Macmillan Collocations Dictionary For Learners Of English Book 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.