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A new Academic Word List
Abstract
This article describes the development and evaluation of a new academic word list (Coxhead, 1998), which was compiled from a corpus of 3.5 million running words of written academic text by examining the range and frequency of words outside the first 2,000 most frequently occurring words of English, as described by West (1953). The AWL contains 570 word families that account for approximately 10.0% of the total words (tokens) in academic texts but only 1.4% of the total words in a fiction collection of the same size. This difference in coverage provides evidence that the list contains predominantly academic words. By highlighting the words that university students meet in a wide range of academic texts, the AWL shows learners with academic goals which words are most worth studying. The list also provides a useful basis for further research into the nature of academic vocabulary.
... Creating the academic word list helps identify words that suit students from different profiles (Knoph et al., 2023). The academic word list is constructed by specifying highfrequency words in English and then scrutinising a range of academic texts to find words that are not included in the high-frequency words but have broad coverage and plausible frequency of occurrence (Nation, 2001), among the best are General Service List (GSL) composed by West (1953) and Coxhead's (2000) Academic Word List (AWL) are predominantly used a wide range of academic words helpful in underlying and studying the formulation of new academic word list across field of study. Nevertheless, there is a continuous effort to develop the word list for academic purposes, for instance, the new academic word list generated from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) (Gardner & Davies, 2014), the construction and evaluation of grammar patterns for high-frequency academic verbs (Ma & Qian, 2020) across disciplines (Deng, Liu & Wu, 2022;Green & Lambert, 2018). ...
... (Anthony, 2023b) to obtain high-frequency words. Subsequently, the high-frequency words outside the GSL (West, 1953) and AWL (Coxhead, 2000) were selected carefully. We calculated the word tokens and the word types generated by AntWordProfiler 2.1.0 ...
... Therefore, the present study strengthens the existing literature about academic world lists in academic texts that eventually benefit English reading tests. The development of AWLERTS contributes to the evolution of the specialised academic word list that enhances existing work, such as GSL composed by West (1953) and AWL by Coxhead (2000). Studies of academic word lists for English learning tests are also the milestone that support other previous studies that formulate word lists to help English students study specific fields, such as medical (Wang et al., 2008;Lei & Liu, 2016), financial (Li & Qian, 2010), agricultural science (Martínez et al., 2009), chemistry (Valipouri & Nassaji, 2013), nursing (Yang, 2015), environmental (Liu & Han, 2015) sciences. ...
The present study aims to bridge the gaps in the scarcity of academic word lists by constructing specialised English reading test word lists and their significance in enhancing English as a Foreign Language students’ abilities. In reading, students usually experience problems with so much vocabulary available. The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) with 32.819-word tokens was selected using AntFileConverter to formulate the academic word list. Subsequently, AntWordProfiler was utilised to compare the data with 250 words inside General Word List 1, 250 words outside General Word List 2 and the overall words outside Coxhead’s Academic Word List. The 500 highest-frequency words established the Academic Word List for the English reading test. The constructed word list was formulated using several tools, i.e. Familizer+Lemmatizer, Cambridge Dictionary, Sketch Engine, and AntConc. To evaluate the significance of the word list, thirty students from second and third-year Indonesian undergraduate students majoring in English literature were segregated into control with regular materials and experimental groups with the specialised materials and taught using Graves’ vocabulary principles for fourteen meetings in one academic semester. Eventually, the finding demonstrates that word list significantly affects Indonesian students’ reading performance. It confirms that the formulated word list is suitable to be implemented for English reading test purposes. The score results show that students from the control and the experimental groups both improved, whereas the improvement in the experimental group is more significant. This suggests the need for academic word lists for students in the reading test.
... Word lists are one important tool that teachers can use to help them identify the vocabulary that would be most pertinent to a specific group of learners or a given learning context. The most common type of word lists being used in the classroom are frequencybased lists such as university-level academic word lists (e.g., the Academic Word List (AWL; Coxhead, 2000) and the Academic Vocabulary List (AVL; Gardner & Davies, 2014)), middle school word lists (e.g., the Middle School Vocabulary List (MSVL; Greene & Coxhead, 2015)), and word lists for specialised subjects such as medicine and pharmacology (e.g., the Pharmacology Vocabulary List (PVL; Fraser, 2010) and the Medical Academic Vocabulary List (MAVL; Lei & Liu, 2016)). Frequency is a useful criterion on which to base a word list because it allows educators and researchers to judge how likely learners are to encounter a given word, and it has been shown to be a good proxy for word difficulty (Benjamin, 2011;De Clercq & Hoste, 2016;Hancke et al., 2012). ...
... These words are of particular importance to EAL learners as they often comprise the words learners need to know to be able to understand the topics they are learning about in their textbooks (Marianne & Coxhead, 2023). However, because there are no EAL-specific word lists, EAL teachers often need to rely on word lists compiled for FLE learners (e.g., Living Word Vocabulary, Dale & O'Rourke, 1976;EDL Core Vocabulary, Taylor et al., 1989), academic word lists designed for university learners (e.g., the AWL, Coxhead, 2000), or general word lists (e.g., the General Service List (GSL; West, 1953)) in the classroom. To determine how effective such lists will be at providing support in the EAL context, it is first necessary to better understand what coverage they provide over textbooks EAL learners are being asked to read, as well as how many new words learners need to acquire to achieve this coverage. ...
... This vocabulary assessment tool is a multiple-choice test consisting of 24 questions for each of the first five bands. The test also includes an academic vocabulary section based on Coxhead's (2000) AWL. Each of the individual items consists of the target word, which is given by itself and in context, along with four possible responses. ...
This article presents a study examining the vocabulary knowledge of English as an additional language (EAL) learners in two international schools in Japan in relation to the vocabulary profiles of the textbooks they are required to use in the classrooms. The vocabulary knowledge of 139 participants from two international schools was assessed using either the New Vocabulary Levels Test (NVLT) or the Updated Vocabulary Levels Test (UVLT). These results were compared to a 15 million-word corpus compiled from representative subject-specific textbooks to estimate the vocabulary coverage participants are likely to achieve. The findings revealed that EAL learners consistently scored lower than a combined group of their first-language English (FLE) and proficient L2 (PL2) peers, with fewer than 25% of EAL learners mastering the AWL before Grade 12. Furthermore, even the most frequent 5000-word bands provided only 91–93% coverage for subjects like biology and chemistry, leaving many EAL learners struggling to comprehend these texts. This analysis highlights the potential difficulties EAL learners may face in understanding the textbooks that are being used in EAL classrooms, underscoring the need for better vocabulary scaffolding and support for such learners in the international school context.
... Effective communication in policing often requires precision, clarity, and adherence to a specific lexicon, whether for issuing warnings, writing detailed reports, or liaising with international partners. Research into terminology acquisition highlights the need for structured and repetitive exposure to specialized vocabulary in authentic contexts (Coxhead, 2000). The English Language & Police Terminology textbooks employ this approach, with modules explicitly focused on enhancing vocabulary retention through contextualized exercises, including gap-fills and role-playing activities that reflect real policing scenarios. ...
... Cadets engage with targeted exercises, such as gap-fills, matching tasks, and vocabulary-in-context readings, to reinforce their retention and usage of specialized terminology. This structured approach reflects best practices in ESP vocabulary teaching, which emphasize repetitive, context-driven exposure for maximum retention (Coxhead, 2000). ...
This article critically evaluates the English Language and Police Terminology textbook, developed for second-, third-, and fourth-year cadets at the Hellenic Police Officers School. Divided into three proficiency modules (B1, B2-C1, C2), the textbook delivers standardized English for Specific Purposes (ESP) materials aligned with law enforcement needs, incorporating scenario-based learning and specialized terminology for authentic contexts. The evaluation, conducted with 50 advanced-level cadets, used criteria such as adaptability to diverse policing contexts, comprehensiveness of specialized vocabulary, and the effectiveness of scenario-based learning tasks. Grammar assessments focused on tense application in police scenarios, while vocabulary retention was assessed through targeted exercises from the 'More Words You Need' sub-section. Early data showed notable improvements in grammar accuracy and vocabulary retention. Structured questionnaires indicated a positive reception, with cadets finding scenario-based tasks, such as simulating police interviews, engaging but challenging in role-playing exercises. This textbook marks the first systematic, textbook-based approach for teaching ESP to police cadets in Greece, offering a structured, progressive curriculum that hones all four language skills—reading, writing, speaking, and listening. This contrasts with previous ad hoc approaches, where materials were individually curated, leading to inconsistencies in instruction. As the pilot phase unfolds, this innovative effort has the potential to yield significant learning outcomes and serve as a model for uniformed academies domestically and abroad. Documenting the textbook’s early implementation, this article sets the stage for larger-scale studies and future adaptations for non-English speaking police academies.
... Vocabulary knowledge equips them with the necessary tools to understand technical texts, communicate efficiently, and perform domain-specific tasks. Key studies highlight its significance: Coxhead (2000) and Gardner and Davies (2014) have compiled word lists to identify essential academic vocabulary across disciplines, while other researchers, such as Dang and Webb (2016), emphasise the importance of beginning with high-frequency vocabulary relevant to learners' needs. Meanwhile, Schmitt (2010) highlights the significance of formulaic sequences for fluent communication, while Ward (2007) explores the relationship between collocation and technicality. ...
... Numerous studies have been conducted with the aim of identifying and listing the most useful words for learners across a variety of fields. In EAP (English for Academic Purposes), lists such as the Academic Word List (AWL, Coxhead, 2000), the New Academic Word List (NAWL, Browne et al., 2013a), and the Academic Vocabulary List (AVL, Gardner & Davies, 2014) have been developed to provide learners with words that are frequent across a wide range of disciplines. Lists of key technical and sub-technical words have also been produced for specialised fields such as electronics (Farrell, 1990), engineering (Ward, 1999), and business (Browne & Culligan, 2015). ...
With vocabulary playing an essential role in the learning of English for Specific Purposes, teachers face the challenge of organising and teaching lexis in a way that maximises opportunities for acquisition. Specialised word lists offer a solution, but a major obstacle is how to integrate these lists into learning materials containing items used in actual discourse. In this paper, we report on research involving the creation of a medical English word list (MEWL), integrated into a set of specially designed materials for students at a national university in Japan. These materials, developed through needs analysis at the university’s medical school, are primarily organised around body systems, with an additional focus on doctor–patient communication. The MEWL is complemented by a list of word parts, aiming to sensitise students to complex medical terms. We describe the delivery of the list, first through the courses and materials, and then via the development of a vocabulary learning tool, Hi-Lex, which analyses texts against any word lists it contains. Hi-Lex allows learners to create personalised word lists and understand word usage in context. The findings of a small trial study of Hi-Lex (N = 31) illustrate how the software provides insight into students’ selections of words in specialised texts.
... These were provided in Nation (2018) 4000 Essential English Words 5 Second Edition, which included pre-selected B2-level vocabulary, enhancing exposure to academic terms. The vocabulary items also came from Coxhead's (2000) Academic Word List (AWL), representing words estimated to be above the participants' level and not commonly used outside school. Each lesson contained 20 vocabulary words (40 total), ensuring balanced difficulty across treatments. ...
The present study investigates the use of generative strategies and the effect on second language (L2) vocabulary retention and learner confidence in vocabulary knowledge over time. Generative strategies (or generation) are one in a group of learning methods known as desirable difficulties – strategies that improve long-term learning by adding challenge to the learning process. Previous research has established the effectiveness of other desirable difficulties, such as spacing, retrieval, and interleaving, in L2 vocabulary acquisition. However, the effect generative strategies have on L2 vocabulary learning over shorter timeframes (e.g., a few days to a week) has been found to lack efficacy. Nevertheless, long-term vocabulary outcomes implementing this strategy in L2 learning remain unclear. To address this gap, this study examined the effectiveness of generation tasks used as the sole desirable difficulty for vocabulary recall over two intervals: three weeks and 15 weeks. Using quantitative methods in a classroom action research project, this study investigated 38 first-year Japanese university English language learners at the B1 to B1+ CEFR English proficiency level. The treatments included generation tasks in the form of generating novel sentences for half of the target vocabulary and a control treatment utilizing other non-generative methods for the other half through two separate lessons. Additionally, pre and post-tests were implemented to assess the perceived confidence and actual knowledge of the target vocabulary. The study`s findings on longer-term timeframes were not found to be markedly better than those of shorter timeframes and only showed slight improvement. While the study failed to demonstrate a clear benefit for the additional effort required by generation tasks, it did not identify significant costs from using generation on the specific population studied, as found in other studies. Implications for the findings and future research are included.
... On the other hand, some small private ESP corpora become well-known despite their restricted access, because the findings from their analysis are relevant to a wide range of learners. Perhaps the most notable example of this is Coxhead's 2.5 million word Academic Corpus, used to create the Academic Word List (AWL) (Coxhead 2000). The AWL is now a staple resource for EAP materials developers (see, for example, Schmitt and Schmitt 2005, Hancock 2015, Smith 2018). ...
An overview of types of corpora relevant to ESP, their content and design, and their pedagogical uses.
... The independent variable in this study was the condition, (i.e., work with instructor designed cards, student designed cards or without word cards) while the dependent variable was the learning outcome, as (Coxhead, 2000), were preceded by a vocabulary pre-test shortly before the start of the condition sequence and followed by an achievement vocabulary test a week after each activity and then a final vocabulary test two months after the completion of all of the learning and achievement testing activities, to measure the overall vocabulary gain. The outcomes of the three achievement tests were to be analyzed for statistical significance and compared. ...
This article describes a technology-supported
deliberate vocabulary learning study, involving
students enrolled in various university preparation
programs in Qatar. Study design is based on the
comparison of two technology supported flashcard
activities: one in which students learn vocabulary
using teacher-designed electronic cards and one
where they are asked to design their own cards. I
... In contrast, Group 2 students began premedical studies with a To examine the retention of vocabulary skills from foundation to advanced level, the tagged words were compared with the Foundation course's academic word list. 7 Of the 310 different words in the survey, 38 were on the academic word list. Figure 2 shows the number of foundation words tagged by more than one student. ...
... It is within these questioning contexts that I also noticed students saying they couldn't understand a text because 'they didn't have the technical vocabulary'. This frustrated me as I knew that academic reading entails so much more than decoding isolated words, but more pervasive views of EAP reading found recourse in 'word lists' such as the AWL (Academic Word List) coined by Averil Coxhead (2000). I therefore felt the drive to investigate more socioculturally related approaches to Academic Reading to enrich my own understandings and teaching and crucially, to help to underpin my teaching practice with theory that I had some agency in implementing as part of the teaching syllabus. ...
This paper deconstructs EAP's preoccupation with reducing academic reading to skills and strategies, arguing that Academic Reading is social interaction. The purpose of this research was to uncover ways in which conceptually complex academic reading can be approached more meaningfully as part of ESAP (English for Specific Academic Purposes) programmes in our digital, hybrid and blended learning environments, by both practitioners and students. Some notions of what are often referred to as ‘academic reading skills’ in EAP are challenged (e.g. Grabe & Stoller, 2019; Newton et al. 2018). Regarding these academic reading skills and strategies, the primary objective seems to be the understanding or navigating of a text as an object or artefact, as opposed to reading as an interaction with a text, where the reader constructs meaning through a combination of resources (Bull & Anstey, 2019). In line with the latter perspective on reading as a social interaction, findings from a project undertaken in 2021 are reported, along with more recent and interrelated findings from a scholarship project with an International Foundation Year programme, exploring how EAP practitioners can help students uncover tacit knowledge when interpreting and interacting with new ideas and concepts in their disciplinary reading. These studies involved qualitative analysis of questionnaires and follow up semi-structured interview responses from some students and their EAP tutors. In brief, to access conceptual knowledge, students must combine multimodal literacy with other language-related competencies, such as grammatical and discourse competence (Kress, 2003). This ‘semiotic mediation’ (Coffin & Donohue, 2014 p. 24) is a crucial aspect of academic disciplinary reading and implications include considerations of ways we can potentially draw more meaningfully on affordances provided by complementary modes for this reading both inside the classroom and as a guide for students’ independent study. By recognising the linguistic repertoire as one of many semiotic resources available for meaning making, suggestions are made for approaching disciplinary reading for our current and future teaching and learning spaces.
... The features for the classifiers were extracted by applying CohMetrix to student posts and non-linguistic contextual features (e.g., number of replies). Authors planned to explore some new features, such as AWL [19] and Flesh-Kincaid [20] in their future study. The above studies showed that automated models in conjunction with the ICAP framework hold promises for effectively categorizing and predicting cognitive engagement in online learning. ...
... On the contrary, grammatical collocations involve combinations of content words with grammatical elements (typically prepositions or specific structures). In academic contexts, , academic collocations, word combinations common in scholarly discourse, are particularly important for conveying precise meaning and demonstrating linguistic proficiency (Coxhead, 2000;Durrant, 2009;Polio & Yoon, 2021). Patterns of these collocations with examples are presented in Table 1. ...
... Sample 1 provides an example of how Student A responds to P3 and P5 tasks. This student used lower-frequency vocabulary and more academic words (as defined by Coxhead, 2000 and identified by VocabProfiler-Classic) (e.g., picked, partner, invisible, invention, invent) in response to the P5 task, compared to the P3 task in which the student used higher-frequency words and fewer academic words (e.g., adult, advice, earned). ...
This paper reports the results of a study designed to explore the relationships between speaking test task variables and linguistic features of spoken responses on a speaking assessment for Grade 7 multilingual English learners (age 12–13) in U.S. public schools. Speaking task responses from 30 high-proficiency test takers were transcribed and coded for 14 complexity measures (e.g., dependent clause ratio) and 9 fluency measures (e.g., speech rate). Subsequent analyses of simple main effects indicate that many of the complexity and fluency measures significantly differ by task variables. We observed more meaningful differences in the complexity measures, but fluency features also varied in the key area of pause time. The findings reveal that tasks designed to elicit extended spoken responses did indeed generate spoken language with more complex features than tasks designed to elicit shorter, simpler responses across academic disciplines. Results of the effects of task variables on fluency measures indicate that Grade 7 students pause more in response to more complex tasks. The results provide some preliminary validity evidence for the assessment by indicating expected performance differences based on target task difficulty level and have implications for the design and scoring of speaking assessment tasks for young learners.
... We also calculated the lexical range (LR) as a measure of the lexical complexity of the texts. As suggested by Kormos [22], we used the dictionaries of the Nation's Range program [25], which calculates the percentage of words in a text that belong to the most frequent 1,000 (LR1) and 2,000 (LR2) words of "A General Service List of English Words" [26], and the percentage of words belonging to "The Academic Word List" (LR3) by Coxhead [27]. ...
Role-playing games (RPG) are games in which players interact with one another to create narratives. The role of players in the RPG is largely based on the interaction between players and their characters. This emerging form of shared narrative, primarily oral, is receiving increasing attention. In particular, many authors investigated the use of an LLM as an actor in the game. In this paper, we aim to discover to what extent the language of Large Language Models (LLMs) exhibit oral or written features when asked to generate an RPG session without human interference. We will conduct a linguistic analysis of the lexical and syntactic features of the generated texts and compare the results with analyses of conversations, transcripts of human RPG sessions, and books. We found that LLMs exhibit a pattern that is distinct from all other text categories, including oral conversations, human RPG sessions and books. Our analysis has shown how training influences the way LLMs express themselves and provides important indications of the narrative capabilities of these tools.
... Across 14 potential story paths, on average, students would encounter seven comprehension questions. Target vocabulary words were selected using the Academic Word List (Coxhead 2000), SAT/ACT Word List, and Spanish cognates. The average number of words was 994 words per chapter and the average Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level was 3.8. ...
Background
The affordances of technology, such as e‐books, offer the opportunity to increase engagement and provide personalised feedback to promote students' learning outcomes. E‐books that encourage the use of comprehension monitoring strategies in real time may support stronger outcomes.
Objectives
The purpose of this feasibility study was to examine the potential impact of reading digital interactive e‐books, Word Knowledge E‐Books (WKe‐Books), that taught word‐meaning and deeper text‐meaning strategies to support reading comprehension with third‐fifth grade students.
Methods
Students (N = 435) read two WKe‐Books, that taught word learning and comprehension monitoring strategies in the service of learning vocabulary and targeted science concepts about hurricanes. We investigated whether specific comprehension strategies–(1) word learning and strategies that supported general reading comprehension, (2) summarisation, and (3) question generation–show promise of effectiveness in building vocabulary knowledge and comprehension skills in the WKe‐Books. Students were assigned to read one of three versions of each WKe‐Book. The books employed a choose‐your‐adventure format with embedded comprehension questions that provided students with immediate feedback.
Results and Conclusions
Students demonstrated significant gains in word learning and the targeted hurricane concepts. Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM) revealed that no one strategy was associated with larger gains. Performance on the embedded questions in the books was associated with greater posttest outcomes. These findings suggest that the affordances offered in the WKe‐Books can effectively support students' development of reading‐related skills, including strategy use. Further, this work discusses implications for the future development of e‐books that can enhance engagement and improve reading comprehension.
... In the case of this study, the participants played against each other individually (rather than on teams) and a live progress board was displayed via projector. The participants studied a total of ten words in this way and the words studied were taken from the first sublist of Coxhead's (2000) AWL. During treatment three, participants used two-sided physical word cards to study a set of ten words relating to the parts of an academic paper. ...
Flow is described as a state in which people become so involved or engrossed in an activity that nothing else seems to matter (Csikszentmihalyi, 2009). This state of consciousness seems to occur when a person is involved in a task and seemingly unable to stop. Flow states are marked by (a) a perceived balance of skills and challenge, (b) opportunities for intense concentration, (c) clear task goals, (d) feedback that one is succeeding at the task, (e) a sense of control, (f) a lack of self-consciousness, and (g) the perception that time passes more quickly (Egbert, 2003). The Japanese Flow State Scale (JFSS) is an instrument which was created specifically to measure flow states experienced during deliberate vocabulary study and is a working component of the first author's Doctor of Philosophy research project, which focuses on the deliberate study of vocabulary with augmented reality (AR) and physical word cards. Analyses with mixed effects models indicated that statistically significant differences in markers of states of flow elicited with the JFSS of 179 L1 Japanese participants on the basis of four deliberate vocabulary study activities (AR, word card study, Quizlet live, and intensive reading) appear to exist.
... The course goals can have a huge impact on the type of progression that is chosen. For example, if the goal is to enhance students' academic vocabulary for discussions in academic settings, then the lesson progression can be based on an academic word list (Coxhead, 2000), where each lesson helps students to progressively learn and practice a set of vocabulary through gameplay and/or bridging activities. Similarly a communication course can be sequenced around different tasks, such as giving presentations about games and asking for feedback, where students can progressively engage in performing various tasks. ...
Games and play are natural to human beings and have been enjoyed by many throughout the world. Their use in education has a long history. They have also been reported to have enhanced learning outcomes in language education in general and second/foreign language (L2) education in particular. Despite substantial research on the effects of games in L2 education, there is limited literature available on how L2 courses can be designed with and around games. Therefore, this research explores how experienced L2 teachers use games to teach an L2 (English) in a university setting. For this research, qualitative data was collected from four experienced teachers through one-to-one semi-structured interviews. The data was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The results show how game-based L2 courses can be designed for university-level students.
... The English text was then tokenized and lemmatized with the help of the NLTK (Natural Language Toolkit) library in Python, while a default stopword list was utilized for filtering. Additionally, a new academic word list [49], which excludes terms like "sequence", "compounds", "energy", and "nuclear", along with a terminology list from the United States Patent and Trademark Office [50], were used as additional stopwords. These lists helped remove the most frequently used vocabulary from academic and patent contexts. ...
This study investigates the evolution of research at leading agricultural universities, with a particular focusing on genetics of agriculture and biomolecules as central themes. The objective is to identify trends, knowledge evolution pathways, and the relationship between scientific innovation and technological application. Utilizing the BERTopic model, a word-embedding-based topic extraction approach, the study analyzed data from cited articles and citing patents sourced from Web of Science and Lens databases. Key methodologies included advanced text preprocessing, topic clustering using Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection (UMAP) and Hierarchical Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (HDBSCAN), and knowledge evolution analysis based on topic heat and cosine similarity metrics. The findings indicate that research on the genetics of agriculture and biomolecules play a critical role in driving both fundamental science and application-oriented innovation. A strong correlation between cited articles and citing patents was observed, particularly at institutions such as the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University. Notably, genetics-related scientific outputs were associated with denser knowledge networks, while biomolecule-focused patents demonstrated more pronounced application trends, highlighting the translational potential of these innovations. Over time, research in genetics of agriculture and biomolecules intensified, underpinning their critical role in addressing global challenges like food security and sustainable development. This analysis offers insights into interdisciplinary convergence and the dynamic interplay between science and technology, contributing to strategic planning and policy development for agricultural innovation.
... According to Nunan (2003), the most useful vocabulary or higher frequency word depends on the goals of the learners. Academic Wordlist (Coxhead, 2000) is sufficient to learn if learners want to do academic study in senior high school or university. This Academic Wordlist occurs frequently in a wide range of academic texts. ...
The research was conducted to explore the effect of vocabulary learning principles and tasks (VLPT) on developing higher secondary level students' vocabulary knowledge. Looking into the use of vocabulary learning principles and tasks contributing to vocabulary development, the study examined the key aspects that might develop the students' EFL vocabulary. A Mixed-method approach was employed for data collection and data analysis. To elicit the relevant data, the study used: questionnaires from 100 students, in-depth interview with 10 teachers The findings of the study showed that VLPT had a positive and strong connection with vocabulary learning achievement and it was found helpful for developing students' vocabulary knowledge. It was also found that EFL students studying at HSC level were not sufficiently aware of the significance and effectiveness of VLPT in classes. The findings of the study have some pedagogical implications for both the teachers and students. The teachers may systematically introduce and reinforce VLPT that can help students as active vocabulary learners. The investigation will also provide information to the teachers on how effectively VLPT may impact on developing students' vocabulary achievement. The study has pedagogical implications for raising awareness about VLPT among EFL learners.
... In the past couple of decades, a significant body of research in the field of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has been concerned with academic contexts [1]. Starting with the influential Academic Word List [2], numerous studies have focused on comprehensively describing academic vocabulary, from the new Academic Vocabulary List [3] and the Academic Formula List [4] to the Academic Collocation List [5]. This reflects an increasing recognition that language is organized to a considerable degree in larger-than-word units, which have received various labels including 'lexical bundles' [6,7], 'multi-word expressions' [8], and 'formulaic sequences' [9]. ...
Although several studies have succeeded in creating medical word lists using corpus analysis methods, there is currently a shortage of comprehensive lists containing medical multi-word terms (MWTs). This study attempts to fill this gap by identifying medical MWTs using a large corpus of English language medical textbooks (28,384,681 running words). The term extraction function in Sketch Engine was used to extract high-frequency MWTs and to calculate keyness and dispersion data for each MWT. The validity of the resulting list and of specific subsets was tested using a different medical corpus and a general English corpus. The resulting list comprises 3307 MWTs with 63.83% (2111 MWTs) occurring at comparable frequencies in the different medical corpus and only 0.97% (32 MWTs) occurring at comparable frequencies in the general English corpus. The study also revealed clear differences in replicability between semantic subsets, with MWTs from the Anatomy and the Disorders semantic groups displaying high replicability, while MWTs from the Concepts and Ideas semantic group showed low to moderate replicability. The list may be used to develop evidence-based materials in English for Medical Purposes courses and to further explore how information is packaged in healthcare communication settings.
... We identified 109 target bound roots based on previous studies (Crosson et al., 2021; using academic word corpora (Coxhead, 2000;Gardner & Davies, 2014;Oxford University Press, 1999). Some of these preidentified roots have free forms with more specialized meanings (e.g., fort), are used in truncated forms (e.g., 'fess up, street cred), or have free homographs (e.g., man, ten, cf. ...
Many English words contain historical roots that do not occur as free morphemes (e.g., nov in innovate, dict in verdict ). These words often retain an appearance of compositionality and are associated with effects on lexical processing ( Pastizzo & Feldman, 2004 ; Taft & Forster, 1975 ), but frequently their roots are difficult to identify without recourse to historical etymologies, and they are semantically opaque and unproductive. More practically, although such words are prominent in academic vocabulary, they are often difficult to learn, and instruction inspired by their apparent morphological structure has yielded mixed results ( McKeown et al., 2018 ). We explore these psycholinguistic and educational challenges through a dynamic view of the mental lexicon ( Libben, 2022 ), understanding morphological resources as gradient, emergent, and contextually adaptable for meaning making. We quantified bound roots’ morphological families by training an unsupervised parser on a lexicon approximating that of an educated English user, and then assessing polysemy and coherence of roots’ meanings, using vector semantic representations. Testing against behavioral data supported the validity of these measures, suggesting new ways of measuring the properties of bound roots independent from etymological data and demonstrating sensitivity even to unproductive morphological structure, that can support academic vocabulary development and meaning-making.
Knowledge of words is central to effective reading comprehension. A positive correlation between vocabulary size and language proficiency has been established (Agernäs 2014). When learners focus on the meaning of a text, they engage in reading comprehension processes. However, not all vocabulary is equal; different forms exist, including high and low frequency words, academic language, and domain-specific vocabulary in subjects. This chapter considers these vocabulary forms and their impact on high school learners' use of English. Despite research on vocabulary knowledge's importance, the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) offers little guidance on vocabulary in high school, placing teachers in a difficult position regarding assessing vocabulary levels and implementing development strategies. The chapter will explore the vocabulary size needed for language proficiency and analyze vocabulary levels in texts learners encounter in Home Language English and English First Additional Language lessons, concluding with suggestions for vocabulary development across the curriculum.
Teachers are pivotal in fostering reading comprehension and independence, yet various contextual factors impact their role in South African education. This chapter disaggregates English reading comprehension backlogs into challenges requiring specific teacher responses, such as socioeconomic factors affecting English exposure, literacy levels, pedagogical skills, English language teaching specifics, and adolescent literacy development. Teachers' proficiency in teaching English as Language of Learning and Teaching (LoLT) or as First Additional Language (EFAL) depends on their own English proficiency and communication use. Limited exposure to concepts and contexts assumed in English content further hinders comprehension. Teachers must develop language and conceptual knowledge concurrently. The theoretical framework considers sociocultural mediation in pedagogy, arguing for teacher training beyond pedagogical skills to address a complex socioeconomic context. This framework enables clearer debates on suitable solutions.
Analyses in vocabulary research should avoid the language-as-a-fixed-effect fallacy, whereby no statistical evidence is provided to support claimed generalizations beyond the words tested in the sample. Although mixed-effects models are widely adopted in social sciences to avoid this fallacy, second language vocabulary researchers primarily conduct potentially problematic fixed-effects analyses. In the present study, two published vocabulary studies relying on fixed-effects modeling were re-analyzed Contrasting Fixed-and Mixed-Effects Modeling with generalized linear mixed-effects models (GLMMs). Consistent with prior research comparing these approaches, effect sizes in the GLMMs were reduced by 36% to nearly 80%. Crucially, one study's claims were not fully substantiated with GLMM re-analysis. The findings suggest that second language vocabulary researchers should strongly consider mixed-effect models to avoid the language-as-a-fixed-effect fallacy. Furthermore, replications of earlier studies that employed fixed-effects only analyses should be conducted to verify that their effect sizes were not overstated.
There is a vast amount study of vocabulary assessment strategies by professional educators and a number of methods have emerged to gauge vocabulary competence. However, only a limited number of literatures analyze the use of online application to assess EFL students’ vocabulary level, especially in Indonesia. To fill this gap, this study employs Ant-Word Profiler App to classify students’ vocabulary level on final exam in advanced paragraph writing course among Indonesian undergraduate EFL Learners. Drawing on the Laufer Theory (1997) on factors which affect vocabulary learning, this study showcases the group of participants challenge their vocabulary mastery as they were routinely engaged to the writing class. The participants were, second semester students at Indonesia tertiary Institution who enrolled in Advanced Paragraph Writing course range from 19 to 22 years old. This descriptive interview study utilized a corpus-based research in vocabulary context of writing course. The AntWordProfiler app generates lexicon statistics and recurrence about the corpus of the text. The primary categories of the data collected are the overall quantity of running words in a apecific content of the given text. The results demonstrate that students at different stages of writing proficiency used a low percentage of Advanced vocabulary indeed on the final exam of the course. The implication of this study calls for the interactive vocabulary and writing pedagogy to enrich vocabulary mastery for students of language teacher education.Â
This study investigates gender-based differences in lexical diversity and vocabulary use among male and female EFL learners in descriptive writing. Motivated by ongoing discussions about gendered linguistic tendencies, the research focuses on the use of words from the General Service List (GSL) and Academic Word List (AWL). Employing a mixed-method approach, the study analyzed 60 descriptive texts written by male and female students using percentage-based data and chi-square tests. Results indicate that male students demonstrated slightly higher lexical diversity and used more GSL and AWL words than their female counterparts. Notably, a statistically significant difference was observed in GSL usage, while differences in AWL usage and overall lexical diversity were not statistically significant. These findings suggest that although male learners showed greater vocabulary variety in certain aspects, the overall overlap in word usage across genders indicates that gender-based differences in vocabulary use may be less pronounced than commonly assumed. The study highlights the need for further investigation into contextual and cultural factors that shape lexical choices among EFL learners, offering insights for educators and curriculum designers aiming to support vocabulary development equitably. Subject classification codes:
While researchers in the second language (L2) field often consider that L2 anxiety determines subsequent L2 achievement, an emerging line of research suggests that language skills better predict L2 anxiety. This viewpoint has yet to be experimentally evaluated, and thus it motivated the present study. Two groups of university language students enrolled in the Department of English as an L2 were followed over one semester at three time points while taking a general university course unrelated to language learning. The experimental group received extra instruction (course unrelated) designed to expand their L2 vocabulary knowledge, including strategies for learning and using new vocabulary in real-life contexts over the whole semester. A typical teaching method was delivered to the control group. The conditional dual-domain latent growth curve modeling (LGCM) with grouping variable as a covariate was used to study the possible effect of the intervention on the trajectory of language anxiety and vocabulary knowledge. Results indicated that teaching vocabulary knowledge to the experimental group led to an increase in their L2 vocabulary achievement. In turn, the increase in L2 vocabulary significantly reduced students’ L2 anxiety. Notably, this reduction in anxiety was attributed solely to the improvement in vocabulary achievement, as teachers did not employ any anxiety-controlling strategies. In contrast, the control group showed no significant changes in L2 vocabulary knowledge or L2 anxiety, which aligns with typical observations in standard learning settings. Findings from the present experimental study support the idea that increasing students’ L2 achievement (e.g. vocabulary) through providing practical resources, strategies, and opportunities for using the language (even with minor errors) can reduce their L2 anxiety. According to our findings, using language-enhancing strategies, rather than anxiety-reducing ones, can more effectively help reduce L2 anxiety.
This chapter explores the current status and implications of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) research in South Korea, emphasizing its significance in enhancing English Language Teaching (ELT). While the global demand for ESP continues to grow across academic and occupational domains, Korea’s progress in this field has been relatively limited. Through an analysis of ESP research trends in the domestic journal English Teaching and its comparison with ESP studies in the international journal English for Specific Purposes, this chapter identifies critical gaps in Korean ESP research and practice. Findings highlight the predominance of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) over English for Occupational Purposes (EOP), with notable deficiencies in addressing specific professional contexts such as law, medicine, and business. Additionally, this chapter underscores the importance of needs analysis, curriculum development, and collaboration between English educators and domain experts to tailor ESP instruction effectively. The integration of corpus-based methodologies, genre analysis, and innovative pedagogical frameworks is proposed to address these challenges. Ultimately, this chapter advocates for a more focused and practical approach to ESP in Korean ELT, aligning educational practices with the evolving global communication needs of students and professionals.
Extensive reading (ER) appears to be a promising pedagogy for general literacy. Building on prior research, this corpus study examined extensive reading (ER) of digital science resources (DSR) and the potential for incidental learning of general and specialized vocabulary enclosed in general, academic, and specialized lists developed for second language (L2) learners considering specific time intervals (one day, 30 days, 90 days, 180, etc.) and reading speed (150 and 200 wpm). The results reveal that after a year of reading DSR at a rate of 6,000 words per day, learners encounter, on average, almost 91%, 85%, and 82% of the word families in the examined lists, occurring at least 12, 20, and 25 times and after 342 days of reading 8,000 words per day, learners encounter, on average, about 93%, 89%, and 85% of the target words occurring at least 12, 20, and 25 times. Noteworthy is that extensive reading for even 30 days for at least 40 minutes a day at a speed of 150–200 wpm has the potential to produce substantial vocabulary gains of general and specialized vocabulary items in the examined lists, on average, between 28.40% (25 repetitions at 150 wpm) to 48.11% (12 repetitions at 200 wpm). Looking at word families in the Academic Word List (AWL), the results suggest that extensive reading of digital science texts for 180 days at 150 wpm (reading 6000 words per day for 40 minutes) provides similar or greater opportunities for incidental vocabulary learning to occur compared with fiction for young adults and online news.
While spelling instruction may enhance reading interventions, there is little experimental evidence to date that examines the benefit of integrating spelling activities above and beyond explicit word reading instruction and practice alone. The study sought to investigate whether a common approach to spelling practice, cover-copy-compare (CCC), uniquely contributed to multisyllabic word reading skills of third to fifth grade students with dyslexia ( n = 32). In this brief experiment, students completed two controlled individual sessions (30-min each). Each session included two instructional components and one practice component. The practice component differed by study condition, with students randomized to either reading practice (Decoding condition) or spelling practice using a modified CCC activity (Decoding+Spelling condition). No between-group differences were observed on researcher-developed or standardized word reading and pseudoword reading measures; however, a small but statistically significant effect favored students in the Decoding condition on a standardized measure of word reading efficiency. Findings suggest students in both conditions improved their reading of multisyllabic words, and there did not appear to be a differential benefit of spelling practice via CCC compared with reading practice. We discuss implications for future research on the contribution of spelling practice to word-level reading interventions for students with dyslexia.
In this study, we present a basic General Service List for Chinese Sign Language (basic GSL for CSL) that is developed on the basis of a corpus of 103,061 sign tokens by examining their frequency, range ratio, and dispersion. To test its reliability, we compared it to a frequency list in (Yuko, L. 2015. A Quantitative study of vocabulary in Shanghai Sign Language. Fudan University) and found a substantial overlap of lexical items and a positive correlation in their rank order. Focusing on the frequency information, we found that lexical richness of CSL is highly similar to that of other sign languages and is relatively modest compared with written English. The basic list consists of 902 sign types and has a coverage of about 77% of the sign tokens in the corpus. It provides (a) a valuable source of reference for compilation and further perfection of CSL dictionaries and (b) a useful guideline for CSL teaching and learning.
The current study aims at investigating a number of variables related to the vocabulary development of first intermediate female Saudi learners. An analysis of the coverage and repetition of the two thousand high frequency words in the first intermediate girls' textbook, entitled Say it in English, was carried out using the RANGE and FREQUENCY software (Heatly, Nation & Coxeahd, 2002). The textbook's coverage was then compared to participants' performance in two vocabulary size tests, namely the 1000 vocabulary size test, and the 2000 vocabulary level test (Nation, 2001b). Furthermore, an achievement test, constructed by the researcher, was implemented to explore participants' vocabulary performance in two parts: the vocabulary sections and the rest of the book. Finally, information about participant's most and least commonly used vocabulary learning strategies were collected using a questionnaire adapted from Schmitt's (1997) taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies. Overall, two hundred and eighty six female students participated in the present study. The RANGE analysis indicated that the coverage of the 1 st and 2 nd thousand high frequency words in the textbook are 5.6% and 25.8%, respectively. As to participants vocabulary size, it has been found that the average participant knows at least 14.09% of the 1 st thousand most frequent words and 4.84% of the 2 nd thousand high frequency words. The frequency results showed that the fifty highest frequent words are function words. Furthermore, most of the words occur less than ten times in the textbook. On the other hand, the achievement test results showed that participants know at least 40% of the words in the textbook. In addition, participants' performance in the items presented in the vocabulary sections of the textbook surpassed their achievement in the vocabulary items found in the rest of the book. In relation to vocabulary learning strategies, the most commonly used strategies indicate that learners are interested first in gaining surface knowledge of words. On the other hand, the least commonly used strategies were neglected for requiring deep processing of information. A number of applications can be drawn from the results of the present study. To start with, textbook writers need to plan the sequencing, presentation and repetition of high frequency words bearing in mind that learners might end up learning less than 40% of the vocabulary items presented to them. Teachers, on the other hand, are urged to provide rich instruction of high frequency words and to train learners to use several vocabulary learning strategies. II Acknowledgments
Recognizing vocabulary as the essential language foundation and determining its richness continues to be a challenge in quantitative linguistics. This issue has also been widely applied in various practical contexts, including language acquisition, language change, psychology, and cognitive science. However, vocabulary is complex, and lexical richness has been typically measured using three distinct indicators: lexical diversity, density, and sophistication. Among them, lexical diversity has been widely studied, yet reliable metrics independent of text length remain lacking. The characteristics of lexical density and sophistication have not been dealt with in depth, and studies focusing on the Japanese language are limited. This study aimed to delineate the distinctive features of lexical diversity, density, and sophistication, and to explore their interrelationships within Japanese. A corpus of formal policy speeches delivered by Japanese prime ministers was utilized. Numerical experiments were conducted in two stages: first, lexical diversity, density, and sophistication were analyzed separately; subsequently, the impact of text length on these indicators was examined. The findings indicated that text length did not affect lexical density and sophistication, and no consistent relationship was observed among the three indicators.
In contexts of both English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL), there is an ongoing effort to incorporate online graded reading materials into extensive reading programs designed for second language (L2) learners. However, it remains largely unknown to what extent these texts are suitable for L2 learners in terms of lexical demand. Based on a large corpus comprising nine levels of online graded reading materials, the present study examined the lexical profile of these texts at both corpus and grade levels. Results of our study showed that to achieve minimal and optimal comprehension of these materials at the corpus level, learners are expected to know 3,000 word families and 6,000 word families respectively plus proper nouns, marginal words, transparent compounds, and acronyms. As for the lexical demand across different grade levels, it was found that the lexical demand increases slightly and steadily as grade level increases. Overall, these results indicate the potential value of online graded reading texts as extensive reading materials for lower-level and mid-level L2 learners. Implications for L2 teaching and learning are also provided.
While researchers in the second language (L2) field often consider that L2 anxiety determines subsequent L2 achievement, an emerging line of research suggests that language skills better predict L2 anxiety. This viewpoint has yet to be experimentally evaluated, and thus it motivated the present study. Two groups of university language students enrolled in the Department of English as an L2 were followed over one semester at three-time points while taking a general university course unrelated to language learning. The experimental group received extra instruction (course unrelated) designed to expand their L2 vocabulary knowledge, including strategies for learning and using new vocabulary in real-life contexts over the whole semester. The control group received a typical teaching method. The conditional dual-domain latent growth curve modeling (LGCM) with grouping variable as a covariate was used to study the possible effect of the intervention on the trajectory of language anxiety and vocabulary knowledge. Results indicated that teaching vocabulary knowledge to the experimental group led to an increase in their L2 vocabulary achievement. In turn, the increase in L2 vocabulary significantly reduced students' L2 anxiety. Notably, this reduction in anxiety was attributed solely to the improvement in vocabulary achievement, as teachers did not employ any anxiety-controlling strategies. In contrast, the control group showed no significant changes in L2 vocabulary knowledge or L2 anxiety, which aligns with typical observations in standard learning settings. Findings from the present experimental study support the idea that increasing students' L2 achievement (e.g., vocabulary) through providing practical resources, strategies, and opportunities for using the language (even with minor errors) can reduce their L2 anxiety. According to our findings, using
'Corpus Design Criteria' beings (Section 1) by defining the object to be created, a corpus, and the constituents of it, texts themselves, noting briefly the pragmatic constraints on the sort of documents which will actually be available, spoken as well as written.It then (Section 2) reviews the practical stages in the process of establishing a corpus, from selection of sources through to mark-up, assigning annotations to the texts assembled. This is followed by a consideration of copyright problems (Section 3).Section 4 points out the major difficulties in defining the population of texts that the corpus will sample, contrasting the sets of texts received versus those produced by a target group, and internal (linguistic) versus external (social) means of defining such groups.The next three sections look at the sets of markers which can be useful at different levels Section 7 begins at the highest level, considering the different types of corpus there may be. Section 6 is intermediate, considering how to distinguish the different types of text occurring within a corpus. Then, for the intra-text level. Section 7 reviews considerations governing mark-up, distinguishing those markers useful for written and spoken texts. Of these three sections. Section 6 is the most fully explicit, listing twenty-nine significant attributes assignable to a text.Sections 8 and 9 turn away from the corpus design itself, to focus on its social context and function, both of the corpus design process, and of the corpus when implemented: to what extent are there now accepted standards relevant to the criteria reviewed in preceding sections? And what are the major classes of potential users and uses for corpora, both now and in the future?.
The question addressed in this study is whether the speed with which a word is recognized depends upon the frequency of related words, and which types of related words have such an influence. For example, does the speed of recognition of the word stair depend at all on the frequency of stairs (an inflectional relative)? Is the speed with which people recognize govern influenced by their knowledge of the word government (a derivational relative)? Is the recognition of fee influenced by the simple fact that the letters overlap with the letters in familiar words such as feet, feed, and feel (nonmorphological relatives)? The authors asked 95 U. S. college students to distinguish stem words from nonwords in a lexical decision task. The stem words were matched for length and individual frequency, but differed substantially in the frequency of their inflectional, derivational, or nonmorphological relatives. The researchers found that the frequency of inflectionally and derivationally related words significantly affected speed and accuracy of recognition of stems; however, these effects were conditioned by the likely age of acquisition for each word, and by the part of speech. Extensive analyses showed that simple letter overlap did not have a significant effect on word recognition. Taken as a whole, the results support the concept of morphologically based word families, that is, the hypothesis that morphological relations between words, derivational as well as inflectional, are represented in the lexicon. /// [French] La présente recherche vise à vérifier dans quelle mesure la vitesse de reconnaissance des mots est influencée par la fréquence des mots associés et dans quelle mesure elle varie en fonction de la nature des relations entre les mots. Par exemple, est-ce que la vitesse de reconnaissance du mot escalier est influencée par la fréquence du mot escaliers (mot associé par une relation inflexionnelle)? Est-ce que la vitesse de reconnaissance du mot gouverner est fonction de la fréquence du mot gouvernement (mot associé par une relation dérivative)? Est-ce que la reconnaissance du mot amertume est lié à la fréquence du mot amerrissage (mot associé seulement par une relation graphique)? La recherche impliquait 95 étudiants de niveau collégial. La tâche de décision lexicale consistait à distinguer entre des mots racines et des non-mots. Les mots racines étaient pairés en fonction de leur longueur et de leur fréquence, mais différaient de façon substantielle quant à la fréquence des mots associés soit par des relations inflexionnelles, dérivatives ou graphiques. Les résultats confirmèrent l'influence de la fréquence des mots associés inflexionnellement ou dérivativement sur la vitesse de reconnaissance des mots racines. Cependant, ces effets sont fonction de l'âge probable d'acquisition des mots et de la catégorie de mots. Le simple recouvrement de lettres (relation graphique) n'a aucun effet. Dans l'ensemble ces résultats confirment le concept de familles de mots constituées autour de relations morphologiques, soit inflexionnelles ou dérivatives, et la conception selon laquelle le lexique mental est ainsi constitué. /// [Spanish] El problema en cuestión en este estudio es averiguar si la velocidad a la que una palabra es reconocida depende de la frecuencia de palabras relacionadas, y qué tipos de las palabras relacionadas tienen esa influencia. Por ejemplo, ¿la velocidad de reconocimiento de la palabra escalera depende de alguna manera de la frecuencia de escaleras (relacionada de forma infleccional)? ¿La velocidad a la que la gente reconoce la palabra gobernar está influída por su conocimiento de la palabra gobierno (relacionada por derivación)? ¿Está el reconocimiento de paje influído por el simple hecho que las letras son las mismas que en otras palabras familiares tales como paja y pájara (relacionadas de forma no morfológica)? Los autores pidieron a 95 estudiantes universitarios estadounidenses que distinguieran palabras raíz de palabras sin sentido en una tarea que implicaba decisión léxica. Las palabras raíz fueron apareadas tanto en longitud como en frecuencia individual, pero difiriendo substancialmente en la frecuencia de las palabras relacionadas de forma infleccional, derivacional y no morfológica. Se encontró que la frecuencia de palabras relacionadas de manera infleccional y derivacional afectó significativamente la velocidad y exactitud en el reconocimiento de las palabras raíz; sin embargo, estos efectos fueron condicionados por la probable edad de adquisición de cada palabra y por su posición gramatical. La similitud en la escritura (relación de forma no morfológica) no tuvo efecto alguno. Considerados en su totalidad, los resultados apoyan el concepto de familias de palabras con base morfológica, esto es, la hipótesis que las relaciones morfológicas entre las palabras, tanto de tipo derivacional como infleccional, están representadas en el lexicón. /// [German] In dieser studie werden die Fragen untersucht, ob die Geschwindigkeit, mit der ein Wort erkannt wird, von der Häufigkeit verwandter Wörter abhängt, und welche Arten verwandter Wörter einen solchen Einfluß ausüben. Hängt z.B. die Geschwindigkeit, mit der das Wort Treppe erkannt wird, prinzipiell von der Häufigkeit des Wortes Treppen ab (eine Flexionsverwandtschaft)? Ist die Geschwindigkeit, mit der Menschen das Wort regieren erkennen, davon abhängig, daß sie das Wort Regierung kennen (eine Derivationsverwandtschaft)? Wird das Erkennen von Bau durch die einfache Tatsache beeinflußt, daß die Buchstaben sich mit denen in bekannten Wörten wie z.B. Baum, Bauch und Bausch decken (nicht-morphologische Verwandtschaft)? Die Verfasser forderten 95 Studenten in einem Experiment auf, Stammwörter von Nicht-Wörten in lexikalischer Hinsicht zu unterscheiden. Die Stammwörter wurden in ihrer Länge und jeweiligen Häufigkeit zueinander geordnet, sie untershieden sich jedoch erheblich in der Häufigkeit ihrer Flexions-, Derivations- und nicht-morphologischen Verwandtschaft. Die Resultate zeigten, daß die Häufigkeit der flexions- und derivationsverwandten Wörter die Geschwindigkeit und Genauigkeit, mit der die Stämme erkannt wurden, beträchtlich beeinflußte; diese Auswirkungen waren jedoch bedingt durch den Zeitpunkt, zu dem jedes einzelne Wort gelernt wurde, und durch die Art des Satzgliedes, die sie darstellten. Das einfache Uebereinstimmen von Buchstaben hatte keinerlei Effekt. Insgesamt unterstützen die Resultate das Konzept morphologisch-verwandter Wortfamilien, d.h. die Hypothese, daß morphologische Beziehungen zwischen Wörten, ob nun derivativer oder flektierender Art, im Lexikon dargestellt sind.
This paper examines the feasibility of allowing the texts that are used in a course to sequence the target vocabulary of a course, in this paper the vocabulary of academic study as represented by the University Word List. It was found that such an approach would only allow the learners to meet a little over half of the 836 word vocabulary and that a three-step sequencing procedure would be needed to effectively meet all of the wanted vocabulary. The three steps would involve (1) using adapted texts to gradually introduce the very common academic words, (2) using unsimplified texts to meet the next 200-300 words, and (3) relying on extensive reading and planned decontextualised learning to meet the remaining lower frequency items.
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Dating the turning points and durations of business cycles has long been associated with NBER‐type reference cycle indexes. More recently, such work has become additionally important for evaluating modern theoretical business cycle models and for analysing the time‐varying characteristics of cycles. This paper applies the transparent, quick‐to‐compute Bry and Boschan business cycle dating procedure to four New Zealand real GDP series. It compares the resulting turning points with those previously identified using NBER‐type cycle identification techniques, and with those obtained from three relatively mechanistic “deviations‐from‐trend” methods. It provides some empirical benchmark turning point and cycle duration characteristics and, as a prelude to further theoretical and empirical work, compares these with results obtained from a number of potentially relevant AR(1) and 1(1) statistical processes.
This study compares the vocabulary of a single Economics text of almost 300,000 running words with the vocabulary of a corpus of similar length made up of a variety of academic texts. It was found that the general academic corpus used a very much larger vocabulary than the more focused Economics text. A small number of words that were closely related to the topic of the text occurred with very high frequency in the Economics text. The general academic corpus had a very large number of low frequency words. Beyond the words in West's General Service List and the University Word List, there was little overlap between the vocabulary of the two corpora. This indicates that as far as vocabulary is concerned, EAP courses that go beyond the high frequency academic vocabulary are of little value for learners with specific purposes.
This article examines the learning and use of academic English words by students who differ socioculturally. It argues that the Graeco-Latin vocabulary of English, which dominates the language's academic vocabulary, offers various levels of potential difficulty for students from different class, cultural, or linguistic social factions. It presents the evidence for this conclusion by integrating work from discursive psychology, the sociology of language, psycholinguistics, and applied linguistics, and by attempting a comprehensive review of the published literature on its topic. The article concludes by inferring some changes to practices in L1 and L2 academic English education.
Thesis (M.A.)--Victoria University of Wellington, 1989. Includes bibliography.
The present paper addresses a number of issues related to achieving ‘representativeness’ in linguistic corpus design, including: discussion of what it means to `represent’ a language, definition of the target population, stratified versus proportional sampling of a language, sampling within texts, and issues relating to the required sample size (number of texts) of a corpus. The paper distinguishes among various ways that linguistic features can be distributed within and across texts; it analyzes the distributions of several particular features, and it discusses the implications of these distributions for corpus design.
The paper argues that theoretical research should be prior in corpus design, to identify the situational parameters that distinguish among texts in a speech community, and to identify the types of linguistic features that will be analyzed in the corpus. These theoretical considerations should be complemented by empirical investigations of linguistic variation in a pilot corpus of texts, as a basis for specific sampling decisions. The actual construction of a corpus would then proceed in cycles: the original design based on theoretical and pilot-study analyses, followed by collection of texts, followed by further empirical investigations of linguistic variation and revision of the design.
The present paper illustrates the use of corpus-based analytical techniques to address a range of issues in applied linguistics. Two main strengths of the corpus-based approach are identified: text corpora provide large databases of naturally-occurring discourse, enabling empirical analyses of the actual patterns of use in a language; and, when coupled with (semi-)automatic computational tools, the corpus-based approach enables analyses of a scope not otherwise feasible.
These strengths are illustrated with respect to three areas of applied research: (1) English grammar; (2) lexicography; and (3) ESP and register variation. Throughout, the paper argues for the importance of a variationist perspective, comparing the patterns of structure and use across registers, and it shows how analysis of large corpora provides the empirical foundation for such a perspective.
Two general points are discussed in relation to the illustrative analyses. First, corpus-based analyses frequently show that earlier conclusions based on intuitions are inadequate or incorrect–that is, the actual patterns of use in large text corpora often run counter to our expectations based on intuition. Second, corpus-based analyses show that even the notion of core grammar needs qualification, because investigation of the patterns of structure and use in large corpora reveals important, systematic differences across registers at all linguistic levels.
Manual of information to accompany the Wellington Corpus of Written New Zealand English Word families
- L Bauer
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An academic vocabulary list
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- W Elley
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Reading English for specialised purposes: Discourse analysis and the use of standard informants Interactive approaches to second language reading
- A Cohen
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Genetics: A human perspective
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A vocabulary workbook: Prefixes, roots, and suffixes for ESL students
- A Farid
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Range [Computer software]. Wellington, New Zealand: Victoria University of Wellington The vocabulary demands and vocabulary learning opportunities in short novels. Unpublished master's thesis
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Heatley, A., & Nation, P. (1996). Range [Computer software]. Wellington, New Zealand: Victoria University of Wellington. (Available from http://www.vuw.ac.nz/ lals) Hirsh, D. (1993). The vocabulary demands and vocabulary learning opportunities in short novels. Unpublished master's thesis, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
Dialogues with Maori students: Some implications for academic development (Higher Education in New Zealand Occasional Paper 2)
- J Kidman
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Instructed interlanguage development
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Actions for damages for personal injury in New Zealand
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Corpus, concordance and collocation How useful is EAP vocabulary for ESP?
- J Sinclair
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Mastery: A University Word List reader
- G Valcourt
- L Wells
Valcourt, G., & Wells, L. (1999). Mastery: A University Word List reader. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.