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Developing a ‘Vocabulary for EAP’ course

BALEAP PIM 15 th February 2003. Developing a ‘Vocabulary for EAP’ course . Colin Campbell Paul Thompson (University of Reading). Research and pedagogy. Research interest How students use words How academic writers use words Pedagogic interest Preparing a vocabulary course.

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Developing a ‘Vocabulary for EAP’ course

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

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

  3. 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)

  4. Words investigated • extent • role • market • require

  5. Extent (438 occurrences in AC)

  6. Role (414 occurrences in AC)

  7. Market (848 occurrences in AC)

  8. Require/requires/required (1477 in AC)

  9. 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]?

  10. Extent

  11. 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?

  12. Role (414 occurrences)

  13. 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.

  14. Market

  15. Require/requires/required

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

  17. 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?

  18. Vocabulary Profiler • Profile of range of vocabulary used in teaching materials in relation to AWL • Paste text into online Vocabulary Profiler www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/r21270/textools/web_vp.html

  19. Page

  20. AWL Sublist 1 Range 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)

  21. 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

  22. 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

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