Book contents
- Learning Vocabulary in Another Language
- The Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series
- Learning Vocabulary in Another Language
- Copyright page
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 The goals of vocabulary learning
- 2 Knowing a word
- 3 Teaching vocabulary and the roles of the teacher
- 4 Vocabulary and listening and speaking
- 5 Vocabulary and reading and writing
- 6 Learning vocabulary out of class
- 7 Vocabulary in specialised areas
- 8 Vocabulary-learning strategies and autonomy
- 9 Learning words from context
- 10 Word parts
- 11 Deliberate vocabulary learning from word cards
- 12 Finding and learning multiword units
- 13 Testing vocabulary knowledge and use
- 14 Designing the vocabulary component of a language course
- Book part
- References
- Author index
- Subject index
7 - Vocabulary in specialised areas
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 June 2022
- Learning Vocabulary in Another Language
- The Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series
- Learning Vocabulary in Another Language
- Copyright page
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 The goals of vocabulary learning
- 2 Knowing a word
- 3 Teaching vocabulary and the roles of the teacher
- 4 Vocabulary and listening and speaking
- 5 Vocabulary and reading and writing
- 6 Learning vocabulary out of class
- 7 Vocabulary in specialised areas
- 8 Vocabulary-learning strategies and autonomy
- 9 Learning words from context
- 10 Word parts
- 11 Deliberate vocabulary learning from word cards
- 12 Finding and learning multiword units
- 13 Testing vocabulary knowledge and use
- 14 Designing the vocabulary component of a language course
- Book part
- References
- Author index
- Subject index
Summary
When learners have mastered the 2,000–3,000 high frequency words of general usefulness in English, it is often efficient to direct vocabulary learning to more specialised areas depending on the aims of the learners. It is possible to specialise by learning the shared vocabulary of several fields of study, for example, academic vocabulary, or the vocabulary of the hard sciences or soft sciences. It is also possible to specialise by focusing on the specialised vocabulary of one particular field or part of that field, that is, technical vocabulary. There are several lists of academic vocabulary including the Academic Word List, the Academic Vocabulary List, the Academic Spoken Word List, the Hard Science Spoken Word, List and the Soft Science Spoken Word List. Technical word lists usually consist of one or two thousand words, but some specialist areas like medicine, botany, or zoology have very large technical vocabularies. The chapter looks at how academic and technical vocabulary can be learned. It also looks at the various roles that vocabulary plays in texts.
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- Learning Vocabulary in Another Language , pp. 275 - 315Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022