Of course, the more you read, the more new vocabulary you see. And when you see a new word or phrase in a text, you’re often motivated to check or work out what it means so that you can understand what you’re reading. This is the principle the advice is based on.
What’s missing from this though is that you generally need to see a new word or phrase several times before you remember it, and if you’re reading different kinds of texts on different topics, you may not see the same vocabulary enough times to remember it.
So, how do you increase your chances of seeing the same vocabulary several times?
Simple. You read two or more texts on the same topic! And this is how …
Step 1: Read a text on a particular topic
The first step is to select a text to read or to use the text that I’ve included below. If you choose your own text, it’s important to choose one that you’re interested in, that’s relevant to your life and that’s not too difficult (i.e. a text you can mostly understand without needing to read many times or to check a lot of vocabulary in a dictionary).
You could choose a news or magazine article, a blog post or even an IELTS Reading text!
Once you’ve selected a text …
- Use the title (and pictures if there are any) to predict what the text is going to be about and what information it may contain.
- Read the text to check if your predictions are right.
Important!
Always have a clear purpose for reading a text (e.g. to check if your predictions are correct). Having a clear purpose makes it easier to decide if you need to guess or check the meaning of new vocabulary, or if you can understand enough without knowing every word.
For practice now, follow the two instructions above with this text about how to write an effective CV (résumé) from our IELTS Authentic Practice Test series: 
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Step 2: Identify topic-related vocabulary in the text
This step involves identifying the words and phrases that are related to the specific topic of the text, e.g. CV writing for the text above.
To do this …
- Read the text you chose in Step 1 again and underline words and phrases that you think you’ll see again if you read another text on the same topic.
For example, the words ‘employer’ and ‘recruiter’ appear several times in the text above, and are also likely to appear in other texts about CV writing.
Other words in the text that I would expect to see in another text on the same topic are the following nouns, verbs, adjectives and phrase:
- nouns: career (history), jobs, job seekers, (personal) brand, qualities, character and strengths
- verbs: attract, stand out, describe
- adjectives: unique, professional
- phrase: grab somebody’s attention
Step 3: Read another text on the same topic and check if the same vocabulary is used
Now that you’ve identified some vocabulary in one text, the next step is to find and read a second text on the same topic.
As with the first text, once you’ve selected a text:
- Use the title (and pictures if there are any) to predict what the text is going to be about and what information it may contain.
- Read the text to check if your predictions are right, and then
- underline any words or phrases that you underlined in the first text that are also in the second text.
If you read the text about CV writing above, follow these three instructions with this text from our IELTS Authentic Practice Test series:
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Which words/phrases did you underline? I’ve included the vocabulary I identified in the first text that’s also in the second text at the end of this mini lesson.
Step 4: Create a word list and use flash cards
To increase your chances of remembering the vocabulary you’ve identified, another step you can take is to start a word list on the topic of the texts you’ve read and to create some flash cards.
For the texts in this mini lesson, the word list could be called ‘Advice for writing CVs’ or something similar.
For a quick and easy way to do this, you can use the Cambridge Dictionary +Plus app to create the word list, add the words/phrases and then check if you can remember the vocabulary by using the flash card quiz.
Simply download the Cambridge Dictionary +Plus app from Google Play or the App Store, sign up for a free account or log in if you already have one, press the ‘Create’ tab to start a new word list, and then use the search box to find and add the vocabulary to your list.
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Improving your vocabulary for IELTS through reading is not just about reading more. It’s about reading texts on the same topic so you’re more likely to see the same vocabulary several times.