Membean is commonly used by teachers to help their students learn new words in order to improve their vocabulary. The site is used to widen the students’ vocabulary through memorization and repetition. It provides a “personalized experience” for each student as each student works on words at their word level as they make their way up to higher level words. 

Is membean really the answer?

There are many different ways that students can expand their vocabulary. While doing a google search on ways to expand one’s vocabulary, some common answers are reading new books, using the dictionary, using flashcards, and learning roots. Membean does not show up on any of the search results, so are teachers just making students do busy work, or does it actually help students learn?

Is membean worth it?

A membean subscription costs around $6-$20 per student meaning one class here at Montclair can be anywhere from $180 to $1,200, now multiply that by the number of classes that are assigned membean. It is quite an expense. Many students choose not to do their membean which means that this money is being wasted on a program that students do not enjoy or think they can learn from. Instead, teachers can incorporate new words by presenting the class with higher level reading making learning the words easier with different context instead of the same answer choices presented on membean every single time. 

Many students do other things like watch Tiktok while completing their 15 minutes on membean and still get a high percentage for accuracy. It is said that it provides a personalized experience yet it expects students to memorize through a monotonous rhythm of vocabulary that in no way is specific to each student’s learning. This is 45 minutes per week that may be wasted if the student does not see the benefits of doing membean or does not enjoy it. 

Membean at Montclair 

Many teachers here at Montclair require their students to complete a certain amount of minutes of practice each week. The most common assigned minutes is 45 per week. Students have to then split that up into three fifteen-minute practices throughout the week. Some students do not mind having to work on membean and may even enjoy it while others choose not to do it and think that it is unbeneficial. 

Incursion, amalgamate, enthrall, these are some of the words that students may come across on membean but when will students ever need to use them? Maria Palacios also agrees with this as she said, “it’s whatever, I think it does not help students because they won’t use these words later on.” Many students end up being more confused while trying to use the words which negatively affects their writing making it incomprehensible. 

 A Junior, Isabell Rios, says “I do membean but personally it just confuses me and makes me want to use words that are unnecessary.” While writing essays it is important to be concise but membean may just add to the unnecessary words that students already include in their writing. 

On the other hand, some students believe that membean can be helpful as they use what they learn and apply it every day. Dhalila Esparza says, “I think that membean is good, it is a part of my diction and it bolsters my essays.” Membean can help students learn new vocab words to include in their essays allowing them to write in a more professional manner. This is important as every individual should have an expanded vocabulary to be able to show some professionalism whether it is at school, job interviews, or writing formally. 

How can students take advantage of having membean as a learning tool?

Many students do not give membean a chance and take a moment to look at the different ways of learning the word that it provides. Each word page provides many different ways to learn the word such as videos, images, spoken audio, memory hooks, and a paragraph where the word is being used. Each word page also provides students with synonyms and antonyms as well as word roots so that they can connect the word to others they may know or learn in the future. Membean also uses advanced algorithms that reinforce words at the ideal pace for each student making it easier for each student to move along at their own pace. Membean content is created by English teachers and other professionals who are writers. The word examples, images, and videos are not generated by internet searches but are each carefully crafted by the membean content team so that it is more appealing to middle and high school students.

Every student is different and will learn in different ways, after reading this article vote on the poll to see what others may think.