Developing a ‘Vocabulary for EAP’ course

Colin Campbell

Paul Thompson(University of Reading)

BALEAP PIM

15th 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]?

ExtentAc St Mat

the extent of18 % (80)

38 % (5)

14 % (1)

extent to which26 % (108)

0 % (0)

14 % (1)

to some extent12 % (53)

7 % (1)

14 % (1)

to what extent7 % (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)

Ac St Mat

play as collocate

25 % (104)

35 % (15)

50 % (5)

role in 27 % (112)

37 % (16)

20 % (2)

role of 37 % (152)

12 % (5)

10 % (1)

the role 29 % (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

Ac St Mat

as a premodifier

60 % (508)

13% (30)

57% (4)

different nouns

85 15 2

Require/requires/required

Ac St Mat

required61 % (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 Profilerwww.er.uqam.ca/nobel/r21270/textools/web_vp.html

Page

AWL Sublist 1Range of occurrences

0 to 88

Top scorers Section 88 Economy 70 Environment 53

Bottom scorers Constitute 0 Principle 1 Context 2 Interpret 2 Vary 2 Theory 2

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: www.personal.rdg.ac.uk/~lls01pat