This short contribution is a response to Stein's critical review of the New General Service List; it reviews Stein's argument and replies to the main points raised in her paper. We identify and discuss three fundamental principles of wordlist creation. In particular, we focus on defining and operationalising the vocabulary construct and the…

Averil Coxhead is widely known for developing the Academic Word List, a list of 570 word families associated with great frequency in academic texts. This list has been particularly useful to teachers of English as a Second Language as well as independent learners in tertiary education. She has also developed a Science-based word list (Coxhead and…

It is well-established that vocabulary is the strongest predictor of reading comprehension from grades 2 or 3 on. In this article, I argue (a) that English vocabulary is acquired in a similar sequence by native-English speakers and English-language learners; and (b) that it is possible to identify words that both lower-vocabulary English-speakers…

The Academic Word List (AWL) is now widely used in English for academic purposes (EAP) classrooms in many countries, in a wide range of materials, in vocabulary tests, and as a major resource for researchers. In this article the author reflects on the impact of the AWL by looking at commonly asked questions about the list: What is the AWL? Is the…

C. J. Brainerd, V. F. Reyna, and S. J. Ceci (2008) reviewed compelling evidence of developmental reversals in false-memory formation (i.e., younger children exhibit lower false-memory rates than do older children and adults) and proposed that this phenomenon depends on the development of gist processing (i.e., the ability to identify and process…

The keynote article by Aneta Pavlenko provides a compelling framework for the mental representation of emotion concepts in the two languages of the bilingual (novice or expert), and this may very well be its most telling contribution to the literature. However, I would like to concentrate my remarks on the author's development of the notion of…

Pavlenko urges the community of language researchers to modify their conceptions of the mental lexicon, based on findings from bilingualism and emotions. She makes a compelling case. While reading her article, one can temporarily forget that in contemporary practice, emotion is not regarded as relevant to the theoretical question of the structure…

Asking children to use a dictionary without discussion to expand their vocabularies is uninteresting, unnatural and unwarranted. This type of assignment requests that the student teach him or herself. Directing students with words without showing them what to do is quite difficult. Asking them to do it independently without observing a model is…

Presents a conflation of and a comparison between the 1,646 verbs the Royal Academy's "Diccionario de la lengua espanola" (Dictionary of the Spanish Language) classifies as solely or partly intransitive and the 1,382 verbs that are so classified by the "Pequeno Larousse ilustrado" (Illustrated Larousse Small Dictionary).…

This article considers the notion of "academic vocabulary": the assumption that students of English for academic purposes (EAP) should study a core of high frequency words because they are common in an English academic register. We examine the value of the term by using Cox-head's (2000) Academic Word List (AWL) to explore the distribution of its…

Children may feel a sense of ownership when they learn a new vocabulary word that genuinely excites them--a dynamic word, a poetic word, a word with a delicious sound or interesting meaning. Right away, they like to try out these words, experiment with them, incorporate them into the speaking and writing, and impress others with their mastery.…

What logic should educators use in choosing words for students to learn to spell? Common sense provides the answer: students should learn to spell the words they use in writing. What these words are has been a subject of concern since the beginning of this century. Dozens of word frequency lists have been developed over the years, based primarily…

Traces history of Aztec language and culture to show how traces remain in modern Spanish and how they have contributed to other languages. (BK)

Geography learning places a high demand on children's vocabulary development because they know so few words useful for analyzing geographic phenomena and processes. Research shows that multiple experiences with new words are needed if children are to use them fluently in conversation, reading, and writing. This paper describes a variety of …

The premise of this booklet is that reading should be taught from the beginning to all students with the techniques and materials and orders of presentation that have been found to be effective in remediation, such as the concept of controlled lists. It is "common sense" to teach words in such lists in phonic context, rather than the…