ACADEMIC VOCABULARY.

•Academic vocabulary refers to words that are traditionally used in

academic dialogue and text.

•These types of words are used to explain a concept; they are not

necessarily common or frequently encountered in informal

conversation.

Academic vocabulary instruction is important

for ELL students, who may lack the vocabulary

foundation for success in learning content-

area subjects and reading academic texts.

THE IMPORTANCE OF A.V.

We have four reasons why the

academic vocabulary is considered

to be important and useful learning

goal for ESP students.

•First, A.V. Is common to a wide range of

academic texts.

•Second, academic vocabulary accounts for a

substantial number of words in academic text.

•There are 2 ways of measuring this: by the

number of coverage and by the number of

types, lemmas or word families.

•Third, A.V. Is generally not as well

known as technical vocabulary.

•Fourth, a.V. Is the kind of specialised

vocabulary that an teacher can usefully

help learners with.

MAKING AN ACADEMIC VOCABUARY

LIST

•Commonly made by analyzing a

corpus of academic English.

It can be done in several ways:

1. Take an area of specialization

(electronics, medicine). Classify the

vocabulary found. (Basic, fundamental

and specialized).

2.Take a diverse academic corpus and

choose words that occur in a wide range.

SEQUENCING THE INTRODUCTION

OF ACADEMIC VOCABULARY

Universal word list (difficulties)

There are difficulties involved in using the natural

occurrence of words:

•An impossible large number of texts would be

needed.

•A large number of unfamiliar vocabulary found.

APPROACH TO SEQUENCING

•Gradual introduction to vocabulary.

•Use unadapted text to cover more

vocabulary. (12 texts approx.)

•Lighter load of vocabulary can

encourage learners to read more texts.

THE NATURE AND ROLE OF ACADEMIC

VOCABULARY

•Martin (1976), classifies academic

vocabulary into:

1.The research process.

2.The vocabulary of analysis.

3.The vocabulary of evaluation.

Meyer (1990), classifies these words into three

major categories:

1.Vocabulary relating to the domain of the text

and the linguistic acts performed in it.

2.Vocabulary describing scientific activities

3.Vocabulary referring to the subject matter of

scientific activities.

TESTING ACADEMIC VOCABULARY

The vocabulary level test, contain a section

based on the Academic Word List.

Learner must has a score of at least 2.5 out of

3.0 is desirable.

If a learner has a lower score than this then

study of the items in the academic word list will

be very useful.

LEARNING ACADEMIC VOCABULARY

The four major strands of a language

course:

• Meaning-focused input.

• Language-focused learning.

• Meaning focused output.

• Fluency development.

• For native speakers, knowledge of academic

vocabulary is a sign that they have been

involved in academic study of various kinds.

• For second languages learners who don’t

know academic vocabulary of English it is

important to determine if they have gained

academic skills and experiences in their first

language.

TECHNICAL VOCABULARY:

•Words that will be particularly useful

for learners with specific goals in

language use reading academic text in

particular discipline , writing technical

reports, participing in subject

conferences.

DISTINGUISH TECHNICAL VOCABULARY

FROM ANOTHER VOCABULARY

• Category 1: the word form appears rarely if at all outside this particular field.

Ex: law: jactation, per curiam, cloture.

These words can only be learned and really understood by studying the field.

• Category 2: the word form is used both inside and outside this particular field but not with the

same meaning.

Ex: law: cite (to appear), caution (verb)

They are clearly technical words as the ,more general meaning of the word when used outside the

field doesn’t provide really access to its technical use.

•Category 3: the specialized meaning it has in this field is readily accessible

through its meaning outside the field EX: law: judge, mortgage, trespass.

These words are less technical because they are unique neither in form or

meaning to a particular field.

•Category 4 is sufficient to quickly

identify what field is examined.

•MAKING LIST OF TECHNICAL VOCABULARY ways to developing

lists of technical vocabulary: ☆through the use of technical dictionaries

☆through the use of corpus based frequency counts.

•Using a dictionary involves the methodological

problems of sampling, defining what is actually

being counted and classification described in

nation.

LEARNING TECHNICAL VOCABULARY

• The English teacher job is not to teach

technical words.

• The teacher may be to make a contribution to

helping the learners

• The lecture may be to help with some

definitions of terms in a specific area.

• Learning technical words is connected with

learning the subject.

VOCABULARY IN DISCOURSE

• The main role of vocabulary is to convey

messages in extended spoken and written

texts.

•Vocabulary use in a texts arises from

communicative purposes of the text.

• The vocabulary shows the writer or speaker’s

ideological position.

VOCABULARY AND THE INFORMATION

CONTENT OF THE TEXT

• The function words may be different according the

text.

• Frequently some function words in a text may

indicate important features of the discourse.

• The vocabulary reflects the topic of the text

through the frequent use of particular words.

VOCABULARY AND THE RELATIONSHIP

BETWEEN THE WRITER OR SPEAKER

AND READER OR LISTENER

VOCABULARY AND THE ORGANISATION

OF THE TEXT

WORDS IN DISCOURSE

THE END