Macmillan Collocations Dictionary in IELTS
Using the Macmillan Collocations Dictionary in IELTS
Sam McCarter
The Macmillan Collocations Dictionary (MCD) is a valuable resource for anyone using English in an
academic or professional context. It shows how the most frequent words in English typically combine
with each other, and with other words, to form natural-sounding chunks of language – and this is what
makes it an especially useful tool for people taking the IELTS exams.
There is an important distinction to be made between IELTS (the International English Language
Testing System) and other exams. The purpose of IELTS is not to to test students’ knowledge of the
English language, but to assess their competence in using it. Students are not awarded a pass or fail, but
their scores are reported on a scale ranging from 1 (‘Non-User’) to 9 (‘Expert User’).
The word User is critical. Rather than testing students’ knowledge of grammar or of specific vocabulary
items, IELTS evaluates their ability to use the English language in the completion of tasks (within fairly
tight time limits) in the four main skills of Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. This focus on
testing competence rather than knowledge has implications for students and teachers alike, especially
with regard to learning vocabulary.
Let us take, for example, a student who is about to take IELTS, and who has a reasonably large
vocabulary, say of around 7,500 words. A vocabulary of this size is a desirable asset for anyone aiming to
achieve a score of 6.5–7 in the academic version of IELTS. But learning words from vocabulary lists is not
enough. If our imaginary student has no awareness of how words work naturally together, s/he will be
at a disadvantage compared to someone who may have a smaller vocabulary (say 5,000 words), but who is
able to use those words effectively by combining them in natural-sounding collocations..
What this illustrates is the importance of learning to use vocabulary, at speed, across tasks within the
four main skills. This will improve fluency, clarity of expression, and naturalness – and hence
competence in general.
The need for such flexibility in manipulating words to create the kinds of combination that a fluent
speaker would produce naturally is what makes the Macmillan Collocations Dictionary an ideal
companion for students as they prepare for the IELTS exam.
How producing natural collocations can help IELTS students
There are two aspects of vocabulary that illustrate the relevance of collocation and the value of a
dictionary like the MCD:
• the relationship between frequency and ‘coverage’: research shows that the most common
English words make up a high percentage of everything we read or write. The most frequently used
words (the top 2,500) account for almost 80% of all text, while the 7,500 most common words make up
over 90%.
• The relationship between frequency and collocation: the more frequent a word is, the more
likely it is to enter into ‘partnerships’ with other words, forming combinations which convey a sense of
naturalness and style.
This has implications for processing information in the four main skills tested in IELTS
Sam McCarter
The Macmillan Collocations Dictionary (MCD) is a valuable resource for anyone using English in an
academic or professional context. It shows how the most frequent words in English typically combine
with each other, and with other words, to form natural-sounding chunks of language – and this is what
makes it an especially useful tool for people taking the IELTS exams.
There is an important distinction to be made between IELTS (the International English Language
Testing System) and other exams. The purpose of IELTS is not to to test students’ knowledge of the
English language, but to assess their competence in using it. Students are not awarded a pass or fail, but
their scores are reported on a scale ranging from 1 (‘Non-User’) to 9 (‘Expert User’).
The word User is critical. Rather than testing students’ knowledge of grammar or of specific vocabulary
items, IELTS evaluates their ability to use the English language in the completion of tasks (within fairly
tight time limits) in the four main skills of Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. This focus on
testing competence rather than knowledge has implications for students and teachers alike, especially
with regard to learning vocabulary.
Let us take, for example, a student who is about to take IELTS, and who has a reasonably large
vocabulary, say of around 7,500 words. A vocabulary of this size is a desirable asset for anyone aiming to
achieve a score of 6.5–7 in the academic version of IELTS. But learning words from vocabulary lists is not
enough. If our imaginary student has no awareness of how words work naturally together, s/he will be
at a disadvantage compared to someone who may have a smaller vocabulary (say 5,000 words), but who is
able to use those words effectively by combining them in natural-sounding collocations..
What this illustrates is the importance of learning to use vocabulary, at speed, across tasks within the
four main skills. This will improve fluency, clarity of expression, and naturalness – and hence
competence in general.
The need for such flexibility in manipulating words to create the kinds of combination that a fluent
speaker would produce naturally is what makes the Macmillan Collocations Dictionary an ideal
companion for students as they prepare for the IELTS exam.
How producing natural collocations can help IELTS students
There are two aspects of vocabulary that illustrate the relevance of collocation and the value of a
dictionary like the MCD:
• the relationship between frequency and ‘coverage’: research shows that the most common
English words make up a high percentage of everything we read or write. The most frequently used
words (the top 2,500) account for almost 80% of all text, while the 7,500 most common words make up
over 90%.
• The relationship between frequency and collocation: the more frequent a word is, the more
likely it is to enter into ‘partnerships’ with other words, forming combinations which convey a sense of
naturalness and style.
This has implications for processing information in the four main skills tested in IELTS
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