The aim of this leaflet

The aim of this leaflet is to introduce you to materials that you may find useful if you want to learn phrases or units of language that are longer than just one word. This can be a useful approach to learning vocabulary: much of English consists of 2-word, 3-word, 4-word etc. units, and if you can learn multi-word units (e.g. Easier said than done or I’ll see what I can do) it will improve your ability to communicate.

Useful materials in the SAC

Vocabulary textbooks

There are many materials on the ‘Vocabulary’ shelves. You can browse, or use the SAC computer catalogue: choose Vocabulary under ‘Language Skill’ and then Idiomatic expressions and proverbs or Phrasal verbs.

Recommended materials:

A Way with Words 2, unit 14; English Vocabulary in Use, units 74-91

Dictionaries

• For examples of how words are used in context:
  COBUILD English Dictionary, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
• For groups of similar words together (these help you to see the difference between similar words):
  Longman Language Activator, Longman Lexicon.

Other reference material

These reference sources give extra information about what words normally go together:

• COBUILD Collocations: on the CD-ROM Reference Station in the Orientation Area.
• MicroConcord (see under Text Analyzer) and Monoconc (see under Autolang for Windows) are concordancers. You can find them on the PCs in the Video/Multimedia area (under Microsoft Windows).

Learning tips

Here are some tips for learning phrases, that you may find useful:

• Find lots of examples of how the phrases you want to learn are used in context (use dictionaries, concordancers etc.)
• Look at English Vocabulary in Use, unit 74, for general advice on organising your learning of phrases
• For tips about organising your learning so that it’s systematic and you don’t become overloaded, see the Advice Sheet Organising your Vocabulary Learning (V3).
• For tips about remembering what you have learned, check out the Advice Sheet Remembering Vocabulary (V4).
• For further tips on learning vocabulary to improve your ability to communicate, see the Advice Sheet Learning Vocabulary for Speaking and Writing (V8).

N.B. The important thing is to find out what works/does not work for you and why. Do your methods help you to learn effectively? If not, what could you do that would help you learn more effectively?

If you do use an effective technique, please contact an Adviser or e-mail lcsac to let us know about it — we would like to hear from you!

Evaluating your progress

• Ask an Adviser on duty in the SAC for advice about evaluation.
• For more information, see the Advice Sheet Evaluating your Vocabulary Learning (V5).

And Now...

If you would like any help or advice, or just a chat about your progress, please get in touch - we are here to support your independent learning! This is how you can contact us:

• see an Adviser, on duty at the SAC Advice Desk (for details of advisers and their availability, please go to http://lc.ust.hk/~sac/sacadviser.html)
• e-mail lcsac (lccommons@ust.hk) with your query;
• ask at the reception counter of the SAC — if the receptionist cannot help you directly, s/he will pass your query on to one of the SAC advisers

Glossary

Note
The introductory leaflet in this series is the leaflet Learning Vocabulary (V1).

This advice sheet is part of the Vocabulary series of leaflets supporting independent language learning, produced by the HKUST Language Center SAC team. This leaflet written by Richard Pemberton, 1998. Version 1. If you copy from this leaflet, please acknowledge the source. Thanks.