What is academicspeaking & listening?an introduction to the contents of the
course
English words
Research shows that most people need tounderstand 95% of the words in any text to be able to understand it fully.
90% of most texts in English are made up of twothousand recurring words – the 1 + 2k word lists.
So what about the extra 5%?
The hard part… learning thenext 5k and 8k will only just
reach 95% coverage
70
75
80
85
90
95
100
1k 2k 5k 8k
Text coverage
That means that learning an additional
6 thousand words will only give you 4%
more understanding of the words of
most English texts.
It is a lot of effort for very little reward.
So what can we do?
Researchers have analysed academic
English texts and determined an
academic word list of around 600
words that can bring you up to and
over the 95% threshold.
The AWL (Academic Word List)
Academic text coverage withthe AWL
70
75
80
85
90
95
100
1k 2k AWL
Text coverage
Text coverage
This is great news for
academic learners because
it allows you to participate
confidently in academic
discourse with 2,600 words.
But are 2,600 words
enough?
The short answer is : YES.
The long answer is: NO.
This list does not cover
• general conversation
• arts and humanities
• music, literature, and poetry
• the richness and texture of the English language
But it is enough to do
BUSINESS
ACADEMIC SPEAKING & LISTENING
If we focus on using theseAWL words, we can improve
our English faster
SPEAKING LISTENING
O use AWL words in
discussions, debate
s, meetings, and
general chat
O analyse
presentations, meeti
ngs, and
conversations