interdisciplinary english
TRANSCRIPT
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