This seems like a very simple question, but in fact it\u2019s incredibly hard to answer. We don\u2019t need to analyze the question too much to see the problem. Let\u2019s just look at a small example to show why counting words isn\u2019t very practical.
\n <\/p>\n
Take the word \u201cplace, \u201d for example. Maybe you already see a problem: there are two different words I might be talking about, one a noun and one a verb. We have two separate meanings in these two sentences:<\/p>\n
But that separation is clear enough. There are two different parts of speech and two different meanings. So we can just say they are different words, right? The problem is that there are still other uses of \u201cplace\u201d:<\/p>\n
And there are even more. We can conjugate the verb, too, into \u201cplacing\u201d or \u201cplaced.\u201d Or we could consider the words that come out of \u201cplace,\u201d such as \u201cplacement\u201d or \u201cplaceless.\u201d Or we could look at idioms such as \u201cout of place\u201d or \u201ctake place.\u201d When does it stop being the same word? How many words are we really talking about here? <\/p>\n
Many, many words in English, as in all languages, have multiple uses. Sometimes they have completely different meanings as different parts of speech, such as the adjective \u201cexact\u201d and the verb \u201cexact\u201d (meaning \u201cdemand and take\u201d), but sometimes the different parts of speech are closely related, as is true of the verb \u201cexport\u201d and the noun \u201cexport.\u201d Meanwhile, sometimes the almost-separate words are the same part of speech, and the meanings are so similar, we might consider them just one meaning of one word (e.g. \u201cplace\u201d to mean \u201chome\u201d or \u201clocation\u201d above). It\u2019s complicated!<\/p>\n
That said, there are ways that linguists use to count numbers of words, so you can find articles about \u201chow many words are in English,\u201d etc. But none of those ways to count words are perfect, because language isn\u2019t so simple. But none of that matters for the TOEFL. Here\u2019s the important lesson for now:<\/p>\n
Counting vocabulary words for the TOEFL is at best difficult, at worst harmful.<\/span> Above, I say \u201charmful\u201d because counting words creates a way of thinking that doesn\u2019t match how the test works.<\/p>\n Imagine, for example, I start working with an alien from another planet as a student. This alien knows zero English words, but he has a Babel Fish (a fictional fish that lives in your ear and translates any alien language, from the book The Hitchhikers\u2019 Guide to the Galaxy<\/a><\/em>). Now, I go through a TOEFL test from the official guide, and I make a list of every single word in test. I then give the alien the list, and he memorizes all the words and their translations. Then, I give him that TOEFL. How many questions will he get right in the reading and listening sections? Some, probably, but definitely not all, and not enough for university admissions. Understand a sentence is more than just memorizing definitions of words. It is knowing meanings of phrases, idioms, grammatical structures, and more. <\/p>\n That\u2019s part of why translation programs are so bad at translating Chinese to English<\/a>. They know the definitions of words, but they don\u2019t always know which<\/em> definitions are best in context, nor what the larger phrases mean. Language in dictionary definitions is very different from language in use.<\/p>\n And if you start thinking about the number of words you should learn for the TOEFL, you are preparing to be that alien, taking a test with incomplete English experience. Yes, flashcards help. But don\u2019t think about \u201chow many.\u201d Think about how well you truly understand each word. If you want to improve that understanding, read, read, read<\/strong>. Never stop reading. And use the flashcards to start<\/em> your knowledge of a word, not to complete it. Once you know the basic meaning from a flashcard, you can really<\/em> learn the meaning through usage. The more you read and listen to challenging English<\/a>, the better prepared you will be on the TOEFL. Maybe now you\u2019re thinking about a different question: how hard<\/em> is the TOEFL<\/a>? And while that\u2019s not an easy question to answer either, it\u2019s a bit more helpful than thinking about the number of words. Since the TOEFL is about English in use, we can compare its difficulty to other<\/strong> English in use.<\/p>\n And finally, if you still want to know how much you should focus on learning TOEFL vocabulary<\/a>, then the best place to start is with some official TOEFL practice material<\/a>. After doing some reading and listening, if you find that the vocabulary is causing trouble for you, then start studying the academic word list<\/a> (and reading more, of course!). Use your experience with TOEFL material to know how much vocabulary you should study. Don\u2019t trust a number\u2014nobody can tell you \u201chow many words\u201d confidently and correctly. This seems like a very simple question, but in fact it\u2019s incredibly hard to answer. We don\u2019t need to analyze the question too much to see the problem. Let\u2019s just look at a small example to show why counting words isn\u2019t very practical. Counting Words Is Extremely Hard Take the word \u201cplace, \u201d for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13604],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13628],"class_list":["post-54","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vocab"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n <\/p>\nLearning Words in Lists Is Not Really Learning English<\/h2>\n
\n <\/p>\nWhat to Do Instead<\/h2>\n
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"