journal article
Is There an "Academic Vocabulary"?TESOL Quarterly
Vol. 41, No. 2 (Jun., 2007)
, pp. 235-253 (19 pages)
Published By: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL)
//www.jstor.org/stable/40264352
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Abstract
This article considers the notion of academic vocabulary: the assumption that students of English for academic purposes (EAP) should study a core of high frequency words because they are common in an English academic register. We examine the value of the term by using Coxhead's (2000) Academic Word List (AWL) to explore the distribution of its 570 word families in a corpus of 3.3 million words from a range of academic disciplines and genres. The findings suggest that although the AWL covers 10.6% of the corpus, individual lexical items on the list often occur and behave in different ways across disciplines in terms of range, frequency, collocation, and meaning. This result suggests that the AWL might not be as general as it was intended to be and, more importandy, questions the widely held assumption that students need a single core vocabulary for academic study. We argue that the different practices and discourses of disciplinary communities undermine the usefulness of such lists and recommend that teachers help students develop a more restricted, discipline-based lexical repertoire.
Journal Information
TESOL Quarterly (TQ) is one of the most respected publications in second and foreign language teaching, with an annual acceptance rate of 8% of all article submissions. This scholarly journal serves as forum for researchers, linguists, and teachers. As a peer-reviewed journal, TQ's primary focus is to link theory with practice and to address the practical concerns of English language educators. The contributors influence the development of the profession by bridging research, scholarly discourse, and practice. Approximately 3,600 TESOL members and 1,700 academic institutions subscribe to TQ. Each September TQ produces a special issue on current hot topic. In September 2007, TQ will focus on Language Policies and TESOL: Perspectives From Practice.
Publisher Information
TESOL-Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages-is the acronym that refers to the professional association, the profession, and the field itself. Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia USA, TESOL has more than 13,500 members from 140 countries. Its membership is a diverse mix of teachers, researchers, administrators, material writers, and curriculum developers whose primary focus is on enhancing English language learning, whether it is English as a second language (ESL) or English as a foreign language (EFL). TESOL's mission is to ensure excellence in English language teaching to speakers of other languages.