1887
Volume 26, Issue 1
  • ISSN 0929-9971
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9994
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

Somewhere between technical and general vocabulary are located those words which are used in formal academic contexts with a high frequency across scientific disciplines (Farrell 1990). These are referred to as academic vocabulary. Recent findings do not support the adequacy of a single academic wordlist which can equally meet the needs of students of all disciplines (Durrant 2016), and this has inspired researchers to develop wordlists specific to each discipline. Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics is a discipline which often embraces a high number of non-English speaking students for whom it is a demanding task to engage in academic communication without having access to a ready-made resource. In the present study, a 10,781,188-word corpus based on textbooks taught in thirteen subject areas of this field was compiled. The corpus was characterized by a specified genre and time-span, and a large representative scope. It was used to draw up a list of academic words (= terminology) for students of this field. The wordlist, which is accompanied by a list of collocations, accounts for approximately 7.1% of the coverage in the corpus. The findings build on the trend toward generation of field-specific academic wordlists, which have significant implications for students, instructors, material developers and researchers.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/term.00043.gho
2020-06-12
2025-02-09
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Ackermann, Kirsten, & Yu-Hua Chen
    2013 “Developing the Academic Collocation List (ACL)–A corpus-driven and expert-judged approach.” Journal of English for Academic Purposes12 (4): 235–247. 10.1016/j.jeap.2013.08.002
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2013.08.002 [Google Scholar]
  2. Anthony, Laurence
    2015 TagAnt (Version 1.1.0) [Computer Software]. Tokyo, Japan: Waseda University. Available fromhttps://www.laurenceanthony.net/software
  3. Bahns, Jens, and Moira Eldaw
    1993 “Should we teach EFL students collocations?” System21 (1): 101–114. 10.1016/0346‑251X(93)90010‑E
    https://doi.org/10.1016/0346-251X(93)90010-E [Google Scholar]
  4. Biber, Douglas
    1993 “Representativeness in corpus design” Literary and linguistic computing8 (4): 243–257. 10.1093/llc/8.4.243
    https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/8.4.243 [Google Scholar]
  5. Brezina, Vaclav, & Dana Gablasova
    2015 “Is there a core general vocabulary? Introducing the New General Service List.” Applied Linguistics36 (1): 1–22. 10.1093/applin/amt018
    https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amt018 [Google Scholar]
  6. Chen, Qi, & Guang-chun Ge
    2007 “A corpus-based lexical study on frequency and distribution of Coxhead’s AWL word families in medical research articles (RAs).” English for Specific Purposes26 (4): 502–514. 10.1016/j.esp.2007.04.003
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2007.04.003 [Google Scholar]
  7. Cobb, Tom
    2003 “Analyzing late interlanguage with learner corpora: Quebec replications of three European studies.” Canadian Modern Language Review59 (3): 393–424. 10.3138/cmlr.59.3.393
    https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.59.3.393 [Google Scholar]
  8. Conklin, Kathy, & Norbert Schmitt
    2012 “The processing of formulaic language.” Annual Review of Applied Linguistics32: 45–61. 10.1017/S0267190512000074
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190512000074 [Google Scholar]
  9. Conrad, Susan M.
    1996 “Investigating academic texts with corpus-based techniques: An example from biology.” Linguistics and education8 (3): 299–326. 10.1016/S0898‑5898(96)90025‑X
    https://doi.org/10.1016/S0898-5898(96)90025-X [Google Scholar]
  10. Cook, Guy
    2003Applied linguistics. Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Coxhead, Averil, & David Hirsch
    2007 “A pilot science-specific word list.” Revue française de linguistique appliquée12 (2): 65–78. 10.3917/rfla.122.0065
    https://doi.org/10.3917/rfla.122.0065 [Google Scholar]
  12. Coxhead, Averil, & Murielle Demecheleer
    2018 “Investigating the technical vocabulary of plumbing.” English for Specific Purposes51: 84–97. 10.1016/j.esp.2018.03.006
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2018.03.006 [Google Scholar]
  13. Coxhead, Averil, Liesje Stevens, & Jenna Tinkle
    2010 “Why might secondary science textbooks be difficult to read?.” New Zealand Studies in Applied Linguistics16 (2): 37.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Coxhead, Averil
    2000 “A new academic word list.” TESOL quarterly34 (2): 213–238. 10.2307/3587951
    https://doi.org/10.2307/3587951 [Google Scholar]
  15. 2008 “Phraseology and English for academic purposes.” Phraseology in language learning and teaching: 149–161. 10.1075/z.138.12cox
    https://doi.org/10.1075/z.138.12cox [Google Scholar]
  16. 2011 “The academic word list 10 years on: Research and teaching implications.” TESOL Quarterly45 (2): 355–362. 10.5054/tq.2011.254528
    https://doi.org/10.5054/tq.2011.254528 [Google Scholar]
  17. 2018Vocabulary and English for specific purposes research: Quantitative and qualitative perspectives. New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Cribb, V. Michael, & Xuemei Wang
    2019 “Making academic vocabulary count through strategic deployment in oral presentations by Chinese students of English.” The Language Learning Journal : 1–14.‏ doi:  10.1080/09571736.2019.1566396
    https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2019.1566396 [Google Scholar]
  19. Csomay, Eniko, & Alexandra Prades
    2018 “Academic vocabulary in ESL student papers: A corpus-based study.” Journal of English for Academic Purposes33: 100–118. 10.1016/j.jeap.2018.02.003
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2018.02.003 [Google Scholar]
  20. Drouin, Patrick, Marie-Claude L’Homme, and Benoît Robichaud
    2018 “Lexical profiling of environmental corpora.” Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC 2018): 3419–3425.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Durrant, Philip
    2016 “To what extent is the Academic Vocabulary List relevant to university student writing?” English for Specific Purposes43: 49–61. 10.1016/j.esp.2016.01.004
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2016.01.004 [Google Scholar]
  22. Farrell, Paul
    1990 “Vocabulary in ESP: A Lexical Analysis of the English of Electronics and a Study of Semi-Technical Vocabulary”. CLCS Occasional Paper No. 25. Trinity College.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Frankenberg-Garcia, Ana
    2018 “Investigating the collocations available to EAP writers.” Journal of English for Academic Purposes35: 93–104. 10.1016/j.jeap.2018.07.003
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2018.07.003 [Google Scholar]
  24. Gardner, Dee, & Mark Davies
    2014 “A new academic vocabulary list.” Applied linguistics35 (3): 305–327. 10.1093/applin/amt015
    https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amt015 [Google Scholar]
  25. Godman, Arthur, & Edward Maurice Frederick Payne
    1981 “A taxonomic approach to the lexis of science.” InEnglish for Academic and Technical Purposes: Studies in honor of Louis Trimble, ed. byLarry Selinker, Elaine Tarone and Victor Hanzeli, 23–39. Rowley: Newbury House Publishers.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Green, Clarence, & James Lambert
    2018 “Advancing disciplinary literacy through English for academic purposes: Discipline-specific wordlists, collocations and word families for eight secondary subjects.” Journal of English for Academic Purposes35: 105–115. 10.1016/j.jeap.2018.07.004
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2018.07.004 [Google Scholar]
  27. Hu, Marcella & Paul Nation
    2000 “Unknown vocabulary density and reading comprehension.” Reading in a foreign language13 (1): 403–430.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Hyland, Ken, & Polly Tse
    2007 “Is there an “academic vocabulary”?” TESOL quarterly41 (2): 235–253. 10.1002/j.1545‑7249.2007.tb00058.x
    https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1545-7249.2007.tb00058.x [Google Scholar]
  29. Hyland, Ken
    2001 “Humble servants of the discipline? Self-mention in research articles.” English for specific purposes20 (3): 207–226. 10.1016/S0889‑4906(00)00012‑0
    https://doi.org/10.1016/S0889-4906(00)00012-0 [Google Scholar]
  30. Johnson, Keith, & Helen Johnson
    1999Encyclopedic Dictionary of Applied Linguistics: A Handbook for Language Teaching. UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 10.1111/b.9780631214823.1999.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/b.9780631214823.1999.x [Google Scholar]
  31. Konstantakis, Nikolaos
    2007 “Creating a business word list for teaching business English.” ELIA7: 79–102.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Laufer, Batia
    2011 “The contribution of dictionary use to the production and retention of collocations in a second language.” International Journal of Lexicography24 (1): 29–49. 10.1093/ijl/ecq039
    https://doi.org/10.1093/ijl/ecq039 [Google Scholar]
  33. Lei, Lei, & Dilin Liu
    2016 “A new medical academic word list: A corpus-based study with enhanced methodology.” Journal of English for academic purposes22: 42–53. 10.1016/j.jeap.2016.01.008
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2016.01.008 [Google Scholar]
  34. Li, Siu Leoung, & Richard Pemberton
    1994 “An investigation of students’ knowledge of academic and subtechnical vocabulary.” Proceedings of the joint seminar on corpus linguistics and lexicology. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology: 183–196.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Li, Yongyan, & David D. Qian
    2010 “Profiling the Academic Word List (AWL) in a financial corpus.” System38 (3): 402–411. 10.1016/j.system.2010.06.015
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2010.06.015 [Google Scholar]
  36. Liu, Jia, & Lina Han
    2015 “A corpus-based environmental academic word list building and its validity test.” English for Specific Purposes39: 1–11. 10.1016/j.esp.2015.03.001
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2015.03.001 [Google Scholar]
  37. Malmström, Hans, Diane Pecorari, & Philip Shaw
    2018 “Words for what? Contrasting university students’ receptive and productive academic vocabulary needs.” English for Specific Purposes50: 28–39. 10.1016/j.esp.2017.11.002
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2017.11.002 [Google Scholar]
  38. Martínez, Iliana A., Silvia C. Beck, & Carolina B. Panza
    2009 “Academic vocabulary in agriculture research articles: A corpus-based study.” English for specific purposes28 (3): 183–198. 10.1016/j.esp.2009.04.003
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2009.04.003 [Google Scholar]
  39. Meyer, Charles F.
    2004English corpus linguistics: An introduction. Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Milton, James
    2009Measuring second language vocabulary acquisition. England: Multilingual Matters. 10.21832/9781847692092
    https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847692092 [Google Scholar]
  41. Mudraya, Olga
    2006 “Engineering English: A lexical frequency instructional model.” English for Specific Purposes25 (2): 235–256. 10.1016/j.esp.2005.05.002
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2005.05.002 [Google Scholar]
  42. Nation, Ian S. P.
    2001Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9781139524759
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139524759 [Google Scholar]
  43. Nation, Paul, & Alex Heatley
    2007 Range [Computer program]. Available at: www.vuw.ac.nz/lals/staff/paul-nation/nation.aspx
  44. Nation, Ian S. P., & Stuart Alexander Webb
    2011Researching and analyzing vocabulary. Boston, MA: Heinle, Cengage Learning.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Nation, Ian S.P.
    2015 Which words do you need?InThe Oxford Handbook of the Word, ed. byJohn R. Taylor, 568-581. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Oakes, Michael P.
    1998Statistics for corpus linguistics. Edinburgh University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Paquot, Magali
    2005 “Towards a productively-oriented academic word list.” InPractical Applications in Language and Computers, ed. byJacek Walinski, Krzysztof Kredens, and Stanislaw Gozdz-Roszkowski, 127–140. Frankfurt and Main: Peter Lang.
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Qian, David D.
    2002 “Investigating the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and academic reading performance: An assessment perspective.” Language learning52 (3): 513–536. 10.1111/1467‑9922.00193
    https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9922.00193 [Google Scholar]
  49. Richards, Jack C., & Richard W. Schmidt
    2013Longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics. Harlow: Pearson. 10.4324/9781315833835
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315833835 [Google Scholar]
  50. Schmitt, Norbert, & Cheryl Boyd Zimmerman
    2002 “Derivative word forms: What do learners know?” TESOL Quarterly36 (2): 145–171. 10.2307/3588328
    https://doi.org/10.2307/3588328 [Google Scholar]
  51. Schuth, Elisabeth, Judith Köhne, & Sabine Weinert
    2017 “The influence of academic vocabulary knowledge on school performance.” Learning and Instruction49: 157–165. 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2017.01.005
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2017.01.005 [Google Scholar]
  52. Scott, Mike
    2018 WordSmith tools (version 7) [computer software]. Lexical Analysis Software Ltd.
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Sinclair, John
    2004 Corpus and text: Basic principles. InDeveloping linguistic corpora: A guide to good practice, ed. byMartin Wynne, 1–16. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
    [Google Scholar]
  54. 1991Corpus, concordance, collocation. Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Sridhar, Shikaripur N.
    1993 “What are applied linguistics?” International journal of applied linguistics3 (1): 3–16. 10.1111/j.1473‑4192.1993.tb00040.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1473-4192.1993.tb00040.x [Google Scholar]
  56. Terryn, Ayla Rigouts, Véronique Hoste, & Els Lefever
    2019 “In no uncertain terms: a dataset for monolingual and multilingual automatic term extraction from comparable corpora.” Language Resources and Evaluation: 1–34.
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Todd, Richard Watson
    2017 “An opaque engineering word list: Which words should a teacher focus on?” English for Specific Purposes45: 31–39. 10.1016/j.esp.2016.08.003
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2016.08.003 [Google Scholar]
  58. Townsend, Dianna, Alexis Filippini, Penelope Collins, & Gina Biancarosa
    2012 “Evidence for the importance of academic word knowledge for the academic achievement of diverse middle school students.” The Elementary School Journal112 (3): 497–518. 10.1086/663301
    https://doi.org/10.1086/663301 [Google Scholar]
  59. Valipouri, Leila, & Hossein Nassaji
    2013 “A corpus-based study of academic vocabulary in chemistry research articles.” Journal of English for Academic Purposes12 (4): 248–263. 10.1016/j.jeap.2013.07.001
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2013.07.001 [Google Scholar]
  60. Vo, Sonca
    2019 “Use of lexical features in non-native academic writing.” Journal of Second Language Writing44: 1–12. 10.1016/j.jslw.2018.11.002
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2018.11.002 [Google Scholar]
  61. Vongpumivitch, Viphavee, Ju-yu Huang, & Yu-Chia Chang
    2009 “Frequency analysis of the words in the Academic Word List (AWL) and non-AWL content words in applied linguistics research papers.” English for Specific Purposes28 (1): 33–41. 10.1016/j.esp.2008.08.003
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2008.08.003 [Google Scholar]
  62. Wang, Jing, Shao-lan Liang, & Guang-chun Ge
    2008 “Establishment of a medical academic word list.” English for Specific Purposes27 (4): 442–458. 10.1016/j.esp.2008.05.003
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2008.05.003 [Google Scholar]
  63. Ward, Jeremy
    2009 “A basic engineering English word list for less proficient foundation engineering undergraduates.” English for specific purposes28 (3): 170–182. 10.1016/j.esp.2009.04.001
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2009.04.001 [Google Scholar]
  64. Webb, Stuart, & Paul Nation
    2017How vocabulary is learned. Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  65. West, Michael
    1953A General Service List of English Words. London: Longman, Green & Co.
    [Google Scholar]
  66. Yang, Ming-Nuan
    2015 “A nursing academic word list.” English for specific purposes37: 27–38. 10.1016/j.esp.2014.05.003
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2014.05.003 [Google Scholar]
  67. Zimmerman, Cheryl
    2014 “Teaching and learning vocabulary for second language learners.” InTeaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, ed. byCelce-Murcia, Marianne, Donna Brinton, and Marguerite Ann Snow. 288–302. Boston, MA: Heinle Cengage Learning.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/term.00043.gho
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/term.00043.gho
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error