Vocabulary Expansion Accelerator for Computer Science Students

Running Head: ENGLISH 1
Vocabulary Expansion Accelerator
Author's Name
Institutional Affiliation

ENGLISH 2
Introduction
The Vocabulary Expansion Accelerator (VEA)is a tool designed for students to acquire
new vocabulary by reading texts. The tool when used daily, is expected to help the students to
develop larger vocabulary very quickly and become a proficient reader (University of Toronto,
2019). Today, a large number of students use VEA to enhance their vocabulary and improve
their English skills.
As a student researcher and member of the team, I have observed that student use VEA a
lot. While it is true that language competence is key to academic and professional success, there
are some courses and areas where student researchers need not rely on Vocabulary Expansion
Accelerator. As a junior scholar, I argue that VEA is not an effective tool for students in
Computer Science.
VEA is not very useful for the computer students because it is an online tool and it can be
distracting for them. It does not make sense for computer science students to go online and check
the VEA to cope with their course. They can lose their focus and get distracted from the core
content of their subject. Already, computer science students are spending lots of their time on
their computers and online. VEA can be a distraction for them as it is an entirely different tool
from what they work on.
Computer Science students have to work harder on improving their as their work is
focused on programming languages and computers coding skills, rather than improve their
English skills. There is no need for them to use a wider range of vocabulary or write assignments
richer in content. What their professors expect from them is a perfect code that is richer in logic

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and reasoning. Moreover, if their basic English is good enough, they can still excel in their
courses and can do without the VEA.
Computer Science is all about coding, math, and thinking and has very little to do with a
higher level of English skills. This is why their teachers and professors do not expect mastery in
English from them. Instead, they are looking for mastery in computer skills and coding
languages. Computer Science takes lots of time and dedication to master the concepts and
theories. The students spend lots of time in the application of what they have learned (Ericksen,
2018). The computer science courses involve lots of math, statistics, and analysis and it takes
time and effort to master those technological concepts. As the students have many difficult
courses and content to work on, they would avoid spending time improving their English skills
and would rather spend their time learning the much harder coding language of computers.
Every student needs to be self-motivated and a regular learner. The same holds for the
Computer Science students who need to remain focused, self-disciplined and time regulated.
They need to focus on necessary course work rather than learn how to use optional learning tool
like VEA to enhance their English. Typically, a computer science student spends more extended
hours of regular studying on weekdays and even on the weekends. Those courses are intensive
and challenging. Thus, only those students who are passionate about programming and are
hardworking can understand and complete those programming assignments (Nika, 2013).
The students in Computer Science already spend most of their time on computers,
learning programming languages and coding. Computer science students as programmers need to
develop certain personality traits to be successful. They need unlimited persistence to
troubleshoot issues and have a deep understanding of how things interrelate in order to learn a
new programming language. Some of the programming languages are tough to master like