Vocabulary Strategies

- Contextualisation: This means putting new vocabulary words into sentences to

help you remember them and to test if you are using them correctly. You can use
these sentences when talking to an English-speaker to see if they understand, you
can write these sentences in your learner portfolio for the tutors to see, or you can
e-mail the tutors and ask them to check these words in your sentences. The most
independent ways are talking to an English speaker, and searching the Internet to
find examples of the word being used in sentences.

- Elaboration: this means relating new information to information you already know.
For example, if you know the meaning of 'information', it is easy to remember that
the verb is 'to inform', and that 'informative' is an adjective, and that 'an informant'
is someone who gives information.

- Inferencing: This means using available information to predict or guess the

meanings of; e.g. new vocabulary items. For example, if you know that you are
reading about football, and you know that a field is often a large area covered in
grass, then you can guess that a football field is a large, grassy area for playing
football.

- Translation: You can read a story in a newspaper in your own language first, then
read the same story in an English newspaper. Most of the story will probably be the
same, so the story in your own language will help you to prepare for reading in
English. For example, it will give you vocabulary, and when you read the English
story and there is some vocabulary that you don't know, then you can use your
knowledge of the story to guess what the new vocabulary is.

- Personalisation: you can write down why the vocabulary item (i.e. the word or
phrase) is important to you, where you first saw it, and when you used it, for
example, you may have heard the item in a movie you liked (click here for list of
movies and famous phrases in them), and used the item when you talked about
the movie with your friends.

- Keeping your own dictionary / vocabulary book: Writing entries for the dictionary
will help you to learn words, and using your own dictionary can be faster than a
normal dictionary. Click here for more details and examples.

- Grouping: you can group words into different areas, such as words in the different
courses you study. For example, business students could group vocabulary items
into marketing vocabulary, accounting vocabulary, and human resources
vocabulary.
 Grammar Strategies

- Deduction: This means using rules to work out the answer or how to do
something. It is especially useful for grammar, for example Rule: To change normal
speech to reported speech; eg. for writing minutes of a meeting, move the tenses
back one past tense. Example: Mr. Chan - "I will see her tomorrow." Reported
speech - 'Mr. Chan said that he would see her the next day.

- Recombination: This means joining together things you already know to make
new things. For example, if you know that the simple past tense is used to describe
things that happened in the past which have finished, and you know that the
present perfect tense is used to describe experience, you can make a sentence
that includes both of them:
"I first visited America in 1990. Last summer I went there again, so I have been
there twice."

- Writing your own grammar book: this can contain rules, examples (e.g. from
newspapers or magazines), your notes (e.g. on things you don't understand), lists
of exceptions, etc.

- Using new grammar: after you learn some new grammar, use it in conversation or
writing, and see what your listener's or reader's reaction is: do they understand
you? You can ask "Did I say that right?"

- Get a grammar book: come to CILL or go to a bookshop and look at the different
grammar books. Choose one that you understand.

- Read and listen: to see how writers and speakers use English grammar to
communicate their ideas.

Pronunciation Strategies

- Repetition: You can repeat a word out loud or silently to practice pronunciation.
Be careful to listen to a model to make sure that you pronunciation is correct.

- Sound: This means remembering English sounds by using sounds in your own
language. For example, the English sound / i: /is very similar to the Chinese
(Putonghua) sound of the word that means 'one'.
 Vocabulary Strategies

Memory strategies
• Associate the sound with pinyin, new character with a similar character
previously learned
• Visualize the character in your head or create a story with its meaning
• Recognize the radicals and remember the new character as a part of a
compound word
• Memorize the meaning and pinyin while doing the character homework.
• Group the characters with other characters containing the same radical or
having the similar meanings.
• Group words according to parts of speech (e.g., nouns, verbs).
• Remember the situation where I first heard or saw, ore remember the page
or sign where I saw it written.
• Remember the character in a meaningful sentence.

Cognitive Strategies

• Look carefully at the strokes and follow the right stroke order.
• Read the handout explaining how the character was formed by assembling
different components.
• Use language lab or online recordings frequently to listen to the words
• Take notes by using characters in class or at home
• Use new words in sentences or essay writing.

Metacognitive Strategies

• Pay attention to the tone and read it aloud several times before writing it
• Pay attention to how the character is used in context.
• Preview the new words and make vocabulary cards. Go over the flashcards
on a daily basis
• Review characters by reading the text in the book.
• Quiz myself during memorization; for example, giving the sound, I try to
think of the character’s shape and meaning.
• Read Chinese children’s book or other reading materials.

Pronunciation Strategies
Cognitive Strategies
• Concentrate intensely on pronunciation while listening
• Talk aloud to myself and repeat aloud after a native or tape
• Do exercises practicing to acquire target language sounds

Compensation strategies

• Use phonetic symbols or my own codes to remember how to pronounce

something.

Metacognitive Strategies

• Notice mouth positions or watch lips.

• Read reference materials about target language rules.

Social Strategies

• Have a sense of humor about mispronunciation

• Ask someone else to correct my pronunciation or to pronounce something.