This paper examines how collaborative on-line databases can be used to meet the need for individualized instruction for academic vocabulary learners intending to do university work in English. It is argued that effective teaching and course design for preparing non-native English speaking students for study at English language universities must be…

University students used a set of existing and purpose-built on-line tools for vocabulary learning in an experimental ESL course. The resources included concordance, dictionary, cloze-builder, hypertext, and a database with interactive self-quizzing feature (all freely available at www.lextutor.ca). The vocabulary targeted for learning consisted…