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Article published In: Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 38:1 (2025) ► pp.80–106

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Creating and validating a corpus-based English academic word list for physics

ORCiD logo with link | University of Montenegro
Published online: 1 May 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/resla.22041.vuk
Abstract
In this study a Physics Research Articles Word List (PRAWL) is built, which includes the most extensively used English vocabulary in the genre of physics research articles outside the most frequent general-purpose vocabulary. PRAWL can be of great use in English for Physics teaching and learning. This discipline-specific academic word list was produced from a corpus of 1.25 million running words, consisting of 200 physics research articles. PRAWL contains 929 words and has a 17.48% coverage in the corpus it was derived from. Together with 2,000 high-frequency general-purpose words, as well as words bearing no or minimal learning load, PRAWL reaches a coverage close to 95% in this corpus. We validate PRAWL in three independent corpora and also discuss the pedagogical implications and recommendations regarding its use. The list is intended for students of physics who do not have a command of English which is sufficiently adequate for reading research articles in it without outside support.
Resumen
Crear y validar una académica lista de palabras en inglés basada en corpus para física
En este estudio se ha construido una Lista de Palabras de Artículos de Investigación de Física (PRAWL), que incluye el vocabulario inglés más utilizado en el género de artículos de investigación de física fuera del vocabulario para uso general más frecuente. PRAWL puede ser de gran utilidad en inglés para la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de la física. Esta lista de palabras académicas específicas de disciplinas se produjo a partir de un corpus de 1,25 millones de palabras corrientes y consta de 200 artículos de investigación de física. PRAWL contiene 929 palabras y tiene una cobertura del 17,48% en el corpus del que fue derivada la Lista PRAWL. Junto con 2.000 palabras para uso general de alta frecuencia, así como palabras que tienen una carga de aprendizaje mínima o nula, PRAWL alcanza una cobertura cercana al 95% en este corpus. Validamos PRAWL en tres corpus independientes y también discutimos sobre las implicaciones pedagógicas y las recomendaciones con respecto a su uso. La lista va dirigida a estudiantes de física que no tienen un dominio del inglés que sea lo suficientemente adecuado para leer artículos de investigación en inglés sin algún apoyo externo.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
    • 2.1Word lists
      • 2.1.1High-frequency word lists
      • 2.1.2General academic word lists
    • 2.2Discipline-specific word lists
      • 2.2.1Discipline-specific lists most relevant to the present study
  • 3.Research aim and questions
  • 4.Methodology
    • 4.1Corpus
    • 4.2Software
    • 4.3Procedure
  • 5.Results
  • 6.Performance of PRAWL over physics subfields
  • 7.Validation
  • 8.Pedagogical implications and recommendations
    • 8.1Learning the words from PRAWL through self-study
    • 8.2Teaching and learning the words from PRAWL in the classroom
  • 9.Limitations of the study
  • 10.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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