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Most students should be familiar with using dictionaries to aid their language study. Some may have used convenient digital dictionaries in the past, or perhaps even physical books.
These days, however, there are a variety of apps available for download to allow convenient studying anytime and anywhere.
But aside from a good dictionary, learners shouldn’t forget about another powerful study tool: the thesaurus.
This article will look at the many benefits adding a thesaurus to a study routine can bring to students, and why we should encourage learners to take advantage of them.
What is a thesaurus?
Unlike a dictionary, which lists the definitions of words, a thesaurus instead lists words with similar or related meanings. It is based on a Latin word meaning “treasury” or “storehouse.” In this case, the treasure is a valuable English vocabulary!
How can a thesaurus help students?
Increased knowledge of synonyms
When using a dictionary, the user has a particular word in mind that they want to know about. This makes it a very specific, focused tool, like a surgeon's scalpel.
A thesaurus represents the next step: rather than focusing on a single word, that one word is now the point from which students can learn much more. Instead of the end point, it is the beginning.
For example, let’s say that a student uses a dictionary to look up the word “upscale,” which they may read in a lesson or hear used in an English-language TV show. They will learn that it's an adjective that refers to something expensive and designed for people with a lot of money.
Once they have understood and can use this word comfortably, they can then turn to a thesaurus for more information. Here, they will find words like “exclusive,” “high-end” and “luxurious.” Each of these words is also useful, and learning them all will give the student a richer vocabulary and more options for expressing their thoughts and opinions.
Of course, each word has its own particular nuance, and this is where you can help students during lessons. Give them a chance to practice using each of the synonyms while explaining the ways they are properly used.
For example, you can explain that exclusive is used for things like clubs and organizations, while high-end and luxurious often describe objects.
Increased knowledge of antonyms
Thesauruses aren’t only useful for synonyms, of course. A great way students can kill two birds with one stone is by learning synonyms and antonyms together. This is an opportunity to cover some common prefixes that denote negative terms, such as “un-“ and “dis-.”
But it's also a chance to explain that sometimes they can be tricky, such as “invaluable” actually meaning very valuable rather than not valuable at all, as some students may assume at first.
If we return to our “upscale” example, a good thesaurus will introduce words like “low-end,” “discount” and “cheap.” It’s likely your students already know one way to use these words, but they may be surprised to find out that discount can be an adjective as well as a noun. Likewise, the fact that cheap can not only mean “inexpensive” but also refer to something that is not fashionable could be new and useful information for them.
Putting it all together
There are two major benefits of learning this extra vocabulary through thesauruses. The first is that students will be able to recognize and understand a much wider variety of vocabulary, some mostly used in speech and others mostly in writing.
The other benefit is that they will have many more words to choose from to express their thoughts and ideas. And if fluency is their goal, they should strive to know a large amount of words and expressions that allow them to express themselves perfectly without relying on the same old choices.
Even if students don’t use the words themselves, understanding them when they hear them in conversations or read them in the news will boost their confidence and ability to engage with a variety of English material. And since learning a language is not a quick or easy task, it's important to make the most of motivation boosts any time they present themselves.
Wrap-up
While dictionaries and vocabulary apps are excellent tools that all language learners should use, students shouldn’t forget about other resources that are easy to find. Encourage them to take advantage of a thesaurus’ ability to help in gaining a new understanding of familiar words while also learning useful, related vocabulary.
