How can I encourage my intermediate learners to use a wider range of vocabulary in their writing?
The intermediate plateau
Intermediate (B1/B2-level) learners often reach what’s known as the intermediate plateau: a point where it feels like they’re not making much progress. Even though you’re doing lots of work on new vocabulary in class, in their writing, they’re still using the same basic words and expressions. There are a few reasons for this:
When you’ve acquired a set of basic, functional vocabulary, it’s possible to express a lot of ideas using those words you feel most comfortable and confident with rather than taking risks with new language and potentially making errors – errors which might lose you marks or leave you feeling demotivated.
The intermediate plateau is a period when learners are taking time to process what they’ve learned to that point before they move on. It’s a period of consolidation when they’re focused on using and improving all those basic grammatical structures, so their attention often shifts away from new vocabulary.
Receptive vs. productive vocabulary
The good news is that your learners probably are taking in new vocabulary. At this level, it’s common for learners to acquire new receptive vocabulary, that is, words that they recognize in reading and listening. They’re just not ready to use it productively, in their own writing and speaking. As teachers, there are several ways we can encourage learners to move words from their receptive to productive repertoire.
Two activities to encourage vocabulary development
1. Using learner examples
Collect some examples from your learners’ writing that are correct but use vocabulary that’s rather safe and boring. The examples here, from the Cambridge Learner Corpus, all contain very basic adjectives:
She is a very good person, and she always wants to help other people.
Last night, I went to a really good concert.
We went to a Taylor Swift concert. She is very beautiful.
You can see the beautiful scenery.
I live in São Paulo which is a very big city with a lot of things to do.
Go to the Thesaurus to find synonyms for the ‘boring’ vocabulary choices. For many common words, you’ll find thesaurus articles that explain and illustrate the differences between sets of synonyms. These articles feature alternatives that work well with the examples above:
⚠️ Be careful not to overload learners with too many synonyms as that can be confusing. Use the thesaurus articles to help plan your lesson and select what you use in class to suit the level. At higher levels (see below) learners can explore the thesaurus for themselves.
Write the learner sentences on the board and explain that although they’re correct, the adjectives are a bit boring. Show the class the thesaurus pages (or just introduce some of the synonyms) and explain you want them to replace the adjectives to make the sentences more interesting.
Work through the first example together, pointing out which adjectives are used to describe which types of people, things, and events. For instance, the following extracts from the thesaurus article a kind person gives information about kind (instead of good in the first sentence above), as well as some other possible alternatives. Explain that several of these synonyms would work in this example. Students then work in pairs or groups to rewrite the sentences.
Get feedback and discuss the best choices.
2. Build a story
Give learners a copy of the story below. Explain the story is a bit boring and you want to make it more interesting.
Yesterday morning, Ana went to work. She was wearing trousers and a shirt because she had a meeting. The weather was bad. On the way, there was an accident. She stopped to help a person. She waited with the person. It was raining, so she gave them her jacket. The ambulance came. Ana arrived at work. Her hair was wet and her clothes were dirty.
Work through the first couple of sentences together as a class, using questions to elicit more interesting vocabulary.
Learners work in groups to improve the rest of the story, adding or changing words to make it more interesting. Compare the results as a class.
How did she go to work? She walked/cycled/drove/took the bus.
What kind of trousers and shirt was she wearing? e.g. brand new, dark blue trousers and a clean, white shirt
What kind of meeting was it? e.g. an important business meeting
Who was the meeting with? e.g. an important business meeting with her boss/her manager
Higher levels: You could use the same story with higher levels but push learners to be more creative:
e.g. On the way, there was a horrible head-on collision between a car and a delivery driver on a moped right in front of her.
Here are some thesaurus articles learners could use to explore appropriate vocabulary:
bad (the weather and the accident): bad, weather, conditions, situations, etc.
an accident: a traffic accident
wet: full of or covered in liquid
dirty: not clean
Why it works
Giving learners time to think about alternative vocabulary choices and experiment with different language helps them build confidence.
At higher levels, showing learners how they can explore synonyms and learn about the differences between similar words using the thesaurus articles will help them find out about vocabulary for themselves outside of class.
The thesaurus articles, and other thesaurus tools, are also great for preparing lessons or creating your own activities.