Equipping yourself with the relevant academic vocabulary will give you a head
start in your university studies. Especially if you’re a second language learner of
English, studying in a foreign language can be very difficult and time-consuming.
In order to do well, you may want to consider the following ways of learning aca-
demic vocabulary more effectively.
The version used was then adapted by Baumann and Culligan in 1995. It contains almost 2,300 words. The GSL
here is divided into smaller sublists. Sublist 1 has the first 500 words. Sublist 2 the next 500 words etc. For the
complete word lists, refer to: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~alzsh3/acvocab/wordlists.htm
The index is a valuable guide to understanding the key concepts and terms used in a subject. So make good use of
the book index. You may also want to consult this site for some additional help and ideas:
http://www.uefap.com/vocab/select/selframs.htm Read through the introduction and see which parts are relevant
to you.
Sublist one consists of the 60 mostly frequently used words in the academic texts and sublist two consists of the
next 60 word families and so on.
The academic corpus contained approximately3,500,000 active vocabulary taken from a variety of texts used and
read across the faculties, spanning over more than 25 subject areas.
The complete Academic Word list of 570 root words and their word families can be conveniently found in
http://www.uefap.com/vocab/select/awl.htm with a quick link to their the dictionary meanings. A note to mention
is that the list here is arranged in alphabetical order and NOT by sublists. Nevertheless, this is a great site to learn
the meanings of the AWL words and to see how the words are connected.
Learning Skills
First Year Experience
E-mail: learningskills@mq.edu.au http://www.mq.edu.au/learningskills/
1
Critical Thinking is...
There are gap-filling exercises that you could do to learn the academic words in their proper contexts. Besides
learning the root word, learn the word families and how they could be correctly used in sentences e.g. the word
“access” can be used as a noun as well as a verb.
Ensure you have at least 80-85% correct answer in the each exercise of a sublist before you move on to the
subsequent level. Start with exercises in sublist 1 and work your level up.
This website will take you step by step through the exercises. Try some of these exercises:
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~alzsh3/acvocab/learning.htm
PRACTICE TEST
1. Be sure you _____________ a recent photo for your passport application.
2. There has been a noticeable drop in the _____________ of crime in the area since the teen centre
opened up.
3. If we all appear _____________, I’m sure we’ll be able to negotiate a good deal with the sales agent.
4. It can be quite difficult to really define _____________ ideas, such as ‘trust’ or ‘faith’.
5. My wife has great _____________ because she practises yoga on a daily basis.
6. The Dutch foreign _____________ attended to the needs of the victims of the American tornado.
7. It was my _____________ that she was talking to me; I could be wrong though.
8. The boss gave me specific _____________ to send the report to you as soon as it was complete.
9. Reading lots of journals really _____________ my knowledge and grasp of academic vocabulary.
10. We made a digital _____________ of our baby’s first sounds to send to my parents.
ANSWERS are available on sublist 6 on page 5 of this document. The numbers show the correct answers to the
above questions.
Learning Skills
First Year Experience
E-mail: learningskills@mq.edu.au http://www.mq.edu.au/learningskills/
2
Academic Word Lists (AWL)...
Learning Skills
First Year Experience
E-mail: learningskills@mq.edu.au http://www.mq.edu.au/learningskills/
3
Academic Word Lists (AWL)...
Learning Skills
First Year Experience
E-mail: learningskills@mq.edu.au http://www.mq.edu.au/learningskills/
4
Academic Word Lists (AWL)...
Learning Skills
First Year Experience
E-mail: learningskills@mq.edu.au http://www.mq.edu.au/learningskills/
5
Academic Word Lists (AWL)...
Learning Skills
First Year Experience
E-mail: learningskills@mq.edu.au http://www.mq.edu.au/learningskills/
6
Academic Word Lists (AWL)...
References:
Learning Skills
First Year Experience
E-mail: learningskills@mq.edu.au http://www.mq.edu.au/learningskills/