Academic Vocabulary in Use Edition with Answers 2nd Edition
Book Preface
The authors wish to thank Helen Freeman, Chris Capper and Sheila Dignen for their invaluable intellectual and editorial support during the course of the preparation of this new edition. We must also thank the lexicography and computational team at Cambridge University Press whose work with the Cambridge International Corpus, the Cambridge Learner Corpus and the CANCODE corpus of spoken English (developed at the University of Nottingham in association with Cambridge University Press), enabled us to make a fully corpus-informed selection of the academic vocabulary we focus on in these materials. We acknowledge with gratitude the pioneering work on academic word lists done by Averil Coxhead. In planning this book we made considerable use of her lists at http://www. victoria.ac.nz/lals/resources/academicwordlist/ We also acknowledge the work of Annette Capel and the English Vocabulary Profile. The EVP enabled us to select vocabulary appropriate to the level.
Michael McCarthy and Felicity O’Dell Development of this publication has made use of the Cambridge English Corpus, a multi-billion word collection of spoken and written English. It includes the Cambridge Learner Corpus, a unique collection of candidate exam answers. Cambridge University Press has built up the Cambridge English Corpus to provide evidence about language use that helps to produce better language teaching materials.
The authors and publishers acknowledge the following sources of copyright material and are grateful for the permissions granted. While every effort has been made, it has not always been possible to identify the sources of all the material used, or to trace all copyright holders. If any omissions are brought to our notice, we will be happy to include the appropriate acknowledgements on reprinting and in the next update to the digital edition, as applicable. New Scientist for the text on p. 25 adapted from ‘Simulator could predict where epidemics will strike next’, New Scientist, 30.03.2006. Copyright © 2006 Reed Business Information UK. All rights reserved. Distributed by Tribune Media Services; Scientific American for the text on p. 27 adapted from ‘Shutting Down Alzheimers’ by Michael S. Wolfe, Scientific American. Reproduced with permission. Copyright © (2006) Scientific American, Inc. All rights reserved; Nature Publishing Group for the text on p. 39 adapted from ‘Abridged Extract timing is life and death’, Nature, Vol 441, no. 7089, 04.05.2006. Copyright © 2006 Nature Publishing Group. Reproduced with permission; Text on p. 110 adapted from J. Anderson, Colorado State University Extension foods and nutrition specialist and professor; S. Perryman, CSU Extension foods and nutrition specialist; L. Young, former foods and nutrition graduate student; and S. Prior, former graduate intern, food science and human nutrition. Reviewed and revised, July, 2015 by Colorado State University Jessica Clifford, Research Associate and Extension Specialist and K. Maloney, graduate student in the Dept. of Food Science Human Nutrition; Dunedin Academic Press Ltd for the text on p. 111 adapted from ‘Introducing the planets and their moons’ by Peter Cattermole. Reproduced with permission from Cattermole Introducing the Planets and their Moons (Dunedin, Edinburgh, 2014); Text on p. 112 adapted from David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language 2nd Edition, 1997, © David Crystal 1997, published by Cambridge University Press, adapted and reproduced with permission of the author and publisher; Scientific American for the text on p. 113 adapted from ‘A Chronicle of timekeeping’ by William J. H. Andrews, Scientific American, Vol 23. Reproduced with permission. Copyright © (2014) Scientific American, Inc. All rights reserved; Text on p. 114 adapted from Patricia A. Baker, The Archaeology of Medicine in the Greco-Roman World, 2013, © Patricia A. Baker 2013, published by Cambridge University Press, adapted and reproduced with permission of the author and publisher; Text on p. 115 adapted from ‘Seeing Things Differently’ by Shaaron Ainsworth, RSA Journal, Issue 2. Copyright © 2014 RSA Journal. Reproduced with permission of Shaaron Ainsworth.
To the student and the teacher
Who is this book for?
This book is for anyone who wants or needs to learn the kind of English which is used in academic contexts. It deals with the language used in written works such as textbooks and journal articles as well as with the spoken language of lectures and seminars. It also presents vocabulary relating to being a student at a university or college in that it covers topics relating to university life. It will be particularly useful for students preparing for IELTS, the Pearson Academic English Test or any other examination aimed at assessing whether candidates’ English is at a high enough level to study in an institution where English is the medium of instruction. It will be helpful for people who need to attend – or indeed give – lectures or presentations in English or to participate in international conferences. It will enable students who have to prepare assignments or write up a dissertation in English to do so in a much more natural and appropriate way.
What kind of vocabulary does the book deal with?
The book presents and practises the kind of vocabulary that is used in academic contexts regardless of which discipline you are specialising in. So it considers words and expressions like concept, put forward a theory and come to a conclusion. It does not deal with the specialist vocabulary of any particular subject such as anatomy or physics. Specialist terms are often relatively easy to master – they will be explained and taught as you study the subject and indeed these words may sometimes be similar in English and your own language. However, it is the more general vocabulary used for discussing ideas and research and for talking and writing about academic work that you need to be familiar with in order to feel comfortable in an academic environment. Despite the fact that such vocabulary items are much more frequent than specialist vocabulary, they are often felt to be more difficult to learn. It is, therefore, useful to approach them in the systematic way suggested by this book.
One positive aspect of academic vocabulary is that there are relatively few differences, depending on whether you are studying in London or New York, Delhi or Sydney, Johannesburg, Dublin, Wellington, Toronto or Singapore or indeed any other place where you may be using English for academic purposes. Academic English tends to be a truly international language and the units of the book focus on vocabulary that will be essential for you regardless of where you are studying now or where you may be likely to study in the future. There are some differences between words used to describe people and places and these are highlighted in Unit 19. Reference sections 3 and 4 also focus on some vocabulary and spelling variations. In the units of the book we use British English spelling conventions, except when quoting texts which originally used American spellings. Much of the vocabulary used in the book is neutral in that it is equally appropriate in both written and spoken contexts. We indicate those instances where a word is too formal to be used in speech or too informal to use in academic writing.
How was the vocabulary for the book selected?
The academic vocabulary focused on in this book was all selected from language identified as significant by the Cambridge International Corpus of written and spoken English and also the CANCODE corpus of spoken English developed at the University of Nottingham in association with Cambridge University Press. These enormous corpora include large collections of written and spoken academic text and so it was possible to identify language that is distinctive for academic contexts. We also made considerable use of the Cambridge Learner Corpus, a corpus of more than 60 million words of text taken from hundreds of thousands of learner scripts from students taking Cambridge English exams all over the world. From this corpus we were able to learn what kinds of errors students taking, for example, IELTS, were typically making. In planning this book we made considerable use of Averil Coxhead’s work on developing academic wordlists. Her lists can be found at, for example, http://www.uefap.com/vocab/select/ awl.htm
How is the book organised?
Each unit consists of two pages. The left-hand page presents the academic vocabulary to be focused on in the unit. You will usually find words and expressions presented in context with, where appropriate, any special notes about their meaning and usage. The right-hand page checks that you have understood the information on the presentation page by giving you a series of exercises to complete.
The units are organised into different sections: The book begins with a Unit Zero called Before you start. The first section then includes nine units which look at basic aspects of academic vocabulary such as what is special about academic vocabulary, key verbs and key quantifying expressions. The second section devotes eight units to how words typically combine with one another in academic English. The third section has six units focusing on aspects of life in academic institutions. The fourth section provides four units considering aspects of planning and starting a piece of work and the fifth consists of five units relating to thinking and interacting. The sixth section has six units dealing with ways of talking about different concepts such as numbers, time and cause and effect. The seventh section includes twelve units covering
aspects of the organisation and presentation of ideas.
Towards the end of the book you will find six reading texts relating to different academic disciplines with exercises based on the vocabulary in those texts. We hope you will find these useful examples of how to use texts to expand your knowledge of academic vocabulary in English and would recommend that you read these texts and do the exercises on them even if they relate to an academic subject that is very different from your own.
There are five reference sections dealing with some key areas where we felt it would be useful for you to have lists of items that could not be presented as fully in the main body of the book, i.e. Formal and informal academic words and expressions, Numbers, units of measurement and common symbols, British and North American academic vocabulary, Spelling variations and Word formation. Where appropriate, these reference sections provide space for you to add further examples of your own.
At the end of the book there is a Key with answers to all the exercises and an Index of all the key words and expressions, indicating the units where they can be found. The pronunciation is provided for standard British English.
Do Unit Zero first followed by Unit 1 What is special about academic English? Then work through the remaining units in any order that suits you.
So, good luck with your work on academic English. We hope that the materials in this book will help you to enjoy and to benefit fully from your studies. We hope that you will be able to share ideas in a creative, exciting way with scholars from all over the world and we wish you the very best for a successful and rewarding academic life.
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