Media Reviews
A comprehensive text that usefully introduces students to the Academic Word List, with relevant activities. Loughborough University Well designed, extremely impressive and clearly of excellent use for vocabulary development. Wayne Trotman, Izmir Higher Technology Institute, Turkey An ideal springboard for bridging the gap between EAP and ESP. Nicki Emanuel, University College for the Creative Arts, Canterbury Our team loved it - great potential for saving on prep time! Marie Hanlon, Loughborough College English for Academic Study: Vocabulary Course Book is intended for students with an IELTS score of between 5.0 and 7.0. Written in British English, the text is divided into two parts. Part 1, units 1 to 5, serves as an introduction to vocabulary development. Part 2, units 6 to 10, build on Part 1 by providing practice for aspects of vocabulary learning introduced in units 1-5. The appendices in the book contain answer keys to all of the exercises, word lists, and an achievement test. Although the book was designed for self-study, I used Part 1 for an introductory vocabulary class for a one-year college preparatory program. The students in the course had IELTS scores ranging from 5.0 to 6.0. The students found the material both challenging and interesting. They benefited from the Study Tips (e.g., Learning vocabulary linked to one topic helps memorization.). In addition to serving as a primer for vocabulary development, the students became familiar with multi-meaning words, word classes, word families and word parts, collocation, and word grammar. In addition, they discovered the importance of learning new words through context. And finally, they gained valuable skills in using dictionaries, as well as an appreciation for their indispensible role in vocabulary acquisition. Any student who diligently works his way through this book will greatly enhance his/her command of English vocabulary and increase his/her score on the IELTS exam. However, only a highly-motivated and autonomous learner can finish a formidable text like this one on his/her own. Therefore, for optimal results, the student should be given the opportunity to consult with a teacher while studying the book. English for Academic Study: Vocabulary Course Book was written by an experienced author, Colin Campbell, who has thirty years of experience in teaching English. He has worked in a number of European countries as an instructor, teacher-trainer and consultant. Scott Zimmermann, Saad School, Saudi Arabia for TESOL Arabia Perspectives, March 2008 While there are a number of vocabulary books already on the market, this one is likely to prove a welcome addition, mainly because of its focus on academic vocabulary. This book is a companion one for the University of Reading series, all of which include both a teacher's and a course book: English for Academic Study: Reading; English for Academic Study: Writing; English for Academic Study: Extended Writing and Research Skills; English for Academic Study: Reading and Writing Source Book. The publisher's blurb promotes the book by describing it as 'A comprehensive course giving systematic practice of the most frequent words in academic texts, based on the 2,600 word families in the General Service and Academic Lists'. It explains that the book has been developed in collaboration with the University of Reading for class or self-study use (for students with an IELTS level between 5.0 and 7.0), and further identifies what it sees as the book's strengths, including: Key Features: two part structure with vocabulary topic analysis followed by focused practice; colourful and attractive illustrations; study tip and language note boxes; systematic practice in the use of dictionaries; extensive practice in the use of over 350 word families. Benefits: clarifies key aspects of learning the words students need to know and how to use them; builds confidence with students used to EFL style materials and encourages willingness to learn; gives the essential self-study tips for learning; ensures ongoing vocabulary development; builds confidence and accuracy in writing and speaking. While not wanting to be taken in by the publisher's self-promotion, I feel the book has a definite appeal. In addition to its layout and colour illustrations/photos, its A4 size pages are colour-coded for five aspects of vocabulary, with each colour focusing on a different aspect. Part 1 of the book is based on words from the General Service List (GSL) and Part 2 on the frequent word families that are listed in the Academic Word List (AWL) Sublists 1-5: Unit 1 (blue) - Multi-meaning words; Unit 2 (gold) - Word classes - nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs; Unit 3 (red) - Word families and word parts; Unit 4 (turquoise) - Collocations; Unit 5 (mauve) - Word grammar. Several pages have 'Study tips' in a box, such as 'Note that good learners use context to help them comprehend new words' and 'You may need to write down and use a word several times before you remember it'. It is hard to know how much learners will benefit from these but perhaps the layout will encourage them to 'notice' (and act on) the various tips. The unit that focuses on 'multi-meaning words' includes useful practice such as the highlighted word in a sentence giving the learner a possibility of three definitions and having to choose the correct on based on the context provided in the sentence. This is followed by practice with homonyms - always a challenge to learners - where they identify the correct meaning along with the correct grammatical form of the word, such as the following example (p. 13): The company intends to form an alliance with a partner company in China. a) verb: to bring into existence b) noun: a particular type of something. Additional practice is found in 'Review time' which lists nine words found in the unit, along with the word class they belong to and learners decide whether they can belong to more than one (e.g., board - verb or noun or both?). Each unit contains different tasks, giving practice in a variety of aspects of the chosen vocabulary, such as these examples show: satisfactory (choose the correct negative prefix: dis-, in-, un-, ir-, ab-, il-, im-); match words from the left column (long) with family members from the right column (length); short text, followed by questions (e.g., which verbs are used before the following nouns: design + procedures); sentences containing common collocations, followed by questions (e.g., what verbs are used with the nouns: pressure [putting, is, is coming under], doubts, opportunities; adjective + noun (slight, dramatic, significant + increase); look at the highlighted nouns in the following sentences, identify which of the four types each one is, depending on whether it is followed by: prepositions (to connect the following nouns or gerunds), that + clause, to + infinitive, 'wh'- word + clause or 'preposition' + wh- word + clause; look at the highlighted words in the following text and decide whether they are transitive or intransitive (spurred, took place, offering, come up with). Units 6-10 each cover one of the first 5 sublists of the AWL. Once again the tasks give practice in seeing the bolded AWL words in context, then matching their meanings, choosing the correct meaning for the multi-meaning words, identifying word classes, word families, prefixes, collocations, and so on, as shown above. In addition, the relevant sublist is listed at the end of each unit with the words divided into topic areas: Business and Finance (economy, value), Education (educationalist, streaming), Environment (emission, greenhouse gas), Other (accurate, consistent, systematic), and so on. With regard to the learning of academic vocabulary, Nation (2001) advocates that, because of coverage of common academic vocabulary, the AWL deserves a lot of attention. The second half of this book provides an opportunity for learners to get some of this attention. The appendices include not only the sublists, but also achievement tests, plus answer keys (essentials for students wanting to use the book for self-study). While the publisher not surprisingly recommends that the book be worked through unit by unit, there is enough variety in it that language teachers could pick and choose tasks and units that best suited their learners or fitted their curriculum. The methodology in the book uses a scaffolding approach to the learning of vocabulary, as the task design shows. There are limits, however, to what such a book can offer. It is impossible to include enough tasks to cover students from the lower IELTS level of 5.0 through the upper level of 7.0. Furthermore, it is difficult to imagine having sufficient practice for students to automatically master the vocabulary from both vocabulary lists included. With the first five of the ten sublists from the AWL covered, it could be argued that these are the most frequent words and therefore sufficient. For example, Nation (2001) found that the first five sublists cover 28.4% of the total 35.1% of words. However, higher level students may feel they have sufficient understanding of the general vocabulary lists and may wish therefore to focus on all ten sublists of the AWL. While the book does not include coverage of the third area of vocabulary, that of technical words, the introduction encourages students to increase their knowledge of these words by reading articles or books in their subject area, listening to lectures or finding an Internet glossary on their subject. In addition, there is no mention of high frequency idioms or set expressions, also important for word frequency lists (Schmitt and McCarthy, 1997). Despite these potential shortcomings, the book appears to have several strengths as outlined above. With growing recognition of the importance of vocabulary learning for students at all levels, especially those wanting to pursue further academic study, and with not enough hours in the day for teachers to cover or learners to master the heavy vocabulary requirements of future study, this book will be welcomed by many language teachers and students. References: Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Schmitt, N. and McCarthy, M. (1997). Vocabulary, Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lynn Grant, AUT University, Auckland for the TESOLANZ Newsletter, November 2008 This title is an attractive addition to an expanding series from Garnet, one devoted to the development of key skills required by students either embarking on or perhaps in the middle of courses within higher education. The material within is based on work carried out during pres-sessional courses taught by the author and colleagues at the University of Reading (UK) and claims to reflect the most recent developments in English for academic purposes (EAP). Support for this rather bold assertion is found in the introduction, where the author points out how all vocabulary used is derived from the General Service, Academic and Technical word lists. Although brief details are provided as to what these lists contain and roughly where to go to find out more about them, it might also have been interesting to be told how the lists came into being and from which type of corpora they surfaced. Nevertheless, the material is well designed, extremely impressive and clearly of excellent use for vocabulary development. Section one of this book deals with words taken from the General Service List. It looks at vocabulary development and in particular focuses on words with multiple meanings such as order, point, way and degree; this is an area, of course, that is often a source of anguish for learners of English at a higher level. Following this are clearly explained units that deal with matters such as identifying basic word classes, word families and their parts, along with several forms of collocation and the hidden grammar of vocabulary. Throughout the book sections are generally followed up with brief but helpful study tips and language notes that contain advice, warnings and reminders about points recently covered. The second section is laid out according to the same scheme of units one to five and provides practice in using key academic words that builds methodologically on work done in the previous section. Units in section two contain what the author describes as 'words that you will need when speaking and writing during your course of academic study'. That's certainly an utterance EAP learners and teachers perusing this book would be pleased to notice, although, as one might imagine with such material, it is more likely to assist with academic writing than speaking. It does this by matching tasks in each unit in part two to sub-sections from the Academic and Technical word lists; these appear at the end of each unit. Those who stand to gain the most from following a course of study with this book would need to be between bands five and seven on the IELTS scale; that equates roughly to between intermediate and good upper intermediate. The clarity of layout allied with the repeated use of various task types plus an answer key allows this book to be used by a wide range of learners; from those on summer schools to those of a more independent nature, working alone. This book will certainly be a more than decent investment for all, one full of healthy EAP vocabulary development. Wayne Trotman for the EL Gazette, February 2007 English for academic study is a series introducing new university students to pre-sessional courses in language skills, helping them to develop strategies and knowledge for reading and writing skills in particular. English for academic study: Vocabulary is a self-study book aimed at students having an IELTS level between 5.0 and 7.0. This is a representation of a bandwidth pre-B2 to a good C1 CEF level. The book is comprised of ten units, of which the first five are concerned with raising a reader's awareness of the need to assess a word's definitions, its class, family, as well as to note any collocations and specific grammar to which the word may be linked. The remaining five units offer the reader academic wordlists (AWL) and diverse exercises. The appendices include an alphabetized version of each academic word sublist, an achievement test and the key to the exercises found in each unit. Readers will find an interesting introduction to the book, in which the author makes the suggestion of working through the book unit by unit. Tips of retaining vocabulary words such as repetition, or following the age-old axiom: the more you see a word, the more it becomes attached to your long-term memory, follow through with advising the reader on the importance of keeping a vocabulary notebook and especially jotting down how the word is used. Forgetting that we also review general education and teacher resource books, my first impression of this book was that it was too simplified for academic study. I would think that the majority of language learners would already be aware of the necessities in vocabulary learning. EFL teachers surely elucidate their students into the intricacies of learning words. On the other hand, this book is thorough and lightweight, meaning the basics taught in units 1-5 are studied or put to use in glimpses of specific vocabulary as the book briefly dips into diverse fields such as education, health, business, finance, economics, environment, etc. Each AWL sublist unit has the reader climb the rungs of a ladder: bottom to top - meaning of words, multi-meaning words, word classes, word families, prefixes, collocations, grammar and a review. The reader is employed to discover 'word entirety' as they work their way through 300 f the possible 560 word families of AWL. For this reason, yes, this book is recommended to all learners embarking on studying at university or other form of higher education and especially recommendable of EFL language learners. Provided the reader works through the whole book, the ways and means of vocabulary learning will certainly be instilled. The other advantage is the addition made to their academic vocabulary base, or polishing of it. Considering my proficiency students and their request for vocabulary list, I now know where to look! Janet Joos for the ETAS Journal 25/1, Winter 2007 EAS is an EAP series (English for Academic Study) comprising seven separate course books covering the following areas: Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing, Extended Writing & Research Skills, Pronunciation and Vocabulary. The books reflect the most recent developments in EAP and are based on practical experience of EAP practitioners in the classroom. Each book can be used as a stand-alone course or supported by others within the series, depending on the needs of the students. EAP is taught on all courses that prepare overseas students for study at universities in English speaking countries. Students hoping to study abroad will therefore get a head start by studying such material rather than general English. The EAS series is used on a high proportion of EAP courses in the UK and Australia (and the US version is now being used in North America). It has received widespread praise, and the in the words of a lecturer at a university in the UK: 'There is virtually nothing else that has come on the market in the last ten years that touches it.' The series has been designed for students on pre-sessional and foundation courses within an IELTS range of 5.0 to 7.0. However, they can be used for any group of students who need to improve their English academic skills within this range. The series is based on authentic reading or listening texts within the appropriate range of the students; these have been carefully selected to illustrate the skill area in focus. Free audio material is included where appropriate, featuring authentic transcripts of realistic length with a variety of accents. The Listening course also comes with a DVD. A website features a variety of teacher and student resources including interactive activities for Extended Writing & Research Skills. TESOL Spain Newsletter, Vol 34-2, 2010 This self-study guide is based around two major vocabulary sources: the General Service List (GSL) and the Academic Word List (AWL). From these sources, the author has produced a collection of information sections and exercises in order to prepare students for academic study in an English-speaking environment. The key principle on which the book is based is that of constant reviewing of new vocabulary, and this is exemplified in the Study Tips, where words like 'homonym', 'polyseme' and 'collocation' are recycled, and reinforced by familiarity. In order to review vocabulary effectively, Campbell recommends keeping a notebook of new vocabulary, with examples of usage. The book is divided into 10 units, the first 5 based on the GSL and the second 5 based on the AWL. Each unit ends with 'Review Time', and units 6-10 also have vocabulary lists. Appendix 1 contains the first 5 sublists of the AWL. All the units contain exercises in the form of multiple choice, dictionary work, word matching and gapfills. An answer key is given at the end of the book, and there is an achievement test so students can examine their own progress. Units 1-5 cover homonyms, word classes, word families (including affixes), collocations and 'word grammar' (patterns of words). Units 6-10 apply this knowledge to the learning of academic vocabulary. Campbell recommends that all 10 units be worked through in order and that vocabulary be reviewed frequently. This book would make an excellent self-study guide for the serious student who likes working alone. The use of coloured headings and photographs gives a pleasing overall effect, and the pages are tidy and uncluttered, with good sized font and clear headings. Campbell recommends using a 'good monolingual dictionary', but does not make any suggestions, perhaps not wanting to appear partisan. Some exercises, in fact, would require not just a good dictionary but an etymological dictionary. For example, students are required to match word parts, such as photo-, tele- and -ology to their meanings (light, far away and study of). Suggestions for further reading, however, could point students in the right direction, and might also give references for the mysterious General Service List and the Academic Word List, which I assume to have been compiled by West (1957) and Coxhead (2000) respectively. The collocations chapter could also benefit from mentioning concordancing, which again could be included in a further reading and references section. Overall, I would recommend this book to any student who wants to improve their academic vocabulary. The guide is intended to be used by students with an IELTS level between 5 and 7, working alone, although it is suggested that teachers be consulted where necessary. The study tips, information and exercises make it a worthwhile investment for student and teacher alike. Julia Miller, Flinders University, TESOL in Context, Vol 18 No1, August 2008
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