Word Selection Rationale
How Were Words Selected for the Academic Vocabulary Toolkit?
The Importance of Advanced English in Academic Discourse
Advanced English is imperative for adolescents and
A more general category of academic vocabulary is
young adults whose educational and professional dreams
absolutely essential for students to successfully grapple
hinge upon having competent English communication
with daily tasks, texts, and tests across the curricula.
skills. An increasingly sophisticated global workplace
A wide range of general-utility words binds contentand new national K-12 standards and assessments
specific technical words in academic speech and writing.
require an articulate command of
Whether
students
are
English vocabulary, syntax, and
interpreting
a
complex
table,
“...absolutely essential for students to
grammar. With a focus on career
describing the relationships
successfully
grapple
with
daily
tasks,
and college readiness, high-stakes
between characters, or
texts,
and
tests
across
the
curricula”
secondary assessments will address
pointing out bias in an
evidence-based reading, discussion,
argument, they must have
presentation and writing. Adolescents, whether native
an arsenal of topic-neutral academic vocabulary at their
English-speakers or English learners, will be expected
disposal. Yet words like perspective, subjective, analysis,
to analyze and synthesize data from informational texts,
various, and accuracy don’t comprise the instructional
state and justify claims, and stand poised to counter
mainstay of many content area educators. While students
arguments in formal speaking and writing. Engaging
may be exposed to these high-utility academic words
in advanced academic discourse requires a level of
through lectures and reading assignments, they are rarely
linguistic agility not currently emphasized and explicitly
explicitly taught their meaning and correct usage. Simply
taught in many secondary classrooms.
encountering them in coursework fails to equip students
with detailed understanding or the confidence to actually
Navigating secondary and college coursework
apply them in classroom contexts. Throughout the school
requires comprehension of complex concepts and
day, students are expected to demonstrate cognitive
relationships in diverse subject areas. Content area
skills on challenging tasks and assessments requiring
faculty must and generally do assume responsibility for
precise word choices, whether comparing, justifying,
teaching the specialized terminology of their disciplines.
hypothesizing, or evaluating. While many students may
Technical terms that are specific to a discipline are
be able to demonstrate advanced thinking beyond the
directly linked to subject matter standards and boldfaced
classroom walls using everyday speech, most will need
in curricula, signaling their importance within a unit of
significant bridging from the ways in which they express
study. Students understandably rely on their content
their thinking outside of
area teachers to demystify more
philosophical, abstract, and hard- “Throughout the school day, students school to the norms and
expectations of academic
to-visualize concepts such as
are expected to demonstrate cognitive discourse. Without an agile
democracy, meiosis, balancing
equations, and irony. In demanding skills on challenging tasks and command of the widelysecondary and college coursework, assessments requiring precise word used vocabulary of advanced
vocabulary instruction tends to be choices, whether comparing, justifying, academic communication,
students with college and
solely focused on helping students
hypothesizing, or evaluating.”
career ambitions are at a
grasp these discipline-specific and
decided disadvantage.
often unit-specific terms.
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The Emphasis on High-Utility Words in the Academic Vocabulary Toolkit
The lessons in the Academic
from a number of critical
Vocabulary
Toolkit
were
sources. A high percentage
“Without an agile command of the
designed to develop profound
of the words were culled
widely-used vocabulary of advanced
understanding and skillful
from
Averil
Coxhead’s
academic
communication,
students
application of words widely
(2000) Academic Word List, a
with college and career ambitions
used
across
academic
collection of 530 topic-neutral
disciplines. Over the course
academic word families
are at a decided disadvantage.”
of a lesson, students learn far
(e.g., predict, prediction,
more than the pronunciation
predictable) applied routinely
and meaning of a critical word like assumption or
across the disciplines. Coxhead’s list of must-know
relevant. Through a carefully-scaffolded instructional
word families is considered the gold standard in
sequence, students deepen their word knowledge by
research-based analyses of high-utility words for
analyzing and applying the target word in multiple
academic study and communication in secondary
accessible contexts. Students are also introduced
school and beyond. Many words were identified
to the most common word partners, words or
from subject matter standards, common text tasks
phrases
that
frequently
and instructions, and diverse
accompany the target word
assessments. With the advent
“The
hundred
lessons
in
each
book
are
in academic communication.
of national performanceintended
to
equip
academic
language
They are guided in correctly
based assessments requiring
applying the target word with learners with the communicative informational text analysis,
essential word partners and confidence and competence to meet the synthesis,
citation
and
grammatical
accuracy
in
argumentation, many terms
discourse demands of secondary and
engaging yet structured and
and word partners were
higher education.”
increasingly complex speaking
included to enable students
and writing tasks. The goal of
to meet these advanced
this supplementary vocabulary curriculum is not
discourse demands. While prioritizing each list of
broad coverage and exposure. The hundred lessons in
one hundred words, Dr. Kinsella also kept in mind
each book are intended to equip academic language
words she has taught countless times to underlearners with the communicative confidence and
prepared adolescents and first-generation college
competence to meet the discourse demands of
students, words like perspective and maintain that
secondary and higher education.
are imperative for academic discussion and writing,
yet words that were neglected in their secondary
The hundred words included in each level of the
coursework.
Academic Vocabulary Toolkit were carefully selected
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