Academic Vocabulary

Academic Vocabulary

Academic Vocabulary

If your goal is to read academic writing (college textbooks, etc) and write

academic papers (essays, etc), you can save yourself a lot of time and effort by

focusing on academic vocabulary

What is Academic Vocabulary?

Academic Vocabulary is a specialized vocabulary of 570 word families that commonly appear in all academic

textbooks, regardless of major field of study

Academic Vocabulary Learning

In general vocabulary learning, to go from 80% understanding to 86% understanding would require you to learn 2,000 more word families

In academic vocabulary learning, to go from 80% understanding to 86% understanding would require you to learn 570 more word families

Do you think studying academic vocabulary will be

helpful?

This semester, we will focus on learning academic

vocabulary

Academic Vocabulary

In each unit this semester, approximately 100 word families from the academic word list will

appear.

Keeping 4 principles in mind will help you develop

your vocabulary as much as possible this semester

Vocabulary Learning Strategies

In order to develop your vocabulary, you should keep

4 main principles in mind

4 Main Principles

Number 1

You should be active in developing your understanding of words and ways to

learn them

Active Learning Strategies

• Semantic Mapping:

Making a graphic representation of the relationship between words

Semantic Mapping


• Definition Mapping:

Working with grammar, meaning, and sample sentences


• Grouping:

Recognizing the relatedness of a word to other words

Grouping

Words thatDescribe Large

Scale

massive

huge enormous

immense

extensive

vast

4 Main Principles

Number 2

You should personalize your vocabulary learning

Personalized Learning Strategies

• Choosing words:

Identify key concepts and the words required to understand these concepts


• Choosing words:

Identify important terms you need to learn


• Choosing words:

Identify meaningful similarities and differences among the concepts / words

being studied

Personalizing words• Node Acquisition and Integration Technique (NAIT):

• Students identify key concepts or important terms they need to learn within a text.

• Students construct a semantic network around each of the selected key concepts.

• Students think of examples or potential applications of the key concepts and record these examples on the definition worksheet.

• Students identify meaningful similarities and differences among the different concepts being studied.

4 Main Principles

Number 3

You should be immersed in words

Immersion in Words

• Opportunities:

Put yourself in a word- and language-rich environment

Immersion in Words

• Opportunities:

Become aware of words and how they are used in the input you receive

Immersion in Words

• Opportunities:

Try to use new / interesting words in your speaking and writing

4 Main Principles

Number 4

You should use multiple sources of information to learn words through

repeated exposures

Repeated Exposure

• Opportunities:

Watch television news / programs that are related to the topic of environment

Repeated Exposure

• Opportunities:

Read newspaper / magazine articles related to the topic on environment

Repeated Exposure

• Opportunities:

Discuss environment-related topics with friends, family, classmates, etc

Summary4 Principles of Vocabulary Learning

• You should be active in developing your understanding of words and ways to learn them

• You should personalize your word learning• You should be immersed in words• You should use multiple sources of

information to learn words through repeated exposures

Keeping these 4 principles in mind will help you develop

your vocabulary as much as possible this semester

Two important elements of vocabulary learning

1 Quality:

How well do you know each word?

Quality

Goal:

To improve how much you know about each word

Quality

• Spoken Form:

What does the word sound like?

How is it pronounced?

Quality

• Written Form:

What does the word look like?

How is it written?

Quality

• Meaning:

What meaning does this form of the word have?

for example: consider vs. considerablyindividual vs. individualism

Quality

• Concepts:

What things can the concept refer to?for example:

fertile soilfertile mind

Quality• Associations:

What other words does this word make you think of?

for example:

fundamentally - basicallyvast - massive - huge - extensive

Quality• Grammatical Patterns:

In what patterns does the word occur?

– transitive vs. intransitive verbs– two-word verbs: opt out of– prepositions: interest in, responsible for– relative clauses: suggest that, conclude

that

Quality• Collocations:

What words or type of words occur with this word?

for example: – complex problem

– complex issue– complex person

– complex idea

Quality• Restrictions on use (register

differences):

Where, when, and how often would you expect to meet this word?

for example:ethos, kin, institutionalize =

formal academic words

Quantity

Goal:

To increase the number of words you know

Quantity

Educated adult native speakers of English know approximately 20,000 word

families

Quantity

College freshman ESL students know approximately 2,000 - 3,000 word

families

Quantity If you know the

most frequent 1,000 words of English, you should be able to understand 72% of the words on the page of a book, newspaper, or magazine

Known

Unknown

Quantity

Known

Unknown

If you know the most frequent 2,000 words of English, you should be able to understand 80% of the words on the page of a book, newspaper, or magazine

Quantity

Known

Unknown


Quantity

Known

Unknown


Quantity In order to

understand 95% of the words on a page of a book, newspaper, or magazine, you need to know approximately 12,500 words

In order to understand 99% of the words on a page of a book, newspaper, or magazine, you need to know approximately 44,000 words

Documents

Academic Vocabulary