If the student in question uses the word not because it was in his usual vocabulary but because it appeared in the article about Magellan, the teacher has a valid point.
One of the points of being a student is to expand your vocabulary. You see a word used, you use it yourself. “Circumnavigation” is not a complicated concept. If you use it incorrectly, then the teacher should correct you. But don’t tell a student to stay away from the big scary word.
but I hadn’t an issue with teacher complaining that I’m not speaking in my own vocabulary when writing essays.
??? Words become your vocabulary by you using them, and that’s all the more true when you’re young and still developing your vocabulary.
There such a thing as “guessing the teachers” password. It’s a failure condition.
It’s a frequent exercise to read a text and rephrase it in your own words to show that you understood the text. It creates mental connections between the new information to which you are exposed and to what you already know.
Essay writing is about “transfer” at least it was what I was taught in school.
One of the points of being a student is to expand your vocabulary. You see a word used, you use it yourself. “Circumnavigation” is not a complicated concept. If you use it incorrectly, then the teacher should correct you. But don’t tell a student to stay away from the big scary word.
??? Words become your vocabulary by you using them, and that’s all the more true when you’re young and still developing your vocabulary.
There such a thing as “guessing the teachers” password. It’s a failure condition.
It’s a frequent exercise to read a text and rephrase it in your own words to show that you understood the text. It creates mental connections between the new information to which you are exposed and to what you already know. Essay writing is about “transfer” at least it was what I was taught in school.