Intro to key vocabulary

Introduction to
Key Vocabulary
Foundation English
for
Academic Purposes 1
Anthony Elloway 2013

Aims of Key Vocabulary
Extend knowledge of relevant vocabulary (general academic
vocabulary + the specific/technical vocabulary of Humanities and
Social Sciences)
Vocabulary development organised in separate strands:
1. Key Vocabulary for Philosophy
2. Key Vocabulary for Social Science
3. Key Vocabulary for Psychology
Vocabulary based on the reading /listening input provided in the
Philosophy/Social Science/Psychology courses

How does it work?
Weekly classes introduce academic and subject-
specific vocabulary:
• Academic vocabulary organised by sublist
(beginning with sublist 1 in week 1)
• Subject-specific vocabulary organised by
weekly topic (matching the weekly topics of
your subjects)

What should you do?
• Learn / revise the vocabulary introduced in lessons
• Learn / revise one sublist a week from the Academic
Word List (=60 word families a week for ten weeks)
• Notice & record useful / frequent vocabulary you
encounter (especially subject-specific)

Types of vocabulary
The 4 main types of words in academic texts:
• high frequency (70-80% coverage of texts)
• academic (10% coverage of texts)
• technical (5-10% coverage of texts)
• low frequency (very minimal role)

http://www4.caes.hku.hk/vocabulary/profile.htm

Types of vocabulary
look
exclude
chromosome
bounce

Understanding a text
What percentage of the words in a text do you
need to understand in order to understand the
whole text?
Laufer (1992) suggests that, in order to
understand a written text, 95% of the words
must be familiar to the reader. Below this level
the text will become increasingly difficult.

So…
most frequent (2000) = 80%
+
academic (570) = 10%
+
technical = 5%
=
95% coverage

Academic vocabulary
Coxhead (2000)
To make a list of words beyond the first 2000
words of English that would be important for all
students wishing to proceed with academic
study through English.

Academic Word List
Coxhead’s (2000) Academic Word List (AWL) =
a list of 570 word families commonly found in
academic texts.
This list was selected by examining a large
corpus (or collection) of written academic texts.

Why is the AWL important?
• The AWL = a reference for students who are
studying or preparing to study at an English
medium university
• The AWL = focuses on the non-subject-specific
vocabulary that students of any discipline will
need to master
• If you are planning to continue your studies in
English, this list will help you

How is the AWL organised?
Sublists
The AWL is divided into 10 sublists according to
frequency:
• Sublist 1 has the most frequent
• Sublist 10 has less frequent words

Task
Can you guess which of the following 16 words
are in?
• Sublist 1 (very frequent)
• Sublist 10 (less frequent)

adjacent area benefit
define environment factor
forthcoming integrity issue levy
notwithstanding panel
persistent research so-called
vary

Sublist 1
area benefit define environment factor issue
research vary
Sublist 10
adjacent forthcoming integrity levy
notwithstanding panel persistent so-called

Word Families
The AWL is also organised into Word Families.
Word families are made up of the ‘parent’ (or
headword) and ‘family members’.

If you learn the word ‘analyse’, you will be
able to recognise other family members such
as ‘analysis’ when you encounter them in your
reading. These words are closely related and
the meaning is likely to be the same or similar.

Task
For the headword analyse, how many family
members can you name?

Headword: analyse
Family members:
analysed analyser analysers analyses analysing
analysis analyst analysts analytic analytical
analytically analyze analyzed analyzes
analyzing

Recording Vocabulary

What strategies can you use to help
learn the AWL words?
• Building your vocabulary takes time
• You are not likely to learn everything you need
to know about a word the very first time you
see it
• Don’t expect to remember everything about a
word after looking it up in a dictionary once

So…
• Read academic texts; listen to academic lectures and
discussions
• Speak in academic discussions and write academic
texts using academic vocabulary

Learning from lists
• Start with sublist 1 - most frequent
• Don’t start with all the ‘A’ words - work down the list with
words that don’t resemble each other and are not related in
meaning
• Check the list for words found in the texts you read - if they
are in the AWL, learn them
• Directly study words from the list using word cards and doing
intensive study of short academic texts

Dictionaries
• Make the most of the information given in
your dictionary to build up your knowledge of
a word (including grammatical patterns /
collocations)
• Even if you think you know a word, look it up
in your dictionary to see if there is any
additional information

Studying ‘actively’
• Studying words actively will help your learning
• People do learn words through reading, the chances of
remembering vocabulary is higher when you focus on the
words and make a conscious effort to learn them
• Focus on retrieving words rather than recognizing them.
• Process words thoughtfully; make associations; think of
situational contexts in which to use them

Repetition
• Research shows that repetition helps people
to remember things, so build repetition into
your learning
• You could use word cards to test yourself
• You could keep a vocabulary notebook

Reading
• Try to notice academic words in your reading
• Look out for common collocations, phrases
and grammatical patterns of words when you
are reading academic texts

Writing
• Work with the AWL alongside you when you
are writing
• Try to use words from the list that are relevant
to your writing

Assessment
• Test of academic vocabulary (based on the
Academic Word List)
&
• Test of subject-specific vocabulary
(philosophy / social sciences / psychology)

Questions?

Intro to key vocabulary

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