Experiences, challenges, and trends. Retrieved on April 17, 2009, from http://www.mt-archive.info/AMTA-1996-Flanagan-1.pdf.

Jonassen, D.H. & Grabowski, B.L. (1993). Handbook of Individual Difference, Learning, and Instruction. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

Every year, millions of students around the globe take the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Many universities use this test one of the admissions criteria to see if a student will succeed in their school, and more specifically the program of their choice. Universities use various measures  to determine a student’s performance. The SAT examination has an area of the exam that emphasizes reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge. Terrill, Scruggs, and Mastropiere (2004) reported that “A strong psychometric relationship has consistently been reported between measures of vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. This finding could imply that one way to improve children’s reading performance is to increase their vocabulary. Eight studies are reviewed that attempted to do this. Although all eight studies reported increases in students’ word knowledge, many failed to facilitate reading comprehension.” (p. 288). Many teachers aim to teach their students in a multimodal approach how to improve their students’ vocabulary and comprehension.

Price and Finkelstein (1994) conducted a study that examined whether “mnemonic strategies would be useful for high school students with learning disabilities. Over a 6-week period, this teacher taught the students SAT vocabulary words using either a traditional instructional approach or pictorial mnemonic keyword strategies she had developed.” (p. 134). Price and Finkelstein’s study produced results that using mnemonic instruction, 92% of students improved their vocabulary whereas on 49% did so under traditional methods. Several other studies have been indicative of similar results. The common theme has been that students can improve their memory for the Scholastic Aptitude Test vocabulary words by associating the words with corresponding pictures taken from media sources such as educational technology software, vocabulary building exercises, flashcards, and even magazines. By doing so, the student demonstrated that long-term recall of words associated with pictures was higher than recall of words not associated with pictures.

Educational software that helps students build their vocabulary for standardized test such as the SAT, TOEFL, and GMAT will have a similar impact. While the use of technology in education is a great reinforcement instrument, it is important given the tremendous increase in the use of computers and educational software in classrooms, that students still have a strong understand of the fundamentals of doing things using traditional manners. Wood (2001) said “Since there is much at stake, it is urgent that the literacy community accept responsibility for the critical evaluation of the tools that teachers will use to help teach the next generation of children to read.” (p. 168). Tools such as Executive Vocabulary and Ultimate Vocabulary provide the balance between the necessary comprehension skills students require, a visual and tactile way of learning how to read, and help build a student’s vocabulary so that regardless of the standardized test, the student s performance will be stronger.

Price, M. & Finkelstein, A. (1994). Pictures improve memory of SAT vocabulary words. Journal of Reading, 38(2), 134-135.

Terrill, M.C., Scruggs, T.E. & Mastropieri, M.A. (2004). SAT vocabulary instruction for high school students with learning disabilities. Intervention in School and Clinic, 39(5), 288-294.

Wood, J. (2001). Can software support children’s vocabulary development. Language Learning & Technology, 3(1), 166-201.