Academic Word List
An Introduction to the Academic Word List
Aver iI Coxhoad, Massey Uni versity? New Zealand
What is the Academic Word Listand fami ly members* ? Take for examp Ie the word maximise? Its fami ly members include inflections of the verb such as maximised.
maximises and maximising as we 11 as the noun maximum. The word fami ly a I so includes the British speI Iing of the noun maximisation, as we I I as maximization, the US spe11ing.
The Academic Word List (AWL) is a Iist of 570 word famiIies that are commo
nly found in academic texts? This I ist was
selec
ted by examining a Iarge corpus (or col lection) of wr itten academic texts and selecting the words that occurred:
In texts from a I Ifour academic
In texts from a I I
four academic
facuIty sections: Arts, Commerce, Law and Science?
Over 100 times in the corpus overal l?
At least 10 times in each academic faculty section?
Outs i de the 2000 most frequent words on Michael West* s Genera/ Service List (GSL). The GSL includes everyday words such as I, house and do.
These principles ensured that o
nly words that occurred reaso
nably frequently i n a var iety of study areas were selected?
The AV/L targets vocabulary that occurs most often in written academic texts? These words a I so occur in newspapers but not as often as they do i n textbooks? The AWL words appear even I ess in fiction. If your focus is learning academic vocabulary, you need to make sure you read academic textbooks so that you encounter these words i n context?
How is the AWL organized
The AWL is organized into Word
FamiI ies? Word fami Iies are made up of the * parent word
to recognise other fami ly members such as maximised when you encounter them in your reading? These words are closely related and the meaning is
IikeIy to be the same or similar? When you are looking for words in thi s dictionary, think a
bout other word famiIy members too.