The Academic Vocabulary Code
Words that Shape Societies
Dee Gardner
Brigham Young University
USOE CRT PROFICIENCY RESULTS
GRADE 4 2008
Science
Math
All Students
62%
75%
Ethnicity
Asian
African American
Caucasian
Hispanic
American Indian
Pacific Islander
65%
39%
70%
31%
32%
41%
81%
51%
80%
53%
53%
67%
ELL
Non-ELL
21%
67%
45%
78%
Migrant
Non-Migrant
20%
63%
44%
75%
Eco. Disadv
Non-Eco Disadv
45%
73%
63%
82%
Adapted from http://www.schools.utah.gov/assessment/documents/Results_CRT_Report_2008.pdf
USOE CRT PROFICIENCY RESULTS
GRADE 12 2008
Science
Math
All Students
55%
29%
Ethnicity
Asian
African American
Caucasian
Hispanic
American Indian
Pacific Islander
59%
23%
62%
29%
20%
19%
29%
13%
35%
17%
20%
23%
ELL
Non-ELL
16%
57%
13%
31%
Migrant
Non-Migrant
14%
55%
10%
29%
Eco. Disadv
Non-Eco Disadv
38%
60%
27%
30%
Based on 2007 National Assessment
of Educational Progress (NAEP) Report
(from Goldenberg, 2008)
“…fourth-grade ELLs scored 36 points below non-ELLs in reading and
25 points below non-ELLs in math. The gaps among eighth-graders
were even larger—42 points in reading and 37 points in math.”
“Whatever the explanation for these achievement gaps, they bode ill
for English learners’ future educational and vocational options.”
“They also bode ill for society as a whole, since the costs of large-scale
underachievement are very high.”
Preventing The Fourth-Grade Slump
“Students seem to need three kinds of strengths in order to
progress to Stage 3 [Reading to Learn]: sufficient knowledge of
the meanings of more academic and abstract words, sufficient
reasoning ability to understand the more difficult texts, and
facility with reading skills—word recognition, and decoding, and
fluency.”
(Chall, 2000)
Academic Vocabulary Knowledge
Academic Reading Skills
Academic Success
Economic Opportunity
Societal Well-Being
The Gate-keeping Tests of Education
are Primarily Tests of Reading Ability
By Extension,
They are Also Tests of
Robust Vocabulary Knowledge
UBSCT
ACT
GRE
SAT
CRT
LSAT
GMAT
MCAT
UBSCT Sample
Spiders Centipedes Sow Bugs. Spray webs and places where these
pests crawl. Hit as many as possible. Repeat as necessary storage and
disposal statement storage store in an area inaccessible to children
and away from heat or open flame disposal this container may be
recycled in the few but growing number of communities where
aerosol can recycling is available before offering for recycling empty
the can by using the product according to the label do not puncture
if recycling is not available do not reuse empty container wrap the
container and discard in the trash precautionary statements hazards
to humans and domestic animals caution harmful if absorbed
through the skin keep out of the reach of children avoid contact with
skin eyes and clothing do not remain in enclosed areas after use
ventilate enclosed areas before returning avoid contamination of
food remove plants pets and birds before using cover and turn off
fish aquariums wash hands thoroughly with soap and water after
handling statement of practical treatment if on skin remove with
soap and water if irritation persists seek medical attention
environmental hazards do not apply directly to water this pesticide
is toxic to fish
Consider our English Language Learners’
Vocabulary Development
with the End in Mind
Academic Literacy
“I am currently tutoring children in an orphanage in beautiful
Nepal. The children go to a private English-medium school. One
of the boys has been placed in remedial classes because of his
math. Everyone has assumed that he is slow, but after I started
tutoring him I realized that he has no idea what his teachers are
saying in his math class (he has BICS, no CALP). I spent time
tutoring him in English vocab for math (based on his textbook),
and he can finally complete his math homework in less than 4
hours! Now I spend my time writing math-based English
materials for him while he's at school. . . If more teachers
understood these issues, a lot more ESL/EFL children would be
able to succeed in school!”
Rachel Wood (BYU TESOL MA Graduate)
95-98%
Vocabulary Threshold
for
Basic Reading
Comprehension
When we are -------- -----, I ---- that
your ---- of the ---------- ------ ------------- -------- will be -------* -------,
---------- with ------- to the -------------------------- between ------- --------- and
---------- ---------.
44% Word Knowledge
When we are -------- today, I ---- that
your ---- of the --------- facing -----language -------- will be ------forever, ---------- with ------- to the
---------- ------------between reading
--------- and vocabulary ---------.
63% Word Knowledge
When we are finished today, I hope
that your view of the --------- facing
second language learners will be
changed forever, ---------- with ------to the ---------- relationship between
reading abilities and vocabulary
knowledge.
88% Word Knowledge
When we are finished today, I hope
that your view of the challenges
facing second language learners will
be changed forever, especially with
regard to the ---------- relationship
between reading abilities and
vocabulary knowledge.
97% Word Knowledge
Test Question:
What kind of relationship
exists between vocabulary
knowledge and reading
abilities?
When we are finished today, I hope
that your view of the challenges
facing second language learners will
be changed forever, especially with
regard to the reciprocal relationship
between reading abilities and
vocabulary knowledge.
100% Word Knowledge
Richard Anderson:
“We found small but highly reliable increments in word
knowledge attributable to reading at all grades and ability
levels. The overall likelihood ranged from better than 1 in
10 when children were reading easy narratives [fiction] to
near zero when they were reading difficult expositions.” (p.
61)
Anderson, R. C. (1996). Research foundations to support wide reading. In V. Greaney (Ed.), Promoting reading in
developing countries (pp. 55-77). Newark, Delaware:International Reading Association.
Sample Fiction Text
From A Wrinkle in Time
Everybody was asleep. Everybody except Meg. Even
Charles Wallace, the “dumb baby brother,” who had an
uncanny way of knowing when she was awake and unhappy,
and who would come so many nights tiptoeing up the attic
stairs to her even Charles Wallace was asleep.
How could they sleep? All day on the radio there had been
hurricane warnings. How could they leave her up in the attic in
the rickety brass bed, knowing that the roof might be blown
right off the house and she tossed out into the wild night sky
to land who knows where? Her shivering grew uncontrollable.
You asked to have the attic bedroom, she told herself
savagely. Mother let you have it because you are the oldest.
Anglo-Saxon Words: 94.4%
Greek-Latin Words: 5.6%
Academic Word List: 0%
Sample Science Text
Source: CK-12 Foundation
The early earth had no oceans and was frequently hit
with meteorites and asteroids. There were also
frequent volcanic eruptions. Volcanic eruptions
released water vapor that eventually cooled to form the
oceans. The atmosphere slowly became more oxygen
rich as solar radiation split water molecules and
cyanobacteria began the process of photosynthesis.
Eventually the atmosphere became like it is today and
rich in oxygen. The first complex organisms on earth
first developed about 2 billion years ago.
Anglo-Saxon Words: 75%
Greek-Latin Words: 25%
Academic Word List: 6.5%
UBSCT Sample
Spiders Centipedes Sow Bugs. Spray webs and places where these
pests crawl. Hit as many as possible. Repeat as necessary storage and
disposal statement storage store in an area inaccessible to children
and away from heat or open flame disposal this container may be
recycled in the few but growing number of communities where
aerosol can recycling is available before offering for recycling empty
the can by using the product according to the label do not puncture
if recycling is not available do not reuse empty container wrap the
container and discard in the trash precautionary statements hazards
to humans and domestic animals caution harmful if absorbed
through the skin keep out of the reach of children avoid contact with
skin eyes and clothing do not remain in enclosed areas after use
ventilate enclosed areas before returning avoid contamination of
food remove plants pets and birds before using cover and turn off
fish aquariums wash hands thoroughly with soap and water after
handling statement of practical treatment if on skin remove with
soap and water if irritation persists seek medical attention
environmental hazards do not apply directly to water this pesticide
is toxic to fish
Anglo-Saxon Words: 68.3%
Greek-Latin Words: 31.7%
Academic Word List: 9.2%
The number one problem for ELLs taking the
UBSCT, CRT, and UALPA tests is VOCABULARY,
in terms of both understanding the
instructions and actually comprehending the
content of the tests.
From Personal Communication with Delia Allan (ELL Liaison and Test Proctor for
Nebo School District)
What to do?
1. We must care.
2. We must understand the nature of academic vocabulary:
what it is, where it’s found, how it’s distinguished from
other vocabulary, etc.
3. We must find ways to prioritize the instruction of
academic vocabulary. Time is of the essence!
4. We must develop useful tools to aid academic learners
and their teachers
Finding the Academic Core
University Word List (Xue & Nation, 1984)
1. Compiled from four small manually- assembled corpora
2. Resulted in 800 word families (covers 8.5% of academic texts)
Academic Word List (Coxhead, 2000)
1. Compiled from a 3.5 million-word corpus
2. Four major registers (arts, commerce, law, science)
3. Approximately 875,000 words (tokens) each
4. Four major registers subdivided into 7 subject areas (28 total)
5. Words had to occur 100+ times in corpus
6. Words had to occur 10+ times in each of the four major registers
7. Words had to occur in 15 or more of the 28 subject areas
8. Resulted in 570 word families (covers 10% of the academic corpus)
New Academic Core--First Iteration (Davies & Gardner, forthcoming)
1. Compiled from 425 million-word Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA)
2. Nine major academic subregisters:
Subregister
Academic
Magazine
Newspaper TOTAL
History
11,789,228
2,496,981
Education
8,453,127
Geog/SocSci
15,813,693
938,370
16,752,063
Law/PolSci
8,827,316
3,639,786
12,467,102
Humanities
11,110,772
Phil/Psych/Rel
6,659,684
5,803,787
12,463,471
Sci/Tech/Ag
13,389,027
9,414,505
22,803,532
Medicine
5,740,016
3,946,586
9,686,602
Financial
0
5,256,801
7,568,030
12,824,831
TOTAL
84,914,694
31,496,816
7,568,030
120,847,709
14,286,209
8,453,127
11,110,772
5. No assumptions about high-frequency words preceding academic core
6. Academic parameter set for PERC of 1.7 in COCA—means a word is 1.7
times as frequent in “academic” as we would expect, based on the fact
that “academic” is one-fifth of COCA.
7. Julliand’s D (dispersion) in academic subregisters set for .854 or higher—
means words must nicely distribute across the 9 academic subregisters.
8. To eliminate anomalies, words must appear at least 5 times in at least 8 of
the 9 academic subregisters.
9. Resulted in 3,074 lemmas (covers 14.5% of the academic corpus)
10. Subsequently grouped into “optional” word families (600 word families)
PERC 1.7
DISP .854
|----------- Academic Core----------------|
the
be
and
of
a
in
to
have
to
it
that
for
with
on
do
this
they
at
but
we
his
from
that
not
by
may
such
service
power
history
low
both
market
interest
support
site
project
cost
energy
available
seek
author
focus
upon
concern
central
recognize
particularly
trade
benefit
between
student
group
system
program
study
provide
political
among
however
include
community
information
social
level
such
within
result
change
research
teacher
education
although
policy
process
---High Frequency Core---
advocate
realm
bias
metaphor
entity
regulatory
minimize
necessity
value
prevention
isolate
assembly
productive
inventory
dynamic
equation
offering
content
enroll
abstract
shared
readily
revolutionary
circuit
processing
rethinking
unsupported
quantifiable
higher-level
blurring
unrealized
edited
requisite
quantitatively
deletion
traceable
re-emergence
proportionally
subjectively
dissociate
interchangeably
proximate
chronologically
class
delineation
self-defeating
ubiquity
requested
vagueness
catalyze
astronomy
biodiversity
ozone
self-efficacy
asteroid
modernity
archaeology
socialism
liberalization
stressor
tariff
sovereign
bacterial
infantry
multilateral
liturgy
semiconductor
pedagogical
nation-state
pixel
sacrament
mitigation
polity
self-concept
depressive
parotid
tonsillectomy
postoperatively
sinusitis
otolaryngology
thrombosis
histologic
maxillary
perfusion
neoplasm
randomised
tibial
turbinate
pathologic
squamous
branchial
otolaryngologist
intraoperative
mastoid
tonsil
sanitarian
cholesteatoma
haemoglobin
sensorineural
cutaneous
-----------Academic Specialized---------
Lemma
abstract
abstract
abstract
abstraction
academia
academic
academic
develop
developed
developing
development
developmental
developmentally
ideal
ideal
idealism
idealized
ideally
institute
institute
institution
institutional
institutionalization
institutionalize
institutionalized
usable
usage
use
useful
usefully
usefulness
user
POS
Adjective
Verb
Noun
Noun
Noun
Adjective
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adjective
Noun
Adjective
Adverb
Adjective
Noun
Noun
Adjective
Adverb
Noun
Verb
Noun
Adjective
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adjective
Noun
Noun
Adjective
Adverb
Noun
Noun
ACAD FREQ
4,681
456
628
1,413
812
23,437
2,239
55,517
3,647
9,421
67,157
5,775
584
6,350
3,988
661
531
1,410
13,797
1,282
29,476
9,291
544
957
566
780
2,569
67,106
12,158
264
1,290
15,641
Word-Family Possibilities
accept (v), acceptance (n), acceptable (j), accepted (j),
unacceptable (j), acceptability (n), unacceptably (r),
acceptably (r), acceptor (n), unacceptability (n)
human (j), human (n), humanity (n), humanist (n),
humanist (j), humanism (n), humanistic (j), inhuman (j),
humanly (r), inhumanity (n), humanness (n)
Heavily Academic Word-Families
structure (n), structural (j), structure (v), structured (j),
restructuring (n),
restructure (v),
structuring (n),
structurally (r),
unstructured (j),
structuralist (j),
structuralism (n), restructured (j)
modern (j), modernity (n), postmodern (j), modernization (n),
modernist (j),
modernism (n),
postmodernism (n),
modernize (v), postmodernist (j), modernist (n), modern (n),
modernized (j),
modernizing (j),
modernizer (n),
modernizing (n), postmodern (n)
Screenshot of Word and Phrase – Showing Academic Word Functionality
Screenshot of Word and Phrase – Showing Synonyms in Phrases
Screenshot of Word and Phrase – Showing Part of Speech Collocates
The Academic Vocabulary Code
Words that Shape Societies
Dee Gardner
Brigham Young University