1. Using the Academic Word List

2. Challenges of Teaching Vocabulary
Students come knowing many commonly used words
Know the simplest forms
Know the most frequently used meanings of multi-meaning words
Students need content area vocabulary
Students also need all-purpose academic words
Category labels
Words for thinking
Abstract, hard to picture terms
Snow, C.A. (2007). Learning all-purpose vocabulary words. Harvard Graduate School of Education. Retrieved January 30, 2009 from

3. Challenge: Students need all-purpose academic words, e.g.
Words for thinking: hypothesize, evidence, criterion
Words for classifying: vehicle, utensil, process
Words for communication: emphasize, affirm, negotiate
Words for expressing relationships: dominate, correspond, locate
Snow, C.A. (2007). Learning all-purpose vocabulary words. Harvard Graduate School of Education. Retrieved January 30, 2009 from

4. What is the Academic Word List?
List of 570 words with their “families”
Does not include first 2000 most commonly used English words
Result of Averil Coxhead’s MA work at the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Find a copy at:
Find lists with “families”:
Find list with hyperlinked definitions:
Find list with hyperlinked definitions to multiple (25-30) online dictionary definitions:
For detail on the development and evaluation of the AWL, see Coxhead, Averil (2000) A New Academic Word List. TESOL Quarterly, 34(2):

5. Where did the words come from?
Academic corpus covering 28 subjects
Corpus had 3.5 million words from journal articles, book chapters, course workbooks, laboratory manuals, and course notes
Words divided into 4 main subject headings: Arts, Commerce, Law and Science
These were further divided into seven sections each
Words additionally had to appear in at least half of the 28 subject areas and be represented in all 4 main areas
94% of AWL words appeared in 20 or more subject areas of corpus

6. What words were excluded?
First 2000 most commonly used English words
Latin forms et al, etc, ie, and ibid
Proper nouns
Words which occurred in fewer than 4 faculty sections of the Academic Corpus or which occurred in fewer than 15 of the 28 subject areas

7. What are the first 2000?
In part, this is heavily influenced by The General Service List (GSL) created by Michael West in 1953
Words were selected based on frequency and semantic value
To see:
Use of corpora continues to inform vocabulary study

8. Use any text to teach AWL
Enter text
Choose word list
All words from this list will appear in boldface
Enter text
Choose words list
All words from this list will appear as a gap and words appear as list on bottom of page

9. How can this be applied to classroom instruction?
Use articles, book passages, benchmark passages
Enter text into highlighter and choose AWL 1
Read text together, using context clues to understand meaning
Enter text into gap maker
Without using highlighted text, can students enter correct word from choices?
For texts with AWL words already highlighted:

10. Research-based Principles of Vocabulary Instruction
Introduce and discuss words
Ensure affective engagement
Engage students in using the words
Ensure recurrent exposures
Celebrate successes
Encourage experimentation

11. How do we choose specific words to teach directly?
Use information gleaned from AWL highlighter
Choose at random from AWL list
Introduce about 5 per week to focus on
Direct instruction on Monday
Continue to focus on throughout week
Use frequently!
Whenever possible draw attention to the word in a text
Encourage students to use the words in context
Create a Word Wall to remind everyone

12. How can a Word Wall contribute to vocabulary instruction?
Must be visible to all students
Must grow organically as well as methodologically
Must be consistently referred to by teacher
For ideas on dealing with space issues:
To see a video of a teacher implementing this strategy:

13. How do I build a Word Wall?
Choose a format that works for you
Half sheets of scrap paper
Chart paper
White or chalk board
Add words daily. Refer to the words whenever possible. Add words that are directly taught or which come up in discussion of text.

14. How can the students use the Word Wall?
Students will look to the wall when teacher draws attention to a word
Students will remember where the word is, and use the wall as a reminder for recall and for spelling
Students can take the burden off the teacher by being responsible for adding that day’s words

15. Can students study on their own?
Note cards
Computer note cards
Vocabulary notebooks
Foldables©
A way of presenting information that is fun and creative
For ideas see:

16. Knowledge Rating Scale
Word
Know It Well
Have Seen or Heard It
Have No Clue

17. Knowledge Rating Scale
Word
Know It Well
Have Seen or Heard It
Have No Clue
What It Means

18. How can students learn and remember the meaning of the words?
Look up the meanings of the words in the dictionary
Link the words to previous knowledge
Make a spider diagram for each word
For example, a spider diagram for concept could look like this:
                                                          

19. What about dictionaries?
Dictionaries are of course useful, but direct instruction on how to use is imperative
Have students work in small groups to find meanings
Try having “dictionary races” to decrease amount of time spent looking up words

20. Which Dictionary? Lower Levels The Oxford Student’s Dictionary
The Longman Active Study Dictionary
The Macmillan Essential Dictionary
The Oxford Wordpower Dictionary
More advanced levels
The Longman Contemporary English Dictionary
The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
The Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners
The Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
Many dictionaries have study skills pages, CD-ROM and on-line resources for students.

21. Dictionaries on the Web
Macmillan
Oxford University Press
Longman
Cambridge University Press

22. Using a Vocabulary Profiler
lextutor.ca
Allows us to see what level the words in a text are
Can help inform vocabulary instruction

23. How to use lextutor.ca Use Internet Explorer as a browser
Go to
In the second column, click on Vocabprofile
Click on VP English v. 2.9
Highlight everything in textbox
Paste your copied text into box (Control + V)
Below textbox on right side, click “submit_window”
Scroll down to see the color coded text

24. Resources
Waring, R. & Nation, P. (n.d.) Vocabulary size, text coverage and word lists. Retrieved January 30, 2009 from
Vicotoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. (September 3, 2007). The Academic Word List. Retrieved January 30, 2009 from
McCullah, W. ( ). Word surfing: Recommended vocabulary tests and exercises. Retrieved January 30, 2009 from
UEFAP. (n.d.) Vocabulary in EAP: Selecting vocabulary to learn. Retrieved January 30, 2009 from
English Corner (n.d.) English grammar exercises. Retrieved January 30, 2009 from
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