Words as Tools: Learning Academic Vocabulary as Language Acquisition

Nagy, William E.; Townsend, Dianna

doi:10.1002/rrq.011

Cited by 599 publications

(455 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…This study adds to the growing body of literature that demonstrates effective instructor-led learning scaffolds for domain-specific academic language at the University undergraduate level (Drury, et al, 2002;Miller et al, 2002;Smith, et al, 2007;Brahler & Walker, 2008;Lidbury and Zhang, 2008;Snow, 2010;Nagy & Townshend, 2012;Rector, et al, 2013). Future studies will explore the nature of a priori lexical access to Greco-Roman scientific terminology inherent to students hailing from Anglophone vs. Francophone linguistic backgrounds.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…The multi-lingual sources of English zoological terms can also be seen in their nomenclature for animals that are found both in the farm yards and on the dining room table, such as the retention of Germanic words used by Saxon farmers for the livestock names (cow, sheep, pig) and referral to the language of the Norman French Lords when we serve it up on our plates (beef, mutton, pork [fr: boeuf, mouton, porc, respectively]; cf. Nagy & Townshend, 2012). Thus, speakers of Romance languages may indeed have a priori advantages when it comes to the recognition root morphemes from Ancient Greek and Latin, due to a lack of distraction from other-sourced synonymous morphemes available in their own dialects.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lexical access, knowledge transfer and meaningful learning of scientific terminology via an etymological approach

Brown

2014

IJOBED

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This study aims to illustrate whether or not students of a second-year introductory Zoology course who were taught their course terminology using an etymological approach would show improved learning on a number of metrics of student performance. Undergraduate students of any academic discipline are challenged by the learning of its specialized language, especially in the terminology rich fields of scientific study. A common approach among students towards learning the terminology is via rote memorization, often with little success. Studies in language learning have shown that learning scaffolds that involve a morphological breakdown of new words into their morpheme units allows for improved lexical access, as well as greater knowledge retention and transfer abilities to other words in the same morpheme families. The scientific lexicon is mostly made up of root morphemes and is auto-descriptive, therefore, by using an etymological approach while learning new scientific terminology, there are two advantages over rote techniques: firstly to have a learning scaffold that may allow students to integrate unfamiliar terminology into their personal lexical repertoires and secondly, to have the ability to infer meaning of the terms' properties with respect to their scientific contexts. These contributions may constitute a more meaningful student learning experience than factual intake and regurgitation and also they are allowing for metacognitive processing and conceptual linkage to the structure and/or function properties of terminology in their specialized scientific disciplines. This study adds to the growing body of teacher-led instructional learning resources for specialized vocabulary components of effective specialized scientific language learning at the University undergraduate level.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lexical access, knowledge transfer and meaningful learning of scientific terminology via an etymological approach

Brown

2014

IJOBED

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“…Students need to learn specific AL features before they can join the whole class mathematical discourse in a proper way (Bailey, 2007;O'Malley & Chamot, 1994;Sfard, 2012;Stein et al, 2008). Teachers can stimulate the development of this specific AL register not only by giving students AL input, but also by giving specific instructional behavior that helps the students understand teachers' AL (Nagy & Townsend, 2012;Zwiers, 2008) or that stimulates them to produce AL by themselves (Nystrand, 1997;Zwiers, 2008). A number of studies suggest that some instructional methods might offer more opportunities for AL stimulating teaching behavior than others.…”

Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To help students understand their AL use, teachers may show specific behavior aimed at stimulating AL understanding (Krashen, 1985;Nagy & Townsend, 2012;Zwiers, 2008). Students also need to be given opportunities to use AL by themselves.…”

Section: Academic Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

Stimulating students’ academic language. Opportunities in instructional methods in elementary school mathematics

Dokter¹,

Aarts²,

Kurvers³

et al. 2017

L1 Educational Studies in Language and Literature

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Mastering academic language (AL) by elementary school students is important for achieving school success. The extent to which teachers play a role in stimulating students' AL development may differ. Two types of AL stimulating behavior are distinguished: aimed at students' understanding and at triggering students' production of AL. As mathematics requires abstract language use, AL occurs frequently. The instructional methods teachers use during mathematics instruction may offer different opportunities for AL stimulating behavior. In our first study, based on expert opinions, instructional methods were categorized according to opportunities they offer for stimulating students' AL development. In the second study, video-observations of mathematics instruction of elementary school teachers were analyzed with respect to AL stimulating behavior and instructional methods used. Results showed that actual AL stimulating behavior of teachers corresponds to the expert opinions, except for behavior shown during task evaluation. Teachers differ in time and frequency of their use of instructional methods and therefore in opportunities for stimulating AL development. Four teaching profiles, reflecting different AL stimulating potential, were constructed: 'teacher talking', 'balanced use of methods', 'getting students at work' and 'interactive teaching'. Teachers showed more types of behavior aimed at students' AL understanding than at production.

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“…In particular the academic words, known as Academic Word List (AWL) (Coxhead, 1998(Coxhead, , 2000(Coxhead, , 2002 seem to be of most use to non-English-speaking background (NESB) students at English medium universities. While much research has revolved around vocabulary learning and teaching strategies (Cobb & Horst, 2001;Hiebert & Lubliner, 2008;Nagy & Townsend, 2012), few studies have focused on the productive vocabulary knowledge (McCarthy & O'Dell, 2008;Mehrpour & Rahimi, 2010). This study is an effort in this direction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Misuse of Academic English Vocabulary in Chinese Student Writing

Dodigovic¹,

Wang²

2015

UCFL

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Academic vocabulary, otherwise known as Academic Word List or AWL is a part of core vocabulary in English medium education, crucial to both understanding of textbooks and academic writing. While much has been written about this group of words, little is known about how Chinese learners studying at English medium universities use these words. This paper focuses on the AWL related errors found in a corpus of final year projects of Chinese students at an English medium university. In particular, it discusses the most common error type, which pertains to word form, its possible causes and implications for the teaching practice. Instruction, in addition to the first language transfer seems to be among the most likely causes. Focus on contextualized attention to word form as part and parcel of vocabulary learning is indicated for the teaching practice.

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Words as Tools: Learning Academic Vocabulary as Language Acquisition

Cited by 599 publications

References 80 publications

Lexical access, knowledge transfer and meaningful learning of scientific terminology via an etymological approach

Lexical access, knowledge transfer and meaningful learning of scientific terminology via an etymological approach

Stimulating students’ academic language. Opportunities in instructional methods in elementary school mathematics

The Misuse of Academic English Vocabulary in Chinese Student Writing

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