1. The English Vocabulary Profile

2. English Profile is…
A long-term collaborative research programme aiming to:
understand what the CEFR actually means for English
investigate what learner English is really like
develop detailed reference descriptions for each CEFR level
CEF levels language-independent. This has been done for some other languages.
‘I can use simple phrases and sentences to describe where I live and people I know’ – but what specific vocab do they need/use for this? What grammar forms do they need. What functional skills?
Vocab strand is most developed, though work going on on other strands. 2

4. English Vocabulary Profile
Assign levels: first A1, A2, B1, B2, now C1 and C2
Not just by word but at sense level (= each meaning)
Finding out what learners at each level CAN do
Reflecting current classroom practice and materials
British English and American English versions 4

5. Sources used for A1-B2 levels
Spoken and written native speaker corpora
Cambridge ESOL Vocabulary Lists (KET & PET)
Breakthrough, Waystage, Threshold & Vantage syllabi
Cambridge Readers wordlists
Wordlists in current coursebooks & vocabulary books
Hindmarsh English Lexicon
But the most important source of all is …. 5

6. Cambridge Learner Corpus
Joint development by CUP
and Cambridge ESOL
Over 43 million words
Over 150,000 exam scripts
Grows each year by
2-3 million words
All CEFR levels
130 first languages
203 countries
Over 20 million words coded for errors
Update this slide each year. 6

7. Corpus-informed research
• provides real language data
• highlights what is frequent
• clearly shows typical patterns: structures, collocations, phrases, phrasal verbs, idioms
• captures change over time, as a corpus is constantly updated
I was just going to remind people about the strength of corpus-informed work…

13. Insights from 2010 Validation
The A1-B2 “Wordlists” have been validated by:
researchers in Cambridge, Nottingham, Miami and Tokyo
students tested on phrasal verbs in Tokyo, Bilbao and Brno
CUP authors, editors and lexicographers
Cambridge ESOL item writers and test developers
teachers around the world, via Word of the Week feedback
Amendments and additions have been made as a result. 13

14. Ron Martínez phrasal expressions
Embedded phrase:
make your way / 100m in BNC
was within ROUTE sense of way A2 - phrase pulled out, with two senses at B2 and C2
We made our way down the river. B2
He managed to make his way in the film industry. C2
This leads in to the slide with way phrases.

16. Scope of the C levels Additional senses of words already in A1-B2
New words supported by corpus evidence
Extension of many word families
Lots of additional phrases and phrasal verbs
Frequent idioms, where there is evidence

17. Core results for know, with the C1 phrases on the next slide

19. Extra sources for C levels
IELTS data in Cambridge Learner Corpus
Academic English native speaker corpora
Academic Word List (Coxhead, 2000)
Academic Formulas List (Ellis & Simpson-Vlach, 2010)
Phrasal expressions analysis (Martínez, 2010)

21. Idioms in the EVP Only a handful to B2, eg break the ice
Additional category search for A1-C2 version
Inclusion dictated by NS frequency and CLC
Not included: raining cats and dogs
Included: behind closed doors
Idioms policy. Raining cats and dogs is a useful one to cite: lots of examples in CLC from 1993, less frequent now… and not useful/current for NS.

23. Launch plans for EVP DJK A1-C2 levels sample on EP website
A-Z A1-B2 levels available to Network Partners
A-Z A1-B2 levels public release in Sept 2011
A-Z A1-C2 release in 2012
Data contributors qualify for free access

24. Cambridge English Profile Corpus
CLC is a unique resource but is solely written exam tasks.
The EP Corpus will contain:
Spoken learner language (2 million words)
Samples of non-exam written material (8 million words)
Data collection is via the English Profile website.
We need you to get involved and submit student data! 24

26. English Profile: get involved!
• Visit the website
Sign up to free Word of the week
Contribute to the Data collection project:
CEPC - The Cambridge English Profile Corpus - learner data from around the world 26