CORPUS-BASED VOCABULARY LISTS FOR SECOND LANGUAGE CLASSES

Abstract

Language learners need a large vocabulary in order to make strides in the target language. A strong vocabulary curriculum must carefully select vocabulary items for focus during limited class time, so one way that researchers have tried to help guide vocabulary instruction is in the generation of corpus-based vocabulary lists. While the Academic Word List (Coxhead, 2000) is by far the most well-known vocabulary list, there is a wide array of corpus-based vocabulary lists available to teachers and material writers. This article summarizes with an overview of 31 corpus-based vocabulary lists. The lists are grouped into four categories general, academic, disciplinary, and formulaic. But it is explained only two categories in this article. In addition, the authors explain key information about the list development process and content in order to help TESOL professionals become more confident consumers of vocabulary list research.