Vocabulary Development Workflow Template for Doctoral Studies
Introduction to Vocabulary Development
Total Time: 10 minutes
Introduce the importance of effective vocabulary acquisition for doctoral students, emphasizing how robust vocabulary enhances academic writing, research, and professional communication. Share the goal of the session - to outline and engage with a structured workflow for vocabulary development.
Word Identification and Selection
Total Time: 10 minutes
Discuss the initial step of identifying new words. Engage the participants in a brief collaborative activity where they share unfamiliar words they encountered in recent readings. Use a shared document or whiteboard to collect these words and facilitate a discussion on how to prioritize them based on frequency and relevance, as well as individual learning goals.
Initial Understanding
Total Time: 10 minutes
Break into small groups and focus on the Initial Understanding tasks. Each group selects a word from the identified list, looks up its definition using dictionaries (digital or physical), analyzes its contextual usage, and identifies synonyms and antonyms using a thesaurus. Groups present their findings, fostering collaboration and shared learning.
Deepening Understanding
Total Time: 10 minutes
Conduct an interactive exercise where each participant creates original sentences for the word they explored in their group, sharing these with the larger group. Additionally, discuss exploring etymology: participants will use etymology dictionaries to discover the origins of their words, and identify any word families associated with it. This collaborative approach helps deepen understanding.
Retention and Practice
Total Time: 10 minutes
Introduce the concept of flashcards and spaced repetition systems (SRS). Provide examples of effective flashcard apps and briefly demonstrate inputting words. Allocate time for participants to create or plan their flashcard entries, followed by self-testing discussions. Encourage participants to share or quiz each other on new words to reinforce retention.
Integration into Active Vocabulary
Total Time: 10 minutes
Discuss ways to actively incorporate vocabulary into everyday communication—through conversation, writing, and academic discourse. Encourage participants to set personal goals for the week to use at least three new words in their professional communication. Facilitate a peer feedback session to discuss challenges faced when integrating new vocabulary.
Conclusion and Review Schedule
Total Time: 5 minutes
Conclude by summarizing the key steps outlined in the workflow. Highlight the importance of continued practice and periodic reviews, discussing the proposed daily, weekly, and monthly review schedule. Remind participants to mark the next review meeting in their calendars and finalize the session by sharing additional resources.