Developing a ‘Vocabulary for EAP’ course Colin Campbell Paul Thompson (University of Reading) BALEAP PIM 15 th February 2003

Research and pedagogy Research interest How students use words How academic writers use words Pedagogic interest Preparing a vocabulary course

Research: Using corpora Academic Text corpus (theses, research articles from range of subjects; 915,000 tokens) Students’ writing (variety of pre-sessional course assignments; 100,000 tokens) Pre-sessional teaching material (reading materials; 35,000 tokens)

Words investigated extent role market require

Extent (438 occurrences in AC) the extent of 18 % (80) extent to which 26 % (108) to some extent 12 % (53)

Role (414 occurrences in AC) play as collocate 25 % (104) role in 27 % (112) role of 37 % (152) the role 29 % (122)

Market (848 occurrences in AC) as a premodifier 60 % (508) prices – 87 share – 42 Almost exclusively in economics texts

Require/requires/required (1477 in AC) required 61 % (903) collocate to first right: for (152); that (70) collocate to first left: would (38), be (449) a method/equation/procedure requires that … In Economics, ‘we require’

Questions Do the students seem to be using these words at all? Are the students using a similar range of patterns? Do the examples in the textbook materials exhibit the range of patterns of use for these four lexical items [extent, role, market, require]?

Extent AcStMat the extent of 18 % (80) 38 % (5) 14 % (1) extent to which 26 % (108) 0 % (0) 14 % (1) to some extent 12 % (53) 7 % (1) 14 % (1) to what extent 7 % (27) 22 % (3) 58 % (4)

To what extent Ac: It is unclear to what extent shoemakers in the Northamptonshire villages were able to obtain allotments at this time … Ac: It is not known to what extent transmission of the disease can take place between species … Mat: to what extent do you agree that social diversity has generally increased?

Role (414 occurrences) AcStMat play as collocate 25 % (104) 35 % (15) 50 % (5) role in27 % (112) 37 % (16) 20 % (2) role of37 % (152) 12 % (5) 10 % (1) the role29 % (122) 21 % (9) 10 % (1)

Role of ( Student writing ) 5 instances: The role(s) of IMF / China / the Authority Example: The role of banks is an intermediary between the two counterparties … cf Ac: The role of these committees is therefore to advise government departments and Ministers and to make recommendations where appropriate.

Market AcStMat as a premodifier 60 % (508) 13% (30) 57% (4) different nouns 85152

Require/requires/required AcStMat required 61 % (903) 62 % (41) 40 % (2) collocate to 1R: for (152); that (70) for (1); that (2) for (0); that (1) collocate to 1L: would (38), be (449) would (0), be (16) would (0), be (1)

Required (Student writing) Example: If the data use for irrigation planning, it is required accurate and continuous

Further questions In an EAP course, where does one teach ‘local grammar’ [the grammar of a word or phrase] ? Do we need to teach subject-specific vocabulary? Does the fact that students use a limited range (compared to general academic use) matter?

Vocabulary Profiler Profile of range of vocabulary used in teaching materials in relation to AWL Paste text into online Vocabulary Profiler

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AWL Sublist 1 Range of occurrences 0 to 88 Top scorers Section88 Economy70 Environment 53 Bottom scorers Constitute0 Principle1 Context2 Interpret2 Vary2 Theory2 interpret 1 interpretation(s) 1 interpretative interpreted interpreting interpretive misinterpret misinterpretation(s) misinterpreted misinterpreting reinterpret reinterpreted reinterpreting reinterpretation(s)

Selection criteria (White 1988: 48–50) Frequency of use Coverage Range Availability Learnability Opportunism Centres of interest White, R. V. (1988) The ELT Curriculum Oxford: Basil Blackwell

Towards an EAP vocab course Literature Review  Research  Design  Trialling  Revising Design Learner training Set of subject-focused units at 2 levels Metaphor, local grammar, collocation, discourse functions Sample units downloadable from :