Vocabulary learning is a complex and difficult process. It is a cumulative process because learning a particular word involves a series of meetings with the word. What needs to be taught about a word is a learning task that gives attention to the meaning, spelling, pronunciation, morphemes and syllabification, register and collocations, grammar and restrictions on its use.

This time-consuming activity is only justified if high frequency words are learnt. They should be available for both productive and receptive use. Before the learners are able to handle the word automatically they have met it in a range of contexts. A lot of receptive use of a lexical item is necessary before the learners use it productively. The learners need occasions and situations to use their vocabulary receptively and productively. Extensive listening and reading are the prerequisite for speaking and writing.

Learning vocabulary deliberately includes strategies that help learners reflect on their learning process. Among these guessing from context is a very useful and effective way of identifying a new word, especially for advanced learners.

The vocabulary size of an educated native speaker is estimated at 20,000 word families. For reading academic texts 10,000 word families are necessary, for engaging in conversation 7,000 word families are needed.

According to David Crystal, one of the world’s foremost authorities on language,

“vocabulary is the Everest of a language. There is no larger task than to look for order among the hundreds of thousands of words which comprise the lexicon. Nothing beats lexical study for sheer quantity and range”.

In sum effectively learning vocabulary includes intensive reading and listening, writing and speaking, deliberate learning and strategy training.

Extensive reading is the most effective way of maintaining the language you learn and of acquiring and consolidating more. A large vocabulary is a defining feature of an advanced learner of a language.