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Article published In: Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 36:1 (2023) ► pp.307–328

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Vocabulary suitability of science TED talks for English for science teaching and learning

ORCiD logo with link | University of Montenegro
Published online: 20 March 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/resla.20062.vuk
Abstract
With a view to advancing their students’ listening comprehension and vocabulary, English for Science teachers are frequently in search of new and interesting audio and video materials. TED Talks on science topics are a good option for this purpose. But just how suitable, vocabulary-wise, are they for English for Science learners? This study explores the lexical profile of TED Talks on science and compares it against non-science TED Talks and science academic lectures. We use a 5-million-word TED Talk corpus, with a 1.3-million-word science subsection. Of the two categories of TED Talks, it is the science ones that are lexically more similar to science academic lectures. Science TED Talks also feature significantly more technical vocabulary than non-science TED Talks. Reasonable listening comprehension is achieved at 4,000 words for science TED Talks, while ideal comprehension is achieved at 8,000 words for both categories. These results recommend science TED Talks for English for Science listening.
Resumen
Idoneidad de vocabulario de charlas científicas TED para inglés destinado a enseñanza y aprendizaje científico
Con miras a avanzar la compresión oral y el vocabulario de sus estudiantes, docentes de inglés científico frecuentemente buscan nuevos e interesantes materiales audiovisuales. Las charlas TED sobre temas científicos son una opción para estas clases. Sin embargo, ¿hasta qué punto son idóneas en lo que se refiere al vocabulario para estudiantes de inglés científico? Este estudio explora su perfil léxico y las compara con charlas TED no científicas y conferencias académicas científicas. Analizamos un corpus de 5 millones de palabras de charlas TED con una subsección científica de 1,3 millones de palabras. De las dos categorías de charlas TED, las de ciencia son léxicamente más similares a conferencias académicas científicas. Las charlas científicas TED también se caracterizan por tener un vocabulario mucho más técnico que las no científicas. Una compresión oral razonable se obtiene con 4000 palabras para charlas científicas TED, y una ideal con 8000 palabras para ambas categorías. Estos resultados recomiendan las charlas científicas TED para la compresión oral de inglés científico.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical review
    • 2.1Lexical profiling
    • 2.2Reading and listening vocabulary thresholds
    • 2.3Some word lists
    • 2.4Lexical profile of TED Talks
    • 2.5Lexical profile of science academic lectures
  • 3.Research questions
  • 4.Data and method
  • 5.Results and analysis
    • 5.1How many words are needed for reasonable and ideal listening comprehension of science TED Talks (or reading comprehension of their transcripts)?
    • 5.2How accessible are science TED Talks to students with various levels (according to the CEFR) of English as an L2?
    • 5.3How much academic and science vocabulary do science TED Talks contain, especially in comparison with TED Talks on other topics, on the one hand, and science academic lectures, on the other hand?
  • 6.Pedagogical implications
  • 7.Limitations of the study
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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