Jtesap appendix

21
Appendix B:
Full Survey Results Dataset (pp.113-165) and AWL users results for Q9 (pp.166-169)
Note: For Qs 9 and 12 the mean for each variable presented in the findings and dicsussion has
been reverse-coded from the original results and recalculated to aid the readeer.

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Appendix C: Interview Transcripts
Transcript of interview with Richard
CB= Chris Banister
R= Richard
(Interview begins)1
CB: Right, thank you. Alright, to start with could you give me an overview of the academic English2
you teach here in your current role?3
R: OK, um, so I’ve only been at [institution name] for a year. I’ve done a year of Foundation Course-4
sometimes called Access Course. Um, and I also did a one term course on academic vocabulary, which5
was for in-sessional students and erm, I’ve done some other short courses, like we have some Russians6
come over for Academic English and Law and I’ve used some of my lessons on all those things.7
CB: And er, are these students that you had for the academic vocabulary course mixed students or8
were they all Russians?9
R: No, they were mixed nationalities and mixed courses so, yeah, I mean I had at least (?) courses so I10
was able to see that they are across the board generally from nursing to history, you know.11
CB: OK, that’s really important. So they were from a range of disciplines…12
R: A wide range of disciplines.13
CB: OK, there was no attempt to divide them up into a Nursing group or a Law group?14
R: [Institution’s name] does that…not for my class but there are such classes.15
CB: OK. But it was a mixed group of disciplines? OK. Oh…and were these courses credit-bearing?16
R: No.17
CB: So, they’re just support?18
R: They’re just support, yeah and you tend to find, at least I was told, you tend to find that numbers goes19
down in times when essays are due in, etcetera, etcetera.20
CB: Alright, so, it seems from your answers in the survey that you use the Academic Word List21
erm … quite a lot. Could you tell me a little bit more about how you do this? I know in the survey22
you did mention, you gave me some examples of the kind of worksheets you make but could you23
just expand on that a little bit?24
R: Sure.OK, erm, OK. So, I,I, because I had this academic vocabulary class really, it seemed to me fairly25
logical to go to something, in this case the AWL rather than the Academic Vocabulary List but I went to26
the AWL so what I did was start with a text generally, using Nottingham highlighter to highlight words.27
So all the academic words in the text would be highlighted and I’d pick some of those. Talking generally,28
a range of tasks, you know, one week one thing, one week another but either gap fills -so take out the29
words and put them back in, sometimes word families- so leave a form of the word in there for them to30
manipulate and fill in the text. I think that’s pretty much the only two with each text so then respond to31
the text and then, then basically look at the word families of the words that had been focused on, so build32
those words and…at the beginning of the whole course I, we, I did a lesson on what it means to know a33
word…34
CB: Uhum.35
R: So that was things like pronunciation, pron but also frequency so I’d always ask, didn’t expect them to36
know it, which do you think are more frequent academic words than others? So I’d refer to the sublist set37
so each week I did one lesson with sublist three (one I felt was too easy) so sublist three. So then we had a38
focus on sublist three, I took 10 or 12 words out and again, something like a gap fill, then a list of39
collocations and the collocations come from and the gap fills actually came from the Oxford Academic40
English Dictionary, which is corpus-based, based on Oxford’s own corpus. Erm … so, yeah, that was41
mostly it. There was always one or two new activities but that was sort of it, lots of word family, lots of42
gap fills and collocations using the collocations from the dictionary.43
CB: OK, sounds really interesting. Did you find success with that? Did students respond well?44
R: Yeah, I think so. I had a good, I had a high retention rate for the course so that was one thing. I was45
told it would go down and it didn’t significantly, um, yeah it’s, they seemed fairly good classes. I think I46
probably had slightly too long texts sometimes, but that wasn’t a problem with the vocabulary. I also told47
them about it, so I had numbers, so like this text has 300 words and 14% are from the Academic Word48
List and so you were justifying what you were doing, as you did it.49
CB: So quite scientific sort of evidence-based approach.50
R: I think the original was around eight and a half per cent, I think the Academic Word List is supposed51
to apply to texts.52
CB: That’s interesting. How did you choose the texts?53
R: Well, um, I started by looking at the disciplines of the students in my class, erm, and then because of54
my own interests I related those, after the first lesson actually, from the second lesson, I started to relate55
them to my own interest, which is human rights so I did a globalisation and human rights, medicine and56

79
human rights, erm, some others on human rights, basically human right approaches to cultural relativity57
and human rights, so human rights wasn’t a massive thing but it was part of things that otherwise were58
supposed to be a range of topics.59
CB: So did you choose that, did you decide to include your own interest area because it would have60
value for the students or was it just to keep yourself motivated?61
R: Erm, it’s more to do with my own studies really. So I’m going to be doing a dissertation myself and62
when I do it’ll probably be on human rights education in EAP so.63
CB: OK.64
R: So I figured from the beginning to get it going…65
CB: A win-win situation…66
R: Yeah.67
CB: Ah, that’s interesting. And, er, when you’re working with those, in that sort of way with the68
texts was it electronically on a VLE of some kind, was it just in the classroom face-to-face, paper-69
based printouts?70
R: It was primarily on a classroom, face-to-face paper printouts, but I should have, actually I can show71
you some stuff, I mean that’s not much use for an interview but erm, so I use QR codes, so on paper-72
based stuffthey’re able to scan to get access to electronic-based stuff as well. So, I’m giving it out…73
CB: Sorry, I’m not familiar with that, what’s it called?74
R: QR code…75
CB: Oh, a QR code, sorry. Yeah, got it mate, sorry.76
R: So, there was some element of electronic so I used, I didn’t tend to have definitions of the vocabulary77
on the sheets but I had, with each sublist, I add a QR code to a list of the words on the sublist with a or78
sometimes more than one definition. Tended to be one and that’s a limitation I think of what I did.79
CB: OK. So, did you, you chose these texts, did you find some that you’d chosen, you then analysed80
it with the Gapmaker or the Highlighter and found that it actually it didn’t contain words from the81
Academic Word List and then rejected that text?82
R: No, never had that problem.83
CB: OK. Great. Erm… just thinking about one of your responses quite near the beginning of the84
survey, this is erm … it’s actually question 9. OK. When I was asking about the reasons why you,85
erm … have a positive opinion of it and you said that it contains relevant vocabulary in your86
opinion.87
R: So, yes, so I’m aware that some people feel that there’s no such thing as an academic you know,88
vocabulary, erm … I think that we can agree that there’s a need for specified and specific EAP but I think89
that with a group, you have to work with what you have. I had a group of multi-discipline students and90
you know, you can’t make specific lessons for them so even though the texts I used were specific to a91
subject area it broadened out into issues like human rights that everybody could have a sort of say on and92
erm, so let’s go back to the question and I think erm, I think I just felt like…93
CB: … so you felt it was relevant across the disciplines?94
R: Yeah,95
CB: As well as being relevant?96
R: Yeah, I had that class… If there was a class of medicine only students I wouldn’t have done those97
lessons.98
CB: Would you have tried to find another listthat was specifically for medical English you think?99
R: Erm, well, obviously there’s corpora that you could go to or construct if you had time, but I mean, I100
was new to [institution’s name] when I started this so I know that within certain things, there’s problems101
with our materials ..that we’re trying to adapt to it and people who are on medical courses aren’t being102
given enough time to create enough specific things but yes, obviously, in principle, I would be aware and103
would want to use a more specified vocabulary.104
CB: And as EAP teachers do you think that we are qualified, in a way, to teach that kind of105
specialised vocabulary…if it comes to subjects which are quite technical like medicine or hard106
sciences?107
R: Well, I mean, there’s specialised use of more general vocabulary and then there’s very specific108
vocabulary that we may not know the meaning of. Erm and I think there’s calls for people from109
departments to work more closely with EAP teachers and you’d support that where it’s needed and I think110
the happiest thing would be for EAP teachers to have a bit of a background in whatever it was. We’ve111
actually got a guy who came in from medicine so..112
CB: He should be fully utilised!113
R: Yeah, erm yeah. I think that answers the question.114
CB: And on the same part of the survey you said that you felt it was achievable. I was just115
wondering over what period you were envisaging it would be achievable?116
R: So, achievable was my answer. Ah I see, OK.117
CB: It sets an achievable target for vocabulary…118

80
R: Ok, that’s an interesting question so…an achievable …I think the point about it is that’s limited, isn’t it119
and that it’s finite, there’s 570 words. So people can look at it and go, which words do they know at all120
and obviously, you can get deeper into it and look at the various meanings of themso …it’s achievable in121
that way. The first lesson I do on that course is, you know, how to know a word, and I take the word122
‘channel’ and list all of the definitions from the academic dictionary with a couple of others like ‘tunnel’123
definitions thrown in and sort of say, and you’re showing them from the beginning and emphasising in124
lessons that there are multiple definitions here so achievable would mean for each of those 570 words a125
number of definitions and blah, blah, blah, blah… but I think despite all those restraints I think it’s126
achievable, there’s a range…and again I think the teacher’s voice is important in class you might be127
saying…if a student comes up with words, came up with words that especially for the word family128
business, with words and I was like is that…is that…? Yes, that’s a word in my subject so you have to,129
you know, acknowledge that.130
CB: Multiple meanings of the same word…131
R: Yeah and variations on word formation as well.132
CB: Did you find that many students were familiar with the Academic Word List?133
R: No.134
CB: So, they hadn’t been introduced to it. Would it be desirable do you think that were introduced135
to it at a much earlier stage in their English learning?136
R: Erm, …er…I mean I don’t know what’s being done so it’s hard to say isn’t it? I don’t think the AWL137
is gospel and in comparison with much larger corpora it might not be that accurate but erm, it's something,138
it’s a guide, isn’t it, something to go by? Erm, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that ‘cause I don’t know what139
else is being done so..140
CB: Sure.141
R: There’s space to look at what academic words they are accessing.142
CB: You said, and I quote you, “I don’t use it as a listper se.”143
R: Uhum.144
CB: Alright, could you just explain a little bit what you meant there?145
R: Erm, OK, so …I do in a sense. I refer to the sublists and actually I give them out the entire academic146
word list at the beginning of the course so it’s there and available for them. But I guess what I mean is147
that..erm… it’s all contextual, or it’s largely contextual, let’s not quite go all contextual. It’s contextual, I148
do a lot of collocations stuff um, and the idea there is that they’re looking at how words are used in a149
variety of subjects so in the gap fills as well I tend to, so if you’ve got a choice of examples that are given150
in the dictionaries and I try to get a bit of a range of subjects.151
CB: OK. And you mention that you adapt it, you reorganise it slightly according to the parts of152
speech?153
R: Hhm.154
CB: Um, why did you decide to do that? Why did you feel it needed to be adapted?155
R: I thought it made it more accessible, primarily. Erm, and I mean, amongst other things there are some156
different word stress for different parts of speech so putting it into a verb or noun column would make a157
difference and I don’t know what, it seemed a logical thing when you have a list of you know, 70 words,158
60 words sorry on each sublist so you can’t just say here’s 60 words and amongst other things it’s done159
and this isn’t why I reorganised it but in hindsight, there are far more nouns there than anything else so160
the focus on a large number of nouns is an academic thing, yeah, that’s all part of academic.161
CB: Going back to the comment ‘Using it as a list’ people often associate lists with memorising162
things, would it be wrong to encourage people to memorise parts of the listor sections of the list?163
R: Yeah, to memorise the list, if you mean on sublist 7 these are the words there’d be no point doing that164
would there but to go to the words they don’t know and then learn them, I mean there’s memory work to165
be done with all vocabulary learning but not learning them as lists, no.166
CB: Not even with the meaning or a sentence contextualising the word?167
R: Alright, but I mean that’s not a list anymore is it?168
CB: OK.169
R: I don’t know however you learn vocabulary will require memory work but learning words in contexts,170
I don’t really see that as a list.171
CB: OK.172
R: If there were lists of sentences with words in context, erm, would that have any value? Yeah, I think it173
would.174
CB: Thank you. And, er, you also said that you’ve recommended the list and I just wondered was it175
to students or was it to teachers?176
R: Erm, well, it’s bit of both definitely erm, obviously, I said to them, even giving it out to them, that’s a177
tacit recommendation, isn’t it? I’ve given it to them with QR codes and said have a look at this and178
they’ve been told, you know, next week we’ll be looking at sublist 4 so they can look ahead and they can179
look up definitions and see what’s relevant to them erm, and with teachers I’ve shared my lessons and180

81
people have used them so you know, that’s a recommendation. There was a suggestion for academic181
vocabulary lessons when I got here and it ended up with the tenth lesson, ten out of ten, as an introduction182
to the Academic Word List, which I didn’t really understand, it didn’t really make sense to me. Here was183
all this work done without any reference to any corpora it seemed and here’s a list of words that might use184
them it seemed backwards to me.185
CB: So in a way you see it as a good anchoring point or reference for a course or a series of lessons186
about academic vocabulary?187
R: Yes, I mean that’s how I’ve used and that’s definitely a fair point. But I think it’s quite old and there188
will be better versions and when I’m aware of one I’ll perhaps update.189
CB: What was the feedback or what were the comments from teachers who’d used your lessons190
based on the academic word list?191
R: Erm, I had some good feedback and I had one teacher who said she erm, said she didn’t think she192
could use it with her group because it was, you know, mostly EAP is about skills and they’re very sort of193
‘exercisey’, ‘Do this’, ‘Put this’, you know…and she didn’t feel she could use it and so I don’t think she194
used it and a couple of people used it and thanked me. What you can take from that I don’t know, I mean195
just being given resources,sometimes it’s just I don’t have anything to hand and you’re grateful.196
CB: So, there wasn’t a general trend either way, there were different responses from different197
teachers with different teaching styles and different students.198
R: Yeah, I think there’s maybe only three teachers who’ve used them so I’ve had three… the three who199
used them gave me positive feedback and one gave me feedback as to why she wouldn’t use it.200
CB: OK. Are there any potential dangers or issues that students need to be made aware of when201
using the AWL on your recommendation?202
R: Well, obviously, I do tell them, in terms of the meanings of these words have differences in their own203
subjects so they should be aware of these multiple meanings and erm… you know, they might find that204
some of the common and academic meanings are not the ones that are most used in their subject areas so205
that’s a word of warning and probably could be emphasised a bit more, I could probably emphasise it a206
bit more. Erm… and well beyond that, beyond that…not really. I mean…I think it’s a reference point, it’s207
not everything. You know, with the numbers thing I say to them it’s supposed to be about eight and half208
per cent but it might be a bit outdated, it might not cover everything, but you know, there it is, there’s still209
plenty more words to learn.210
CB: And any potential dangers or issues for teachers…when using it on your recommendation211
again?212
R: Erm… sorry, just clarify the question?213
CB: Sorry, I mean, is there anything you would say to a teacher, when using the Academic Word214
List is there anything they should be careful of…other than what we’ve already talked about. Is215
there anything that a teacher would need to be aware that maybe a student wouldn’t need to be216
aware of?217
R: Erm, no, I can’t think of anything. I think that teachers need to be aware of the fact that a lot of this218
vocabulary is not as general as it might appear to be by being on that list and the various meanings, I219
mean, they shouldn’t get too fixated on one, it’s not something I would go and say to teachers, I wouldn’t220
feel I was in a position to be telling teachers that.221
CB: Is there anything else that you think I should have asked you but haven’t about the Academic222
Word List or more generally about teaching and learning academic vocabulary?223
R: Erm, no, nothing comes to mind.224
CB: OK, thank you.225
(Interview ends)226

82
Transcript of interview with Larissa
CB=Chris Banister
L=Larissa
(Interview begins)1
L: Can I just say that my responses relate to the course we’re doing at the moment and also to the past2
at other institutions? Up until now I haven’t used the Academic Word List much.3
CB: OK.4
L: From time to time.5
CB: So there’s a clear distinction between those. That’s great to know.6
L: So I think really my answers were related ‘cause I was in the middle of something… working on7
the…what we call the [course name] -the pre-sessionalcourse that…8
CB: That’s fine.9
L: I think as we get to it…10
CB: Yeah, I’m sure that’ll come up. So, I mean, the first question I was going to ask to you is,11
could you tell me a bit, could you give me an overview of the type of academic English you teach12
in your current role?13
L: OK. A range…so we do erm … at the moment we’re doing a twelve week pre-sessional course for14
postgraduate students in education. OK so I think that’s what it is, yeah. It prepares them for the15
master’s courses that they’re going onto. They’re mainly non-native speakers. In fact, they’re all non-16
native speakers. We may get some native speakers later, ‘cause we do sometimes. So, yes, it’s a17
preparation course in both language and sort of academic…I don’t like to use the word skills but…18
CB: Yeah.19
L: … prepare them for the master’s particularly in writing and reading, well, all skills. Reading,20
writing, speaking and listening. Listening to lectures for example. Reading extensively. Writing tasks21
at master’s level and what’s the last one I missed… oh yeah, presentations and some group seminar22
tasks.23
CB: OK, and I think I know little bit about how it’s organised, am I right in thinking that it’s24
staged so that people join at the beginning and then at two or three other points?25
L: Yes, people join at the beginning and then we have another intake in week 7 and then we have…so26
they’re divided into 4 weeks so the ones that do the last unit they have to join currently two weeks27
earlier. I’m not quite sure of the rationale behind that because that’s going to change. However, I28
think the rationale, this is my guess, is because in the second unit we do a critical review and I think29
the rationale is it’s very important for the students to do a critical review, even if they come in and30
they just sort of draft it. Er …because there are so many critical reviews on a master’s. So I think that31
might be the rationale but I’m not completely sure. Yeah, it’s not all I do. During the year we do32
workshops for any students, any [institution’s name] students can join so those are regular, I do some33
online work as well. So I’ma leader and developer as well so I… and that particularly relates to, what34
we call embedded, to the in-sessionals, when you work within the discipline. Some of that’s face-to-35
face, some of that’s online at master’s, doctoral and undergraduate level.36
CB: And are all your students, they’re all education focused?37
L: Yes.38
CB: So it’s one subject area in that sense.39
L: Yes, although it’s very diverse. It’s surprising ‘cause you might get…doing an MA in mathematics40
teaching, teaching science, or special educational needs or PGCE students or so it’s quite a surprising41
range, yeah.42
CB: That’s interesting. I hadn’t thought about that before.43
L: Yes, I hadn’t till I started working here either.44
CB: So they may be all teachers and in education but…45
(Interruption)46
(Restart)47
CB: We were talking about the fact that although they’re all in education, they’re obviously in48
various fields of education so that’s…49
L: … that’s quite interesting.50
CB: Quite similar to saying this is a business student, a science student, in a way.51
L: It might affect the way they approach writing. And another thing, the writing tasks they have to do52
are really quite different so some are quite ‘essayist’, so for example, as I understand it, the …what53
are they doing the MA in. Oh, hang on, educational development, something like that, international54
educational development, I can’t remember the exact title, they write reports, which for me, is a bit55

83
more, sort of ‘businessy’. I’ve seen some samples so it’s quite different. The types of writing vary as56
well.57
CB: The genres are completely different.58
L: Well, I wouldn’t say completely but more than I expected.59
CB: Different enough.60
L: Yeah.61
CB: OK, interesting. Erm, what sort of level of English do they have when they come to your62
classes?63
L: A huge range, the ones who come on this course that we’re doing at the moment, they start, they64
have to have an average of IELTS 5.5, er…then the next ones oh…I hope I’ve got this right, 6, yes,65
the ones who start unit 2, 6 the ones who start unit unit 3, 6.5 and I don’t recruitment but I understand66
it’s nothing lower than those scores. But the students we see during the year are both native speakers67
and non-native speakers. I put those in inverted commas ‘cause there’s such a blur, isn’t there?68
CB: So those are the ones who come for the one-to-one workshops?69
L: A mix, native speakers, non-native speakers. So, we get…for the rest of the year, and to some70
extent, in unit 3 in the [course name], then we get a range, well, actually, they’re mainly non-native71
speakers on this course.Just a few native speakers.72
CB: Which nationalities would you say dominate?73
L: Well, nationalities on this course, Chinese, predominantly Chinese, Korean, er…Japanese,74
Turkish-there’s some Turkish this year, Middle Eastern…we had some South Americans last year so75
then of the native speakers we had some, last year, some Indian, Pakistani, er… when I said they’re76
sort of bilinguals, you know, OK.77
CB: Alright. And how would you describe their motivation?78
L: Strong.79
CB: Yeah.80
L: Very, very strong.In a nutshell.81
CB: No, no that’s very clear.82
L: Yeah, maybe because they’re postgraduate students.They have very very high motivation yeah.83
CB: And the course, the [course name] course, is that optional or in any way is it compulsory?84
L: I think it’s compulsory for the ones who have conditional offers and some tutors take it as well.85
CB: It’s not credit-bearing? But for some people who are told they must take it?86
L: Yeah. For some people who have conditional offers. You can take this master’s provided you do87
the [course name] course.88
CB: Great. Thank you very much. Erm … so it seems from your answers there that you use or89
you are using the AWL quite a lot in your lessons?90
L: Right. Previously at another institution we used it in a similar type of course, a pre-sessional course,91
although it was for undergrads and it was used and I was inspired from that, thought it was quite92
helpful, erm… so now…it’s part of, there’s a bit of a push towards having a stronger language93
element in our summer course, in our pre-sessional course. It’s sort of traditionally been more94
academic literacies-based, and we ‘ve had some feedback that suggests, fromtutors and fromstudents95
that, tutors in the disciplines but also tutors who’ve worked on this course suggesting they think they96
need a bit more grammar a bit more and I think learning vocabulary, learning grammar, quite97
connected. And so, as a basis I thought well let’s use the Academic Word List, I asked my colleagues98
they thought it was a good idea, you know you’ve got to choose something.99
CB: Yes.100
L: And what I like about the Academic Word List is that I understand I maybe completely ignorant,101
it’s taken…she kicked out words that are discipline specific so she kept a core of across disciplines,102
which I thought would work for us and students often don’t know, I think, which vocabulary to learn103
CB: Yes.104
L: And as a learner myself I like lists of words, I mean, with activities, we’re playing with activities,105
when I, where I worked previously, the Academic Word List was only at the end of each week. Using106
the list, so list 1, list 2, list 3. Er… we’re doing it slightly differently er…you know, but I’ll come onto107
that.108
CB: OK. That was really the second part of the question about how you actually use it…109
L: OK. So on Moodle I’ve got a link to all the lists so that students can see. OK, both to the110
University of Wellington’s original list and also the University of Nottingham as they’ve got a lot of111
activities around it and the lists themselves. So, that’s a sort of link on Moodle. In the course book,112
I’ve taken, it’s just, systematically, week one, we’re doing it this week, we’re doing it this afternoon,113
erm… I took a paragraph from one of the readings the students have to do, I threw it into the114
University of Nottingham’s, er… no, it’s the highlighter not the Gapmaker. The Gapmaker, I looked115

84
at the exercise myself and thought next week I might struggle to do this exercise. It’s maybe not so116
good unless I give themthe words and then it becomes juggling, I don’t like that. So just a highlighter117
so I can tell you, I can show you if you want?118
CB: Well, if it’s to hand you can show me or if it’s easier to explain…119
L: I’ll explain it…it’s the, where are we? It’s page 22 or something. Here we go. Yeah. It’s actually120
it’s, just looking back at it, it’s a section the words which are from sublist one are highlighted.121
CB: Right, OK. Yeah.122
L: There aren’t many as you can see but it’s a starting point OK? And then we have some slides, what123
the word list is, how she did it. Now we’ve got teachers in classrooms so I’m constantly seeking to124
push then to critically evaluate: ‘Is this a useful way of learning vocabulary?’, ‘Would you want to125
learn it this way?’ They may say yes, they may have other ways. Erm…126
CB: What kind of things do they say? Positive or anything about it?127
L: Difficult to say but one of things that…and this is another thing: critically evaluating things, being128
critical the whole time, about everything. Critical. What do you mean? By critical? So we use that the129
whole course. So critically evaluate everything, critically evaluate the exercise, critically evaluate our130
teaching, critically evaluate texts we give you and we’ll show you how to do that. So, asking themto131
think about learning vocabulary, they do that, then quite simply with word-building, get them in there.132
And another point that’s been raised, by, somebody actually, including someone you know, we know133
in common…134
CB: Right.135
L: That…pronunciation’s an issue with some of our students so OK, therefore let’s work on the word136
stress. They don’t have to use phonemic script if they don’t want to (just reminded me I need to137
photocopy that), they don’t have to or if they want to they mark the pronunciation in a way that’s138
meaningful to them so it’s that…it’s that simple and then here are some more words on the sublist do139
the same thing. OK? Really simplistic but that’s what we’re doing to start with140
CB: Do you actually explain to them what the Academic Word List is? What it contains? What141
it’s supposed to be good for?142
L: Not that much detail. The slides that explain it: you know, the Academic Word List and she did143
this in New Zealand as her master’s or PhD, I’m not sure, erm and erm, you know, decided to look at144
which words occurred frequently and it’s based on that. There’s the link if you want to find out more.145
CB: OK.146
L: We don’t have time to go, you know, if you’re interested in using it the link is there and when147
you’ve read that there’s a link to the lists themselves.148
CB: Yes.149
OK, so I’ve got that on the slide and also on Moodle. So we don’t do it every week, three out of four150
weeks ‘cause I thought we’ll do something else in one of the weeks, just as an alternative.151
CB: Do you actually give them a hard paper copy of the list?152
L: No. I don’t give them a hard copy. We’re trying to go more blended anyway, we’re trying to cut153
down the photocopying and so they can easily find that. They can either find it as a link through154
Moodle or they can research it and if you go for Academic Word List, it’ll come up, won’t it?155
CB: Yeah.156
L: Coxhead. It’ll come.157
CB: And I suppose you can see if people actually have on Moodle how many people have looked158
and track…159
L: Yeah, if we have the time but that would be a good thing to do later. You’re right actually.160
Interesting to do that,thanks for that.161
CB: Great. Actually, let’s just stay, you mentioned time and one of the things, I think it was in162
this question here, sorry, possibly the next one on the next page, page 11, question 9 about163
being achievable, over what sort of period of time do you think that it is achievable? To sort of164
be familiar with the items?165
L: Oh, that’s hard. I mean I don’t know. We’ll talk about how many words to learn. I’ll just use the166
one that I use with my son when he was learning a language: learn 5 words a day, you know. And167
how many will you learn today? How many will you get in a week? How many? I think they should168
go for more than that. We’ll have that conversation about how many words. Of course, also I think169
they need to be selective of the words and I also think it’s good to have the list and oh! And as you170
read, there’s one of my words and whether they’ll, you know, I don’t want them to stop their reading,171
and see and again it’s one of the advantages of having mature postgrad students is that they’ve often172
got, because a lot of them are teachers,they’ve often got that sort of, they’ve got study skills…173
CB: Strategies.174

85
L: Yeah, strategies. So they share them etcetera. But no sort of going in, list by list, I wouldn’t do175
that with these kind of students.176
CB: OK. Do you agree that the list contains relevant vocabulary?177
L: Yeah, from what I’ve seen yes, but I’ve got no research based no evidence base, only from my own,178
and through throwing bits of text in the University of Nottingham’s highlighter but also student texts179
so I’m not just using, er… ‘cause there’s a bit of, what’s the word, copyright issue. Got to be careful180
of that. I’m not quite sure about the readings but I think I am, I’ll check with the librarian. But in case181
I’ve started using student samples from last year. That’s interesting. To see.182
CB: OK, yes it is.183
I wouldn’t want students to think “Oooh! I haven’t got enough words from the word list!” Erm…we184
wouldn’t want them to think that, “I haven’t got enough words from the word list” because it might185
not be appropriate but because the words appear to be quite common, I just think it’s quite a useful186
support for the students.187
CB: Do you think there’s a core of academic vocabulary which can be applied across the188
disciplines?189
L: I’m not sure….190
CB: Business,Law, Medicine…191
L: I’ve read her original paper. I’ve read something else by her but I haven’t researched it enough to192
know, I’m afraid. I should, but there are lots of things to consider. I’ve been rethinking how to do193
grammar now because of something I went to last week so you know, I’m not completely sure.194
CB: OK, you mentioned a few published materials that you use. I think it might be on the195
following page…?196
L: Ooh! I can’t remember but yeah.197
CB: These ones here.198
L: Er… oh, yes. Yeah, don’t use it much actually. Bits and pieces. Er… Essential Life. Do we use that?199
Did I put those in?200
CB: You can change the answer now if you want to.201
L: The McCarthy and O’Dell, to some extent. Now that might be because I was thinking, I was202
looking at the list, the bibliography not the list of references, the bibliography, ‘cause it might have203
been mentioned as a suggestion by one of my colleagues.204
CB: Alright. The thing I was going to ask about those books, but it could apply to any205
vocabulary books that you’ve used really, erm… when you were using them were you aware206
that the content of the book was based on the Academic Word List?207
L: Er…no.208
CB: OK.209
L: I wasn’t.210
CB: ...so it was kind of indirect use of it...211
L: Yeah, but also I find academic vocabulary books because there a little bit generic and er…that’s212
why the word list seems a bit better.213
CB: Uhum.214
L: I’d rather use texts as in …that students are reading or journal papers.215
CB: Is it because it’s easier for you to justify to the students in terms of it being so relevant and216
so clearly justifiable?217
L: I’m not sure. It’s just that for example, that one…. Is it up here? I’ve just got a complete blank218
about the other two. But quite a lot of it is very generic, very sort of general words or discipline-219
specific, which don’t appearto apply to our students.220
So I find it…this is the way I like to work, not necessarily in [course name] but in the workshops, is to221
get the students to bring their own journal papers their own, what they’re reading at the moment and222
that in terms of developing the, you know, what’s the word? The discourse of their academic223
community that that’s the place to look. You know, cause I can’t tell you which vocabulary is224
most…particularly once they’re on their courses..225
CB: Yes.226
L: I really can’t tell you which vocabulary is going to occur and which isn’t. Erm, and therefore I227
think once you get on the course that’s a good place to start. So I’d rather they were more selective228
than for me to give them. I don’t think it’s necessarily appropriate at this level and there’s another229
reason I’ll come to, don’t let me forget-to actually give thema handout. Here’s some vocabulary. That230
way there’s a long list and you can be selective, you can decide ‘cause within that list there are some231
words that I’ve knocked out. For example, no it’s on one of the slides. I put on the slide: ‘Here are232
some more words, you know, some other words from sublist one. I took some of them out ‘cause they233

86
were sort of ‘businessy’, not to say it won’t be appropriate but the ones I want to show you and now234
off the top of my head I can’t think, but…235
CB: They’re for them to be aware that in future lists they see not every word will be…236
L: Yeah. Obviously, it might be quite useful to learn every word if you’ve got the time.237
CB: It’s being critical again, as you said before.238
L: Be selective. But the other reason is the photocopying copyright. You know we’re quite strict here239
about copyright. And er… well firstly we don’t want be using, we don’t want to be making loads of240
photocopies because we’re trying to be more, you know…we’re trying to copy less. We’ve got the241
book, we ‘ve got another resource book that’s used so erm, so photocopying exercises all the time it’s242
not really what we do.243
CB: This is actually a kind of course book?244
L: Yes, it is. It’s actually an updated version of a course book. If I had a spare copy I’d give it to you245
but I don’t we had more students than we expected. And um, er… so, it’s not that they’re only using246
that, there’s Moodle stuff and some of the tutors prefer to go with a materials light approach, which I247
quite like. You know, don’t bombard them with stuff. Let’s see what they bring to the classroom.248
Here are some exercises and let’s work around them. We don’t tend to go with exercise 1, exercise 2,249
you know. Maybe that’s because they’re postgrads and we expect…250
CB: So when they come for the tutorials you talked about, they would arrange a time in251
advance and you would say to them by e-mail possibly, please bring something relevant?252
L: No, that’s all done by an administrator, they bring their own writing. So that’s writing based. I’ve253
never used the Academic Word List in tutorials other than to say, I might say to somebody oh, you254
might want to look at that but I don’t think I ever have in a tutorial ‘cause it’s all about their writing255
and it’s usually language and grammar related rather than …um yeah.256
CB: Erm… and you mentioned that you had used the University Word List?257
L: Oh yeah. That’s the University of Manchesterone.Yeah258
CB: I think that’s an older one actually.259
L: Oh, do you know what the Nation one. Ah, OK. Just in reference…have I ever used it with260
students? Previously I think. A long time ago.261
CB: I’m just wondering why you changed or…is there a reason why you changed to the AWL262
from that one ?263
L: No, no specific reason and I think it was a long time ago. It wouldn’t have been me writing the264
material.265
CB: OK. How important is it, when you show them the list, how important is it to give them266
context?267
L: That’s the thing. That’s why I think I’m cautious of printing out, we’re not going to print it out.268
Well anyway it’s on Moodle if they want it they can find it but here’s a list, you know, no I think it269
might not be helpful so I wanted to give a context which Is why I chose either paragraphs in the270
readings they’re doing cause also it kills another bird insofar as it brings up the topics on the reading.271
Do you see what I mean? They’ve got to read papers that are a bit difficult, some of them and if272
you’ve got a section…what’s he on about here? Before looking, I didn’t say that, the context before273
looking it’s an example, the first one I can show you is this afternoon. It’s actually not very well done274
‘cause I had a look at it again earlier in the week but I thought no this is rubbish because it’s actually275
the first week and it’s a concluding… but it’s just a sample before they do it, it’s about teaching. What276
kind of teaching have you experienced as a tutor as a teacher? What kind of activity ‘cause that’s what277
he’s on about…278
CB: Right.279
L: The nature of teaching so that also…it also prepares then for the reading, they haven’t read this yet.280
They’re going to read it. Oh, it’s the Hirst paper actually. It’s the one they read in a week’s time. It281
directly relates to their first assignment, which is a reflective essay and we really expect, we’re282
concentrating on some decent paragraphs etcetera and it’s about my experiences of teaching and283
learning or something like that. I can’t remember off the top of my head. I should…the title. OK, so it284
sort of gets them ready for that and that’s the context.285
CB: OK, so you’re always presenting it or relating it to some sort of context?286
L: I hope. I would hope, yeah.287
CB: Would there be any, would you have any, how can I put it, do you think it would be OK in288
any situation to encourage learners, here’s the listmemorise the words?289
L: Certainly. That depends on how they learn. That’s the other reason I’d say here it is if you want it.290
Up to you how you do it.291
CB: And also, knowing a little bit about the background of the students here, do you think that292
it might appeal to their learning styles?293

87
L: I think so,‘cause it would appeal to mine. A list of words on my wall in my kitchen appeals to me.294
CB: Why would it appeal to you?295
L: ‘Cause I’ma bit of a language learner, bit of a …, I enjoy it, I enjoy, you know, the word formation296
idea, I enjoy the sort of you know, just enjoy that in general…having words. I’m interested in words,297
it’s not everybody’s cup of tea so that’s why I wouldn’t force it on thembut I think some of them will298
choose to do that. Yeah. As I said, the previous course I worked in they had the AWL at the end of299
each week. You see I also wasn’t sure about the copyright for that ‘cause I know in other places, not300
here, people can be a little bit lax about copyright and I’m not completely sure we have the right to do301
that. I didn’t get a clear answer fromer… Averil on that. It’s not… I didn’t want to keep e -mailing her,302
you know.303
CB: Yes.304
L: So it might be that we can but I didn’t want to take a risk so they’re on Moodle so…they can…I’m305
not sure, it takes up another page so is it really necessary?306
CB: Have you had any feedback yet from students about this?307
L: No, but we will get some and I will put a question on the Moodle anonymous evaluation. So I308
expect at the moment, I expect that the answer might be that they work it out towards the end. Ooh!309
I’m sort of anticipating that it might be clear to the tutors as well only two of the tutors have worked310
with the Academic Word List before so we’ve got temp tutors, so they’ve got a lot to take on board so311
it may be…we’ll see what happens.312
CB: So it’s a thing for the teachers to grasp as well…313
L: Yeah. We throw so much at the students. They’ll take some of it and they’ll drop some of it and I314
hope they’ll, to some extent, they can pick and choose.315
CB: Are there any potential dangers and issues that you think students need to be aware of316
when using the AWL? Or teachers for that matter?317
L: Erm…yes. Context, as you mentioned. If students, may… don’t want to lull them into some s ort of318
a false sense of security: “If you learn all of those words you’ll be fine and understand everything.” It319
may not be the case. Because I don’t know too much about the nature of some of the disciplines, the320
sub-disciplines they’re in. Erm…and…well yeah, that there may be if they were to do a study of their321
discipline which we haven’t got time to do…you might. It might be your PhD…322
CB: (Laughs)323
L: That they’re, you know it may be that some of these words are not as common as we thought.324
CB: OK.325
L: So.326
CB: Finally, is there anything else that you think I should have asked you…327
L: No.328
CB: … but haven’t about the AWL and more generally about vocabulary teaching and learning?329
L: No.330
CB: There was something you said oh I want to er…331
L: That was about the copyright issue.332
CB: Alright.333
L: That’s important here. And I’m very obsessive about it. I mean plagiarism, we’re teaching students334
to avoid plagiarism…335
CB: Practise what you preach.336
L: We mustn’t break that and I just think we shouldn’t do it anyway ‘cause it’s somebody’s work, you337
know. But she was happy for me to do what I showed her she was happy enough for me to use those.338
CB: You’d hope that as she’s an educationalist, she’s created a tool, if people want to use it339
she’d do everything to make it easy for you. You’d have thought…340
L: But I don’t see any…you know the students can find the lists and using it out of context that’s341
what I thought and I’ll tell you what I do do the next day as a build up after we’ve had this session342
it’ll be Thursday ‘cause they have a lecture tomorrow, things like yeah, putting the words sort of343
doing quizzes and stuff on the words. You know, sitting the student with their back to the wall and344
putting one of the words up and the others have to…345
CB: Hotseat.346
L: Yeah, hotseat, exactly. I love doing that or doing it in pairs so they have to then it’s competition for347
who can get them to say the word, you know. So those kind of exercises, which are a little bit out of348
context so…349
CB: But it’s forcing them to recall it.350
L: Exactly.351
CB: To revisit it. Great.352
L: Yeah.353

89
Transcript of interview with Patricia.
CB=Chris Banister
P=Patricia
(Interview begins)1
CB: To start with, could you just give me an overview of the type of academic English you teach in2
your current role?3
Erm … so, this is more reflective of, at the moment I’m not working, so this is all er, the answers that I4
gave were about an academic English course that I designed.5
CB: OK.6
P: It was for our long-termstudents at an English language school in London and the demographic of the7
students were Thai, Korean, Saudi Arabian, who were all demotivated and they couldn’t join the IELTS8
class that we ran at the school because they had to have a minimum of 5, but they were all 4.5 or 4 or9
hadn’t even done IELTS because they were intermediate students, but because they’d booked an10
academic course they were annoyed and frustrated being in the general English courses so it was … as the11
senior teacher and ADOS, I said “Why don’t we run this programme and run this course over the summer12
because it’s a demand that we’re getting from students, it’s a major issue that we had: long term students13
who want to be doing something academic because they knew they needed the input”. So, those are the14
type of students I’m talking about when it comes…when I was answering the questionnaire. So15
intermediate students, IELTS 4, IELTS 4.5. Erm…sort of helping them prepare and cope to be in a16
higher level IELTS class where the other students were 5,6 or 7.17
CB: OK. And, er, in your opinion were they motivated?18
P: Erm, because the, because they knew that the course was designed for them, erm… and the way the19
course was designed was that each week they had two different projects: a written project and a spoken20
project and um, one of my teaching strategies is humiliation if you don’t deliver…21
CB: (laughs)22
P: (laughs) So, um, but everything got recorded and given back to themso their presentations were…I got23
them to audio record them on their devices, erm … I would get them to…er…try to use a Qwerty24
keyboard to type their essays so that I could…they didn’t lose the piece of paper of the essay so in terms25
of motivation it would um, it would vary depending on what the project topic was, erm … but I would let26
them choose their essay titles. So I’d give a list of different topics and themes and because they were27
allowed to choose something that they were interested in I think it engaged them and therefore motivated28
them.29
CB: OK. Were they topics, were they divided up by academic disciplines would you say, or was it30
more thematic?31
P: Thematic. Yes, erm, so you know, there were some students who were interested in entertainment and32
sports so getting themto do an essay on the advantages and disadvantages of playing computer games…,33
whereas others were interested a little bit more in the environment or recycling and things so there was a34
variety of themes that they were allowed to pick from.35
CB: OK, thank you. And…it seems from your first answer that you weren’t sure what the36
academic word listwas.37
P: Yeah.38
CB: And I just wanted to clarify, was it because you were worried about confusing the academic39
word list with another word list? Or were you just generally more uncertain whether you’d heard40
of it?41
P: Yeah, I think it’s…er, I’ve been to quite a lot of talks and seminars by like de Chazal and I went to the42
launch of the first Oxford EAP dictionary and I wasn’t really sure, like I know that it exists but if I had to43
reel off words in that list…44
CB: Sure.45
P: I could probably figure out…um, like for example, recently I discovered that there’s an academic46
collocations list.47
CB: That’s right, Yeah.48
P: I think there’s a whole list industry out there. It’s more to do with the fact that…because I was working49
with resources in relation to what they think Chazal says is academic, in my mind I have an idea but I50
have not worked specifically with the academic word list to engage students or…51
CB: Yeah. So then your answers after that later on were sort of based on this idea you have of what52
it probably is?53
P: Yeah. Absolutely.Yeah.54
CB: Alright. So, you mentioned on, on page 11 of the survey, question 9?55
P: Yeah.56
CB: You mentioned that you agree it contains relevant vocabulary.57

90
P: Uhum.58
CB: I just wondered, relevant in what way? And to whom?59
P: Yeah. So thinking again about this group of students, they often asked “Is that an academic word?”60
because a lot of them had been stuck in general English classes for such a long time and so now they felt61
like they were upping their game being in an academic class and my style was a little bit like a lecture or62
a seminar. I didn’t get them to do ‘Find someone who’s…’ I didn’t do that EFL type thing…I was63
“Right”, this is you know, trying to replicate the academic role that they’d be going into, um, so they idea64
is that they’d say, you know, we would be using a course book and texts but I’d try to get them to find65
resources that they thought they could use as a reference for an essay and then they would be asking “Is66
this academic?” and so I would then, for some of those students, I would then hope that if I did refer them67
to the Academic Word List for those students who just want to learn ten words a day ‘cause that’s what68
they think that they need to be able to do to get IELTS whatever it is, to get onto a pre-sessional or get69
onto a BA I think in that case it contained relevant vocabulary for… that’s who I’m thinking about.70
CB: So that’s the relevance side.71
P: Yeah.72
CB: And you said In the same question you disagreed that it’s the most efficient way, maybe I73
should have used the word ‘tool’ actually…74
Yeah.75
CB: …to learn vocabulary. If…do you want to expand on that?76
P: Yeah. Definitely.77
CB: Or is there another tool that is a better way to learn vocabulary?78
P: I think that erm … having a list and just learning the list doesn’t necessarily mean that a student can79
recall the word and use it in a written piece or in a presentation or be able to or be able to recall it sin80
something they read or listen to. So that where I would disagree with it being the way to learn vocabulary.81
I think one of the key things is how, you know, when language is embedded into the text and you see it82
with the collocations and you see it in the context I think it has to be done through that way which is83
going back to how this course was structured, it was via themes because students were focusing on a84
theme for an essay or a presentation then I could be able to say what’s a more academic way to say this85
and to say that. This is more academic than saying that through their reading through their research they86
can see the relevance and that so I’m torn between it and I think it works, it really depends on how the87
teacher presents the list to students as well I think. It can’t just be, “Here you go… off you go, and let’s88
see …”. I think it has to be about engaging them with it and getting them to come up with memorable89
ways for themselves to use the language.90
CB: So, context is really important?91
P: Context, definitely, yeah.92
CB: And so maybe it’s a similar point but you said that students might take it too literally?93
P: Yeah. And it just sounds unnaturalthen.94
CB: Yeah. So meaning that they might just learn…OK maybe could you explain in what way too95
literally? What’s the essential problem that you see there?96
P: OK. So, just first of all, going back as well, one of the other things about learning vocabulary for those97
specific students Iwas speaking about is, um, I did spelling tests quite a lot because their script…98
CB: The Thai students?99
P: The Saudi Arabian students and doing spelling and getting themto do the ‘Look, cover and write’ over100
and over and over again I find a lot of them helped, so that’s another way, so not just context, the physical101
use of writing it down.102
CB: Uhum.103
P: And then so the way they maybe misuse an academic word list is, like erm, if I did get them to type, it104
did look like they just went to the Thesaurus section and went to the synonyms so it… as a student’s105
teacher you can tell if it’s their voice or not or if they’ve really tried to embed it into their own academic106
voice, erm so I had to sort of, tell some students not to use the Thesaurus at all. Erm,…107
CB: Because they were just trying to find a one-for-one substitute…108
P: Yeah, ‘cause then that was a problem with so can’t think of an example now of course, but you know,109
this is a more academic way of saying ‘X’, erm, so they’d put ‘Y’ in it had no, erm…110
CB: All the surroundings were wrong…111
P: Yeah, it didn’t match or they would forget that there’s a dependent preposition required or that erm,112
when you’re thinking about the grammar as well and you might need a gerund after a form or so113
sometimes they wouldn’t have researched the word enough to…to really embed it and make it part of114
their academic voice.115
CB: OK. So you’d be worried that just giving them a list or giving them access to the list, giving116
them just the word on it’s own is not going to be useful?117

91
P: Absolutely. Yeah. Just I think um, partly because unless, like I said before, unless you show them118
how to engage with the list and do something with the list, it’s just a list of words. OK, you might say it’s119
academic that doesn’t necessarily mean osmosis is going to happen. (laughter)120
CB: I was just wondering if you have come across any other word lists? Other than the Academic121
Word List which might be useful for students doing particular subjects at university?122
P: Yes, so I think, sort of, I can see the Oxford EAP here, the de Chazal book so…because those were123
used as a core resource, erm and, I can’t remember now! Erm , but I used to use a book called ‘Sentence124
Writing’ and the idea is that giving them a topic or a theme …so these are the words associated with125
animals.126
CB: Uhum.127
P: These are the words associated with erm, recycling or sustainability.128
CB: Yeah.129
P: And globalisation. That’s always something that some students really get their teeth into, some don’t130
understand it and others are like “Wow! Wow! Wow!”. So I think lists, I would give lists but it would131
come out from…no, I take that back. I never gave a list to students. If we were working with a text or we132
were working with a TED talk in the classroom, their responsibility was to pick out vocabulary that they133
think would be useful for them, vocabulary that they think that they don’t need to be able to use but they134
should be able to recognise and understand it so…135
CB: So this is where you mention personalisation and context , this is the personalisation part of it?136
P: Yeah. And sort of…I, one of their requirements of the academic English course was I would check137
how they recorded their vocabulary in their books erm, and erm, we did learner training and how to138
accurately record language and some of them showed me apps that they used so like ‘Quizlet’? Is it139
‘Quizlet’? I think it’s ‘Quizlet’.140
CB: Yeah.141
P: So it’s like flashcards basically. So getting themto…for some that worked, for others, for some of the142
Thai students,they make it so beautiful so they have words in a certain colour, things like that.143
CB: OK.144
P: I never showed them. I got them to show each other what they did and it sort of became a bit145
competitive between them which then goes back to your earlier question about motivating them, seeing146
how much each has done. I mean, it was never a competition of how many words they had done, but who147
could remember and recall the most, and that was a big part of the academic English course so just to148
explain, I had them for 10 hours in the week.149
CB: Right.150
P: An hour before lunch and an hour after lunch. So after lunch they were pretty knackered so that was151
when they’d be sharing ideas, doing their presentation whereas pre-lunch they’d be doing writing.152
CB: OK.153
P: So, I mean…154
CB: So it fitted in with the schedule quite well to do it that way.155
P: Yeah, absolutely.156
CB: That’s interesting. And er, on, in question 16 on page 14, you picked out some of the published157
materials I think, from the list?158
P: Yeah.159
CB: I just wondered did you realise when you were using those materials that those materials were160
based on the Academic Word List?161
P: No, but after I answered the question I thought “That makes sense!” Because why would publishers162
just pluck things out of thin air? A lot of this comes from research.163
CB: You hope there’s some logic..164
P: Yeah. Absolutely and because, erm … I liked the way that that series was presented and dealt with165
language and it didn’t make it scary or, it made it manageable and approachable and that was the key166
thing for a lot of the students I’m thinking about. They thought that academia was a different platform or167
level to their abilities. So it was about building their confidence and getting themto realise that yeah, they168
can erm, access this language and it’s around them more than they realise.169
CB: OK.170
P: Yeah.171
CB: So you didn’t actually realise at the time…172
P: No. It was when I answered the questions…173
CB: So in the book, they hadn’t made it explicitly clear either? They don’t always.174
P: No, I think it was one of those things erm, because of my senior teacher/ADOS role, I worked a lot175
closely with ELT publishers, and so I…the lady that I knew at Oxford gave me a freebie, I liked it,176
pitched it to my managers and said “This is what I’d like to use. Can we invest in a couple? Can we invest177
in a class set?” and it just went fromthere really so…it’s not because I knew it was an academic word list178
it landed in my lap from an ELT publisher so kudos to them really.179

92
CB: And just going back to what you said a minute ago about it being manageable for students?180
P: Uum!181
CB: And not so intimidating? Do you think that the list in its entirety is manageable in the182
timeframe that you’ve got the students for?183
P: No, no. Because my context was continuous enrolment don’t forget and erm, some of the students,184
most of the students…it was the middle of their long-term course so, and when I say long-term I’m185
thinking between 12 and 18 months so I managed to get them around six months in so they still had a186
significant chunk but erm, the idea was not just to have them in my class but to move them into the other187
IELTS ‘cause the course that I had them was called ‘Academic English Preparation’ and some of the188
students were not just IELTS students but students who were going to Cambridge Suite exams?189
CB: OK.190
P: So FCE, CAE.191
CB: Still an academic aspect, isn’t there?192
P: It was about developing their learner autonomy for preparing for e xams and with language and193
vocabulary as well so I had to manage that and not just IELTS, I had TOEFL students as well so that194
again lends itself really well to that course. So I didn’t have them for 6 months. I think the longest I had195
somebody was about four but they left for two weeks and wanted to come back for two weeks but I said196
I’m repeating the same material now I can’t…197
CB: Yeah.198
P: You know, there’s only so much I can have, only so much fresh stuff you can…’cause I was learning199
how to do this as well.200
CB: Yes.201
P: It was the first time I’d delivered anything that wasn’t using an IELTS book.202
CB: Uhum.203
P: So, it was the first time for me to focus on academic language separate of IELTS reading, IELTS204
listening and those exam skills and I was managing three or four different types of exam students and205
different levels but it was the most fun I ever had! (laughs)206
CB: Alright. Um. Are there any other potential dangers or issues that students need to be made207
aware of when using the Academic Word List? Or teachers?208
P: Ah, yeah. I mean I do want to say though, you know I said I found that the Oxford EAP books were209
manageable and easy to access? When another teacher took over she didn’t like them at all and I think210
that’s to do with teachers’ methodology ‘cause the resources were at a higher level than the students but I211
would erm, I didn’t use the page as it was, I would do a lot of stuff beforehand and after and I think, I212
think, this is where in answer to your question is about how teachers need to be trained to use an213
academic word list I think, and teachers need to be erm, er, trained in how to…you know, how to…, you214
know, you can…what’s the word? What’s the expression? Like, differentiation of a resource.215
CB: Uhum.216
P: And sometimes people think differentiation is making something more difficult.217
CB: Right.218
P: But I think it has to be making something easier for students to manage because the reality of these219
students is that they’re not going to be going into a world where everything is at B1 level, they’re going220
into a direction where everything is at a much higher level so it’s about giving themstrategies to manage221
and cope. That’s what’s needed with something like the Academic Word List. I don’t know what it looks222
like still. So, I think, but I looked at the Academic Collocations List.223
CB: Uhum.224
P: And it’s a 42 page document. I was looking at it on the way here and I was just thinking about how I225
would manage something like that erm, would I give the students a project to do something about it or226
would I come up with a project? And I think it’s about knowing your capabilities and learning how227
confident you are as well and something that’s quite as dense as that. It’s like, you know when you bring228
up something on a corpus for the first time. It’s like this list…229
CB: Yeah, I remember the first time I saw a corpus result.230
P: Yeah. I was like, what do I do with this?231
CB: Yes, you need some guidance, definitely.232
P: And I think that…if teachers don’t have that, don’t know how to deal with it how are students going to?233
They’re already dealing with anotherlanguage…234
CB: Yeah, OK. That’s great, thank you. And finally, is there anything else that you think I should235
have asked you but haven’t about the Academic Word List and more generally about ways of236
teaching and learning academic vocabulary?237
P: Uhm. No…I think you’ve definitely covered everything. Um, I would say. No, I think…it would be238
interesting to see, like do you think that, ‘cause I’m talking about a context more so in EFL, do you think,239
would, would I think it was a different context if I was in an EAP situation? So I think my answer to that240
question, ‘cause I was dealing with lower level students, IELTS 4-4.5. I don’t think the Academic Word241

93
List depends on level, I think it depends on the student’s abilities to engage with language, how they242
record it so going back, sort of this idea about context, personalisation and relevance erm, in terms of243
personalisation how do they best record language and vocabulary I don’t think it matters what level you244
are. I think it matters, your personality, what engages you albeit through an app or a specific book you245
walk around with246
CB: Uhum. Yeah.247
P: That has lists and does it go from A to Z or does it go by theme?248
CB: Some people like lists…some people like them.249
P: Yeah, yeah, and I think it um…I definitely think, and you definitely gave me food for thought as well250
in answering your questions to the survey.251
CB: Alright. That’s good to know.252
(Interview ends)253
Additional comments (added and recorded at the suggestionof the interviewee):254
One of the things that we did with words was we looked at families, word families and looked at prefixes255
and suffixes and I think for the some of the students that was really interesting, the ones who were quite256
scientific, who liked the maths, the puzzle that created.257
CB: It appeals to a certain mindset.258
P: Yes. Coming to my earlier point about because students don’t…there was a time when there were259
students in the classroom who didn’t want to know that. They didn’t want to figure out what the word260
family was, they just wanted the list.261
CB: Yes.262
P: So their homework often was to go and research this list and then go and teach everybody the next day.263
So in response to … about working with the Academic Word List, it depends on the students and how264
the teacher brings it to life. It’s, because just looking at a list like that, that could bore some people to265
death. Some others…like, I like lists, so that’s…but for some students that’s really overwhelming.266
They’re already finding the whole environment difficult so yeah.267
CB: Thank you.268

94
Transcript of interview with Owen.
CB= Chris Banister
O= Owen
(Interview begins)1
CB: So, to start with, could you just give me an overview of the type of teaching you do in your2
current role?3
O: OK..um…mostly I…well, I teach three different modules: I teach Business Communication, which is4
content, and I teach Research Skills, which is an academic skills course, which entails three things really:5
access to quality secondary literature, how to use data bases, how to evaluate the literature and how to6
acknowledge it. And that’s probably the main part of what I do. And I also teach on a Foundation Course,7
something called Business Studies Skills and that revolves around formats, giving presentations and8
beginning to write business reports.9
CB: OK.10
O: A lot of it’s around the genre of reports rather than going into it…11
CB: OK. And how about the students you teach?12
O: A variety, I mean, mostly they’re all either undergraduate, first year, first semester, or foundation.13
Erm…they are very multinational, I can go into a seminar and have 16 different student nationalities.14
They have a variety of learning needs,a variety of sort of cultural backgrounds.15
CB: Yeah.16
O: And…17
CB: Yeah. OK. And would you describe them as motivated?18
O: Er…it depends. So, there are a number of them who are very motivated, keen to…er… There are some19
of them who are perhaps a little less motivated and we could speculate what those reasons might be…but20
it’s a mixture.21
CB: OK. And are the courses that you’ve talked about that you teach on, are they optional for22
students in any way or are they compulsory and credit-bearing?23
O: They’re all compulsory. They’re all core modules. At undergraduate they have to come through me at24
some point.25
CB: So, drawing on your English language teaching experience, what if any issues have you26
identified in terms of their English language abilities or in your students’ work?27
O: Um…well, I think the issues, if you want to look for issues, the students who can write very well can28
write very very well indeed, a lot of them do um…at the other end of the scale I think the main issue29
students have is writing coherently, I think the main reason for that is um.. is syntax I think. There seems30
to be an absence of reviewing work, what’s been written, things like punctuation but a lot of the mistakes31
are very much language-based so sometimes we’ll have students turn up and you wonder how they’ve32
managed to get into an undergraduate course based on their language or passed an IELTS test for that33
matter.34
CB: Yeah, you mentioned in the questionnaire, the survey, question 11, you talked about their35
accuracy in writing…36
O: Yeah.37
CB: …as sometimes being an issue and I just wondered38
O: Yes.39
CB: You mention syntax there as well..40
O: Yeah, we’re talking about coherence, you know, coherence and cohesion are the two main things if I41
cast my mind back to my EFL days. Um … coherence within the paragraph, grammatical errors adding42
up to a point where the sentence is no longer understandable…43
CB: Uhuh.44
O: …cohesion across paragraphs. I think a lot of our students tend to lose the thread of their argument in45
their writing.46
CB: So, you would…just to pick up on your comment there, so it’s not actually a lack of academic47
vocabulary that’s a problem…as you see it?48
O: No. I mean, I see that actually as sometimes part of the problem…the wider problem49
CB: That’s interesting.50
O: I’m jumping questions here.. I personally feel students feel under pressure to produce word-perfect51
pieces of writing and I think they’re very often shown exemplars which are written at a level which is far52
out of their reach.53
CB: OK.54
O: For that reason I think there’s pressure perhaps to commission work, to plagiarise…55
CB: OK, so that’s the connection.56
O: That’s conjecture, that’s speculation I can’t..57

95
CB: OK. And you mention that students should be encouraged to notice academic vocabulary from58
texts and that would be a better way of them trying to improve the level of their vocabulary rather59
than perhaps using the Academic Word List?60
O: Yes, I can’t…really comment in that informed a way about the Academic Word List erm…but I have61
to go to my own experience of learning languages, I studied French at university and I had to write essays62
and I know that a lot of my writing was informed by reading…63
CB: Yeah.64
O: …genres65
CB: Yeah.66
O: And German as well, so…67
CB: So you were saying that they have access to exemplars on some courses you’ve seen, on some68
courses you teach?69
O: Yeah.70
CB: Or they have had access to exemplars?71
O: No, not always. I don’t think they necessarily do but I think not just exemplars, that’s an example, but72
I think they are given access to papers, like research papers…I’m one of them. I give them authentic73
research papers. I think that perhaps does exert a pressure on them to somehow try and write in a certain74
style, an academic style, but I know from my own writing, I’ve just finished an MA, a lot of my writing, a75
lot of vocabulary I use in academic writing is through mimicry, so I’ll read papers and I start to pick up a76
language.77
CB: And are those papers specifically from your field?78
O: Yes,…my field but also generic words, you know, I found myself writing the other day using the word79
‘posits’(laughs)80
CB: Yeah.81
O: It’s a word I never imagined I would use.82
CB: Yeah.83
O: ..so ‘posits’ that….and yes, you see words and first of all, you think actually very often what does it84
mean, I’m working it out, end up looking it up and in context you see it again, you see it again in another85
context and you think, there you are, I’m ready to use that and so I think that’s…I think it sounds to me86
that the Academic Word List is saying well “This is how language is used, not saying how it should be87
used but saying how it’s used and therefore you should use it.” Erm.. but I can only…my guess is that88
those words are perhaps not that much related to context but I may be wrong. If they’re used in texts in a89
constructive way that might be very effective.90
CB: So if students had the opportunity to see a text of some kind, be it an exemplar or some other91
kind of text, um, how could they be encouraged to notice the academic vocabulary such as ‘posit’?92
O: Well I… how could they be encouraged to do it? I think a lot of it comes from your personal93
motivation to improve your writing so I think it’s quite difficult, I think. Some of our students from94
certain nationalities find it far harder to make those observations I think to.. you know, to…erm…to95
understand this is the genre they’ve entered using… Middle Eastern cultures, for example, struggle to96
pick up academic English in a way and use it naturally and use it in spoken English.97
CB: Yes. OK. And you mentioned ‘plain English’ in the same section.98
O: ‘Plain English’. OK. ‘plain English’ not ‘fancy English’.99
CB: Not ‘fancy English’.100
O: Yes.101
CB: Do you believe that there is a kind of academic writing that can still be done in ‘plain English’?102
O: I think…I think I remember from my studies in EFL, the DELTA, how we talked about language and103
L+1, language plus one, so students need to learn the language at a level that’s just higher than their104
present level and if we can somehow affect that or academic writing so that students are writing at a level105
that is just above their natural writing level so for example, you might have an intermediate Italian student106
who writes who uses a lot of simple vocabulary and simple language, you know, they’re writing at IELTS107
level 5 and then you suddenly give them an IELTS 7 essay which is full of wonderful academic English108
it’s already…it’s too far beyond them.109
CB: So if it’s slightly above their level it’s likely to be more successful than if it’s an exemplar that a110
native speaker might write, an expert user of some kind…111
O: But I think we all have a kind of writing fingerprint as well so in terms of syntaxand coherence and all112
the rest of it, I think when I’mtalking about ‘plain English’ to my students I often say “Don’t worry about113
writing this ‘fancy English’. I want the ideas to be understandable.”114
CB: OK. I realise this question is speculation, but do you think that your colleagues on the courses115
share that view of what students should try to write in terms of that style?116
O: Um…117
CB: … or do you think that there’s the possibility that some of them are saying something118
contradictory or different?119

96
O: I don’t really know. I think because I have the EFL background I think about that a lot. I have a lot of120
colleagues on these courses who are actually froma linguistic background, I can think of at least four and121
they are very much aware but whether they would actually give that explicit advice, erm…I’m not122
entirely sure. I’m not sure that it’s a necessarily mainstream concern.123
CB: OK. And er…you touched on this before but can you just say a little bit more about how you124
believe lacking the suitable academic language may lead to some students plagiarising or125
commissioning essays?126
O: Well … erm … I think a lot of it… I think a lot of it is comparative as well. A lot of the students127
compare themselves to other students who do have good writing skills and then they are confronted with128
authentic papers and I think then there is this element, taboo element of, “I’m here. I’ve managed to get129
into university and I should be writing at this level but really my level is here…erm.. and I’m getting130
these essays back, they are failing and tutors are writing things like ‘Incomprehensible’…” And I think131
that that puts a huge pressure on students then to take some kind of strategic action, by which I mean …132
added to which there is probably a culture as well of using essay banks which I think is far less …well …133
I think it’s the elephant in the room really…I think everyone’s sort of aware of it, some are more aware of134
it than others.135
CB: Yeah. Can you imagine any learners you teach that their learning style may be suited by a list136
of words, with the emphasis there on the list?137
O: You know at undergraduate…when they get to undergraduate level, they are not necessarily…the138
language…it’s almost like a no-go area for them I find erm… they feel that they’re here to learn content139
and somehow for some of them who are referred to remedial things it’s almost an admission of deficency140
and … erm … you know so … I think once they’re here it’s almost … I can’t say too late sort of thing,141
it’d be great if it could be mandated. It would depend on the learning style to go back to your question.142
Some students are very methodical, they will you know, they will send things back for review or143
redrafting, all the students who worry about things, I can only the ‘complete affinishers’, you know, their144
learning style but I couldn’t put it down to a nationality I think…or a culture.145
CB: Can you envisage a word list that could be potentially useful to your students? Erm … I’m146
thinking perhaps of business word list…147
O: Er…well it kind of tricky because, you know, what I teach, I teach Communication Skills, um…148
which… I mean there are ways of communicating in correspondence in business lit., in business reports,149
there are certain genres there that have an academic style but I would say that a lot of my assessment now150
has gone away from product, where that might be more key, to actual process, reflective writing so that’s151
another thing, another tendency I’m seeing is that more and more assessment strategies are tending152
towards reflective writing so students aren’t necessarily being asked to write many academic reports or153
essays…154
CB: Erm… if there was such a list, let’s say business English word list, how would you feel about an155
EAP teacher teaching these words? Do you think that’s a job that they could do? Or should do?156
O: Um…it’s a very hard thing, a really hard thing because my background also was in one-to-one157
teaching, business teaching and I then went from business English to general English teaching for classes158
and I found that very frustrating at first, that I wasn’t able to tailor my teaching around the individual159
so … I think … remedial teaching on a one-to-one basis potentially works and can be effective and I think160
class teaching is much more difficult not necessary trying to reach a wider audience, (inaudible) an161
elephant gun…162
CB: Elephants again… (laughter). Do you think that, from your experience, moving from English163
Language Teaching into content teaching in a business area, do you think that the average English164
language teacher would be equipped to explain the meaning of business terminology? If we’re165
thinking about the specialised vocabulary of business…166
O: Erm… yes, business terminology yes. The content maybe is another thing. Content…I mean I used to167
teach business English to executives who were in business and they would very often have a very specific168
vocabulary to their particular (inaudible) profession erm…which I would have to learn.169
CB: Yes. They almost teach you that I’ve found, in my experience.170
O: Yes. And it was very much a negotiation, you spend a lot of time just negotiating meaning though they171
wouldn’t improve their English just by negotiating…172
CB: In our industry this is what this term means.173
O: But a lot of the theoretical content you know, it’s learnable, it’s learnable, you know, very often I’m174
just a few pages ahead of the students, you know, I’ve learnt the content and I can then deliver it and the175
terminology is…176
CB: Are there any potential dangers or issues that students need to be made aware of when they’re177
using a list like the Academic Word List to learn vocabulary, is there anything that they should be178
warned about?179

97
O: No, I think if they are actually using it systematically they would have to be very proactive, they180
would have to be very motivated to do it off their own back especially around undergraduate level. I can’t181
off the top of my head imagine there’d be hundreds ofstudents who’d…182
CB: It doesn’t seem like a very attractive tool.183
O: Is that a leading question?184
CB: It may well be, yes. (laughter). Feel free to disagree with that.185
O: Erm… I can’t imagine … if I approach some of my students and said, “Your English, academic186
English is not that great and I think you ought to use the Academic Word List and improve it I’mnot sure187
how many of them would, of their own volition, would run to download it if you want…yeah.188
CB: And finally, is there anything else that you think I should have asked you but haven’t,189
regarding the Academic Word List and more generally, about ways of teaching and learni ng190
academic vocabulary?191
O: No, but I mean just talking now just makes me…it’s been interesting in a sense ‘cause it does make me192
think about how we do need to improve their academic English and I feel quite uncomfortable sometimes193
about the gap between the papers, the authentic papers I’m showing them and their abilities to deal with194
themor be able to read them. So…erm…I think a lot of it as I said at the beginning is through mimicry, a195
lot of it actually, I think comes from reading, reading in context, having someone sit down and hold your196
hand and say,“What’s this paper saying”,“What’s…?”…197
CB: Yes.198
O: … because it’s language and it’s language you need to learn and I’ve struggled with it at times on my199
MA and there’s complexity in language and complexity in ideas as well and sometimes complex ideas are200
not very well explained …201
CB: Yes, obviously.202
O: …by writers. I think the thing is trying to demystify it for students rather than actually getting them to203
write at that level just yet204
CB: OK, thank you very much.205
(Interview ends)206

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