1、1An Introduction to theAcademic Word ListAveril Coxhead, Massey University, New ZealandWhat is the Academic Word List?The Academic Word List (AWL) is a list of 570 word families that are commonly found in academic texts. This list was selected by examining a large corpus (or collection) of written a
2、cademic texts and selecting the words that occurred:1 In texts from all four academic faculty sections: Arts, Commerce, Law and Science.2 Over 100 times in the corpus overall.3 At least 10 times in each academic faculty section. 4 Outside the 2000 most frequent words on Michael Wests General Service
3、 List (GSL). The GSL includes everyday words such as I, house and do.These principles ensured that only words that occurred reasonably frequently in a variety of study areas were selected. The AWL targets vocabulary that occurs most often in written academic texts. These words also occur in newspape
4、rs but not as often as they do in textbooks. The AWL words appear even less in fiction. If your focus is learning academic vocabulary, you need to make sure you read academic textbooks so that you encounter these words in context.How is the AWL organized?The AWL is organized into Word Families. Word
5、 families are made up of the parent word and family members. Take for example the word maximise. Its family members include inflections of the verb such as maximised, maximises and maximising as well as the noun maximum. The word family also includes the British spelling of the noun maximisation, as
6、 well as maximization, the US spelling. If you learn the verb maximise, you will be able to recognise other family members such as maximised when you encounter them in your reading. These words are closely related and the meaning is likely to be the same or similar. When you are looking for words in
7、 this dictionary, think about other word family members too. Finally, there are some academic words that do not have a word family. These words occur on their own and do not have any inflections. Examples include nonetheless, so-called and behalf. Why is the AWL important?The AWL is intended as a re
8、ference for students who are studying or preparing to study at a tertiary level in English. As a university lecturer, I was aware of the difficulties that students had in mastering the vocabulary necessary for written assignments. The AWL does not include content vocabulary for particular subjects w
9、hich students obviously need to learn as well. The AWL focuses instead on the non-subject-specific vocabulary that students of any discipline will need to master in order to produce coherently-structured written assignments.The AWL covers up to 10% of the vocabulary covered in written academic texts
10、. This means that, on average, one word in 10 in an academic textbook is in the AWL. Look at the following extract from an academic text:EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENTAL POLICYEnvironmental issues are truly global. Many of the problems, like the releasing of CFCs into the atmosphere, have global effects and r
11、equire global action. Some problems link to the exploitation of global commons the resources shared by the international community such as ocean beds and the atmosphere. Sometimes small local problems, such as poisonous gases leaking from landfills and water pollution, are multiplied so many times i
12、n any local contexts that they become major world hazards. The environment is a global concern requiring global policies.Academic Word ListAcademic Word List 2The highlighted words are all on the AWL. This sample illustrates clearly that the AWL can help with decisions about which words are importan
13、t for you to learn if you are studying in an English-speaking country. How can the AWL help me withmy academic studies?Knowledge of academic vocabulary is vital for students studying at an English-speaking university, particularly for reading and writing. If you compare estimates of how many words a
14、 native English speaker might know by the age of 18 (approximately 18,000 to 20,000 words) and how many a learner who has had two or three hours of schooling in English over several years (roughly 2000 to 3000 words depending on the language background of the student), this gap is enormous. In order
15、 to read and write successfully you need to be able to recognize as many words as possible in your textbooks and use as many as possible in your essays. The bigger your vocabulary, the more you will be able to cope with the high reading and writing demands of your studies. Academic writing tends to
16、be quite formal in style. The vocabulary items that you use in your writing can affect the level of formality. Writers need to know whether a word can be used in a particular situation. Take for example consequent. This is marked as formal. You would probably not choose to use this word when speakin
17、g with friends but you should use it in written English to take your language to a higher level of formality. The AWL will help you to focus on issues of formality. Look out for the formal label in this dictionary. Remember that the AWL covers approximately 10% of all vocabulary in a piece of academ
18、ic writing. You should aim to have roughly the same percentage in your own academic writing too. If you go to the AWL highlighter website by Sandra Haywood (http:/www.nottingham.ac.uk/alzsh3/acvocab/awlhighlighter.html) you can copy and paste your text into it and it will highlight the AWL words for
19、 you. This will enable you to see how many AWL words you are using overall and whether you repeat the same words many times in your writing.When looking up words from the AWL in this dictionary you should also focus on the bold phrases that are highlighted. These show you the key grammatical pattern
20、s and collocations for that word. Collocations are words that commonly occur together or near each other in a text, for example effect on. Collocations and phrases are important because they help with fluency in writing and indicate that you are working at a higher level with academic vocabulary tha
21、n just using a word from your own language and its translation. The collocations in the following text have been highlighted in blue.DECLINING BIODIVERSITYWhatever the effects on this planets climate, rain-forest clearance has another undeniable impact. The disappearance of rain forests is a major f
22、actor eroding the earths biodiversity, or, more simply causing many thousands of species of plant and animal life to disappear forever. While rain forests account for just seven percent of the earths surface, they are home to almost half of this planets living species. Estimates of the total number
23、of species of animals and plants range from 1.5 million to as high as 30 million. Researchers, in fact, have identified more than 1,000 species of ants alone (Wilson, 1991).What strategies can I use to helplearn the AWL words?Remember that building your vocabulary takes time. You are not likely to l
24、earn everything you need to know about a word the very first time you see it. And dont expect to remember everything about a word after looking it up in a dictionary once. Try some of these ideas to help you with vocabulary building: Make the most of the information given in this dictionary to build
25、 up your knowledge of a word. Look at the bold phrases highlighted in the entry. These show important grammatical patterns and collocations. Learn these rather than the word in isolation. Even if you think you already know a word, look it up in the dictionary to see if there is any additional inform
26、ation that you dont know. Research has shown that repetition helps people to remember things. Make sure you build repetition into your learning. You could do this through using word cards to test yourself or by keeping a vocabulary notebook.Academic Word List3 Studying words actively will help your
27、learning. People do learn words through reading but the chances of remembering vocabulary is higher when you focus on the words and make a conscious effort to learn them. Look out for common collocations, phrases and grammatical patterns of words when you are reading academic texts. Work with the AW
28、L alongside you when you are writing. Try to use words from the list that are relevant to your writing. How is the AWL shown in this dictionary?The words on the AWL are marked with AC in this dictionary.The AWL does not include the 2000 most frequent words used in general everyday English. In this d
29、ictionary, however, the 3000 most frequent words in written English are also marked with W1 W2and W3and the 3000 most frequent words in spoken English are marked with S1 S2 and S3 . In some cases, these overlap with the AWL.Averil Coxhead is a lecturer in English for Academic Purposes at Massey Univ
30、ersity, Palmerston North, New Zealand. She compiled the AWL in 2000. For further information on the AWL go to Averils website at http:/language.massey.ac.nz/staff/awl/ index.shtml.Acknowledgement: Extracts on the subject of European environmental policy and declining biodiversity are reproduced with
31、 permission from Sociology: A Global Introduction, third edition, by John J. Macionis and Ken Plummer, Pearson Education Limited 2005.abandon1vabandoned adjabnormal adj abstract 1adj abstract2n abstract3vabstraction n academic1adj academic2n academy n access1n access2v accessible adj accommodate v a
32、ccommodation n accompaniment n accompany v accumulate v accuracy n accurate adj achieve v achievement n acknowledge v acknowledgement n acquire v acquisition nadapt vadaptable adj adaptation n adequate adj adjacent adj adjust v adjustment n administration n administrative adj adult1n adult2adj advoc
33、acy n advocate1v advocate2n affect v aggregate1n aggregate2adj aggregate3v aid1n aid2v albeit conj allocate v allocation n alter v alteration n alternate1adj alternate2v alternative1adj alternative2n ambiguity n ambiguous adj amend v amendment n analogous adj analogy n analyse v analysis n analyst n
34、 analytical adj analyze v annual1adj anticipate v anticipation n apparent adj append v appendix n appreciable adj appreciate v appreciation n approach1v approach2n appropriate1adj approximate1adj approximate2v approximation n arbitrary adj area n aspect n assemble v assembly n assess v assessment n
35、assign v assignment n assist1v assistance n assume v assuming conjassumption n assurance n assure v attach v attachment n attain v attainment n attitude n attributable adj attribute1v attribute2n author1n author2v authoritative adj authority n authorship n automate v automated adj automatic1adj auto
36、matically adv automation n available adj aware adj awareness n Academic Word List The following is a list of the words from the Academic Word List that are highlighted in this dictionary. Words shown in bold are one of the parent words.Academic Word List 4behalf n beneficial adj beneficiary n benefi
37、t1n benefit2v bias1n bias2v biased adj bond1n bond2v brevity n brief1adj brief2n brief3v briefing n briefly adv bulk1n bulky adj capability n capable adj capacity n category n cease1v challenge1n challenge2v challenging adj channel1n channel2v chapter n chart1n chart2v chemical1n chemical2adj circum
38、stance n citation n cite v civil adj clarification n clarify v clarity n classic1adj classic2n classical adj clause n code1n code2v coded adj coding n coherence n coherent adj coincide v coincidence n coincident adj coincidental adj collapse1v collapse2n colleague n commence v commencement n comment
39、1n comment2v commentary n commentator n commission1n commission2v commit v commitment n committed adj commodity n communicable adj communicate v communication n communicative adj community n compatibility n compatible1adj compensate v compensation n compensatory adj compilation n compile v complemen
40、t1n complement2v complementary adj complex1adj complex2n complexity n component1n component2adj compound1n compound2v compound3adj comprehensive adj comprise v computation n compute v computer n computing n conceivable adj conceive v concentrate1v concentration n concept n conception n conceptual ad
41、j conclude v concluding adj conclusion n conclusive adj concurrent adj conduct1v conduct2n confer v conference n confine v confined adj confirm v confirmation n conflict1n conflict2v conform v conformation n conformist adj conformity n consensus n consent1n consent2v consequence n consequent adj con
42、sequently adv considerable adj considerably adv consist v consistency n consistent adj constancy n constant1adj constant2n constantly adv constituency n constituent1n constituent2adj constitute v constitution n constitutional1adj constrain v constrained adj constraint n construct1v construct2n const
43、ruction n constructive adj consult v consultancy n consultant n consultation n consultative adj consume v consumer n consumption n contact1n contact2v contact3adj contemporary1adj contemporary2n context n contextual adj contextualize v contract1n contract2v contractor n contradict v contradiction n
44、contradictory adj contrary1n contrary2adj contrast1n contrast2v contrasting adj contribute v contribution ncontributor n controversial adj controversy n convene v convention n conventional adj converse3adj conversely adv conversion n convert1v convertible 1adj convince v convinced adj convincing adj
45、 cooperate v cooperation n cooperative1adj coordinate1v coordinate2n coordinate3adj coordination n coordinator n core1n core2adj core3v corporate adj corporation n correspond v correspondence n corresponding adj couple1n couple2v create v creation n creative1adj creativity n creator n credit1n credi
46、t2v creditor n criterion n crucial adj cultural adj culturally adv culture1n currency n cycle1n cycle2v cyclic adj data n debatable adj debate1n debate2v decade n decline1n decline2v deduce v Academic Word List5deduction n define v definite adj definitely adv definition n definitive adj demonstrable
47、 adj demonstrate v demonstration n demonstrative adj demonstrator n denial n denote v deny v depress v depression n derivation n derivative1n derivative2adj derive v design1n design2v designer1n despite prep detect v detection n detective n detector n deviate1v deviation n device n devote v devoted
48、adj devotion n differentiate v dimension n diminish v diminution n discrete adj discretion n discretionary adj discriminate v discrimination n disestablish v displace v displacement n display1n display2v disposable adj disposal n dispose v disproportion n disproportionate adj dissimilar adj distinct
49、 adj distinction n distinctive adj distinctly adv distort v distribute v distribution n distributive adj diverse adj diversify v diversity n document1n document2v documentation n domain n domestic1adj domesticate v domesticated adj dominance n dominant1adj dominate v draft1n draft2v draft3adj drama n dramatic adj dramatist n dramatize v duration n dynamic1adj dynamic2n economic adj economical adj economically adv economics n economist n economy1n edit v edition n editor n editorial1adj editorial2n element n eliminate v elimination n emerge v emergence n em
