Most vocabulary learning techniques work in the short term. They’re fantastic for recalling words in the few months leading up to an exam and allow you to memorise a vast amount of information quickly.
But they don’t last forever.
When I teach EFL/ESL classes, I want my students to carry what they learned into the rest of their lives. For this, you need consistency and dedication.
This article is a detailed look at step 8 of my Best Method to Improve EFL/ESL Students’ Vocabulary: 9 Steps and follows on from step 7 – Supercharge EFL/ESL Vocab With Spaced Repetition (Anki). It’d be a good idea to read those before getting stuck into this one, so you understand all the concepts.
Maintaining neural pathways is key to long-term recall
In the memorisation phase (steps 3-6) of the Best Method, we looked at using hooks – images, gestures, sounds and moments – to establish strong neural pathways.
Those hooks are like roads leading to a destination. The aim is to reach the location where the memory for the word we’re trying to remember is stored. The more roads we have, the easier and faster it is to arrive. If one road gets blocked off, we can go a different way.
This is great in the short term. But over time, our brains clean out and rearrange neural connections. In the past, scientists thought memories just decayed, but now we know the brain actively removes information it considers unimportant. That’s why we forget things.
Check out this article on Discover Magazine to learn more about the science of why we forget information. I also have an article on forgetting vocab in the short term: Why EFL/ESL Students Forget Vocab: Causes and Solutions.
The key point from above is “the brain actively removes information it considers unimportant.”
It makes sense. You have a limited capacity to remember things, so why keep the stuff which doesn’t affect you? What you ate for dinner on 27th August 2015 isn’t something you’ll ever need to recall.
So how do we stop this memory removal from happening? The answer’s simple. Make sure the brain thinks the information is important. How do we do that? Glad you asked. Here are some methods…
Make the most of spaced repetition
In the previous article, Supercharge EFL/ESL Vocab With Spaced Repetition (Anki), I explained how to set up the Anki app to automate spaced repetition.
Make sure to use this in every class. Frequency and consistency are the most important factors of success, much more so than the quantity of vocab you learn in a single class. Dedicate 5-10 minutes every week (or even every day) to reviewing vocab.
And don’t forget the hooks. When they appear on the app, encourage your students to take a moment to drive those roads again and show the brain they matter.
Design future activities around past vocabulary (spiral curriculum)
A spiral curriculum is one which repeats a topic at a later date, with a slightly higher level of complexity.
In EFL/ESL terms, it’s like learning vocab for the weather at the start of the year, then coming back to it later on. It builds upon previous knowledge.
For a deep dive into the spiral curriculum, head to Helpful Professor and read their article Bruner’s Spiral Curriculum – The 3 Key Principles.
Now, I’m not saying you have to design a complex plan for the whole year of study.
Instead, find ways to repeat and build. If you learned lots of types of weather in September, perhaps you could revisit the topic in January by making a weather forecast video. The brain will realise the vocab they learned in September is important and won’t remove it.
Find organic opportunities to repeat and reinforce
In a similar way to step two of the Best Method, which described the organic acquisition technique, you can find organic moments to include a little repetition.
Read my article What Vocab Should You Teach in EFL/ESL: Organic acquisition to learn all the details of organic acquisition.
You can’t plan these. Just be aware of what your students are saying. Whether during role plays, writing activities, games or general conversation, opportunities always arise when students can’t remember a word you’ve studied previously.
In those moments, encourage them to remember the hooks (images, sounds, gestures and positive moments). Include the whole class.
The brain will reinforce the connections even more strongly, as the student needed the word. It had high value.
Encourage life long learning
The toughest part of trying to get students to remember vocabulary in the long term is that at some point, you’ll stop having classes with them.
I’ve suffered this many times before. You do some great work with a student, creating Anki flashcards, establishing all those amazing hooks, and seeing the results over the course of an academic year.
Then lessons end.
That means no more guidance for the students to keep up their practice. All that work is wasted because in a year’s time, their brains will have decided the vocab isn’t important anymore and removed those hard-earned connections. It’s so frustrating.
It doesn’t have to be like this. If you teach your students this method of vocabulary learning, get them set up and comfortable with Anki, and guide them in developing hooks, you can leave them with all the tools to learn vocabulary themselves.
With children, get their parents involved. Show them the results of their kids’ work, and implore them to keep it going.
Sure, some of them, perhaps even most of them, will fail to keep it up in the long term. But a few won’t. A few will become lifelong learners of vocabulary. All thanks to that great teacher who taught them how.
Conclusion
Learning a language is a skill for life. It shouldn’t end with final school exams or when it’s no longer required for work.
While it takes effort and organisation to keep vocab practice going, it’s worth it. You’re building strong foundations for a house which will stand the test of time.
For all the information you could ever possibly want on teaching EFL/ESL vocab, take a look at all my articles on the topic.
BIG OVERALL GUIDE: Best Method to Improve EFL/ESL Students’ Vocabulary: 9 Steps
Why EFL/ESL Students Forget Vocab: Causes and Solutions
How to Elicit Vocabulary in EFL/ESL: 7 Effective Activities
What Vocab Should You Teach in EFL/ESL: Organic acquisition
How to Use Images for Deep Vocab Memorisation in EFL/ESL
How to Use Gestures to Embed Vocab in EFL/ESL + 2 Games
How to Test EFL/ESL Vocabulary: Best assessment methods
Sounds and Audio Hooks for Lasting Memorisation in EFL/ESL
How to Teach Vocab in EFL/ESL with Memorable Moments
Supercharge EFL/ESL Vocab With Spaced Repetition (Anki)
How to Make Vocab Last Forever: Reinforcing connections
9 High Energy EFL/ESL Games for Boosting Vocabulary
