The Role of Vocabulary for ESP

The Role of Vocabulary in English for

Specific Purposes (ESP) Teaching and
Learning: Considerations for Asia University
Mikio Brooks, Asia University

Abstract

The mastery of English language vocabulary is vital for both ESL and
EFL learners along with those who are aiming to learn English for Specific
Purposes (ESP). This paper introduces varying types and categorizations of
vocabulary as means to raise awareness of the role of vocabulary in ESP
teaching. It then explores which types of vocabulary should be taught and
how an ESP teacher can facilitate the learning process. The paper concludes
by providing suggestions and specific considerations and in how to deal with
vocabulary within both EFL and ESP contexts at Asia University.

Introduction

Most second language learners are aware that the acquisition of

vocabulary is a fundamental and important component in the course of their
learning. A good mastery of vocabulary is essential for ESL/ EFL learners,
especially for those who are advanced learners of English for specific
purposes. Paul Nation describes how learners should deal with specific
vocabulary by stating, “It is wise to direct vocabulary learning to more
specialized areas when learners have mastered the 2000---3000 words of
general usefulness in English (Nation, 2001:187).” In order to overcome the
challenges of specialized usage of vocabulary, learners need to be taught
and/or learn about the different types of vocabulary, its usage, and specific

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strategies that will help them acquire vocabulary. Simultaneously, teachers

also need to be aware of the kinds of vocabulary words, which words are
worth focusing on. Should these important words be dealt with during a class
or within a learner’s independent study time? This directly relates to this
relates to what teaching content and classroom activities the instructor must
prepare for the learners. The paper will explore four areas, namely, types of
vocabulary, the type of vocabulary ESP teachers should teach, how ESP
teachers should select vocabulary to teach, and features of teaching and
learning of vocabulary. The paper will also present several aspects to
consider in the context of both ESP and non-ESP vocabulary and their usage
in EFL teaching at Asia University.

Types of Vocabulary

In teaching and learning vocabulary, it is essential to distinguish

between different types of vocabulary because varying types of vocabulary
need different focus and treatment. Depending on the learners’ aims and
course content some types of vocabulary will be given priority and more
emphasis in teaching and learning than others. The following section will
explore the varying sub-types of vocabulary.

Spoken and Written Vocabulary

Although most of the existing literature on vocabulary has grown out of
the study of written texts, recent corpus-based investigations of written and
spoken vocabulary have enabled us to comparatively study spoken and written
vocabulary in actual use. They reveal the difference between the vocabulary of
written texts and the vocabulary of everyday spoken language. According to
Cambridge International Corpus (CIC), (Schmitt and McCarthy,
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1997: 24) the written data is mainly made up of lexical/ , non-lexical words,
i.e., non-content items, including pronouns, prepositions and conjunctions,
while the spoken list seems to embrace some lexical words like know, think,
well, get and right. In spoken CIC data, spoken texts are less dense than
most written texts in terms of vocabulary. This can be noticeable in language-
in-action dialogue texts with repetition and lexical negotiation occurring
much more often in spoken discourse than in written texts. Spoken texts tend
to be vague and general words are more frequently used in everyday speech
than in written texts.
These differences are significant when we consider what kinds of
vocabulary items are important to teach in both writing and speech. From the
comparative study, we can deduce that spoken language is the central source
of the contact to communicative language but written language continues to
be a fundamental source for input (Schmitt and McCarthy, 1997:38).

Core and Non-core vocabulary

As the word ‘core’ suggests, core vocabulary refers to those words

that occur frequently and are more central to the language than other words.
According to McCarthy (1990), people favor using such words because they
have core meaning-potential. These words are thought to be ‘core’ because
they are easy to find an antonym for. In addition, they are neutral in formality
and usable in a wide variety of situations. Furthermore, these core words can
be used to paraphrase or give definitions of other words. For example, in
Task 41, (McCarthy, 1990) the following instruction is given: “Decide which
is the core word in the set of words: slim, slender, thin, emaciated, and
scrawny”. Given the characteristics of a ‘core’ word, we can easily see that
‘thin’ is the core word.
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In ESP teaching, we also come across subject-specific vocabulary,

which is non-core as far as the language as a whole is concerned. Carter
determined that subject-specific vocabulary should be considered non-core
because of its lack of neutrality and association with a specialized topic
(Carter, 1988:172). Learners with specific or academic purposes may need to
acquire them in medical texts and lessons may need to learn subject-specific
core vocabulary, e.g., placebo and dialysis. However, other learners
unrelated to the specific field may not necessarily need to learn these words.

Discourse Structuring Vocabulary and Procedural Vocabulary

The English language possesses a number of abstract nouns that have

little independent lexical content, such as assumption, variety, solution,
proposal and factor. Their main function is to structure discourse, that is, to
summarize or encapsulate previously mentioned ideas and link one sentence
to the next. These abstract nouns are also called ‘anaphoric’ nouns and
belong to discourse structuring vocabulary. They are quite commonly used in
expository academic prose and in newspaper articles. Therefore, it is
important and necessary for second language learners, particularly those who
learn English for academic purposes to be familiar with these words.
Procedural vocabulary is characteristically used to explain and make
sense of more complicated words, paraphrase them, define them and organize
them during communication. They are commonly used in dictionaries to give
definitions so learners may find them useful when learning other words when
building their vocabulary.
Technical, Semi-Technical and General Vocabulary

In terms of teaching vocabulary in ESP contexts, it is important to make a

distinction between two categories of vocabulary: technical and
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semi-technical because they are of great importance to learners studying

English for specific and academic purposes. Dudley-Evans and St John
(1998:83) suggest resolving overlapping categories (Baker, 1988:91) into two
broader groupings:
a). vocabulary that is used in general language but has a higher frequency
of occurrence in specific and technical descriptions and discussions.
b). vocabulary that has specialized and restricted meanings in certain
disciplines and which may vary in meaning across disciplines.
The first group should be referred to as semi-technical vocabulary and the
second area would be regarded as technical vocabulary. We can examine the
following text about a pharmaceutical experiment to illustrate the difference
between the two:
We report a double blind, placebo controlled, crossover
trial of an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor,
enalapril, in patients with chronic fluid overload
receiving dialysis. We used a crossover study and
carried out procedures within the study according to the
standard of ethics committee of this hospital, Each
patient was given either enalapril or placebo in the first
period of treatment and the alternative treatment in the
second period; the order in which treatment was given
was randomized, 13 patients receiving enalapril and 12
placebos first. Randomization was carried out by
suppliers of the drug. (Ferguson. G. 2002)
The technical vocabulary items are as follows: angiotensin, enzyme,
inhibitor, enalapril, chronic, dialysis, and placebo.
The semi-technical vocabulary items are as follows: report, double
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blind, control, crossover, trial, convert, fluid, overload, receive, study,

carry out, procedure, standard period treatment, randomize,
randomization, supplier and drug.

Academic Vocabulary

So far, there have been several studies that have investigated the
vocabulary that learners need for academic study. The most widely used and
recognized one is the Academic Word List (Coxhead, 1998), which was
compiled from a corpus of 3.5 million running words of the written academic
text by examining the range of frequency of words outside the first 2000 most
frequent words of English, as described in the General Service List (GSL) by
West (1953). It contains 570 word families that occur frequently in a wide
range of academic texts and from a wide range of disciplines, which means
that the words are useful for learners studying humanities, law, science, and
commerce. A number beside each word indicates which sub-list it appears in,
making it convenient for both teachers and students to use.

Which Vocabulary Types Should ESP Instructors Teach?

According to Hutchinson and Waters, (1987) ESP should be seen as

an approach to language teaching directed by specific and apparent reasons
for learning. Nowadays, many second language learners attending UK or US
universities learn English not only for general purposes but for more specific
uses. Students who want to study at a university in an English-speaking
country will be learning English for academic purposes and their academic
study will usually involve specialized areas across different disciplines in
physical sciences as well as in social sciences. The aim of their vocabulary
acquisition will be to build academic vocabulary.
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Rationale for Learning Academic Vocabulary

Learners who will attend an academic study program in English must

focus on academic vocabulary which is variously known as ‘general useful
scientific vocabulary’ ((Barber, 1962) cited in Nation (2001)) and ‘semi-
technical vocabulary’ (Farrell, 1990), because they need to exhibit a wide
range of academic skills like reading research in a specific academic field,
listening to teachers lecture, writing academic papers and discussing or
presenting their own ideas or research.
With its importance, both academic vocabulary and semi-technical
vocabulary should be given priority in teaching by ESP teachers because,
according to Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998: 83), this type of vocabulary is
used in general life contexts but also has a higher frequency of occurrence in
scientific and technical descriptions and discussions. Examination of the
above given text shows that a potential ESP teacher must teach learners
general vocabulary that has a higher frequency in a scientific field such as:

Academic: trial, study, standard, ethics, period and order

Medicine: overload, procedure, chronic, treatment, fluid and drug
Verbs: report, control, convert, receive, give, and randomize
Collocations: carry out

Teaching Technical Vocabulary

Some EFL and ESL teachers may sometimes assert that it is not their
responsibility to teach technical vocabulary (Barber, 1964: Higgins, 1966 &
Cowan, 1974). This may also apply to ESP teachers who may or may not have
the technical expertise in the subject matter they are teaching. However, under
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certain circumstances, and as the only qualified instructor, it may be the duty
of an ESP teacher to teach technical vocabulary to assist in the learner’s
process of acquisition.

What is Beyond the Duty of the ESP Teacher?

To what extent does an ESP teacher need to incorporate technical

vocabulary into a syllabus or lesson? A technical word is one that is
recognizably specific to a particular topic, field or discipline. It is likely that
they can only be fully learned and understood by studying the field. Such
words are usually considered to be the responsibility of subject teachers. In
some cases, although learners who are in a specific scientific field will have
no problem with technical words, a language teacher may in fact, have great
difficulty with them (Strevens, 1973: 223). We can imagine the examples in
the given text. Technical words like enzyme, dialysis and placebo are
specialized words in the field of medicine, which are quite easy for a student
studying medicine. Additionally, there are technical words that are quite
familiar to learners (even if learners are not studying the specific discipline to
which the technical words belong) because the words are widely, even
internationally, known. Some commonly occurring words in computer
science, such as browser, program, log, hypertext and Internet, are quite
familiar to learners. However, terminology such as enalapril or angiotensin
can be beyond the ESP teacher. When dealing with technical words, the
teacher will need to consider whether to integrate or skip these words
depending on the needs and aims of the learners.

When is Teacher Guidance Necessary?

While the topic of ESP teachers and their duty to teach technical
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vocabulary is a contentious one, there may be several circumstances in which

ESP teachers should offer timely help. One case is when learners are reading
specialized texts with a large number of unknown technical words which
cannot be ignored by learners because of their close connection with the topic
being discussed. In these instances ESP teachers need to help the learners
decide which words are worth focusing on. Secondly, when doing ESP
exercises it is effective to exploit a particular context with certain technical
vocabulary. Dudley-Evans and St. John maintain, “[it] is important that both
the teacher and the learners appreciate that this vocabulary is acting as a
carrier of content for an exercise and it is not the real content of the exercise”
(Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998:81). This can help learners focus on the
material more and not merely the vocabulary. Thirdly, ESP teachers may help
learners when they find it a bit difficult to understand general words used as
technical words. For instance, wall in biology, and resistance in electronics.
Fourthly, if a technical word is not used in the same manner as in the
student’s native language, the teacher will have to give some explanations
and introductions to the vocabulary to be learned. Fifthly, usually there is a
one-to-one relationship between the terms in English and the learners’ L1,
but sometimes when there is absence of a one-to-one explanation, the teacher
should check whether learners have fully understood the term and give them
guidance in the use of technical dictionaries or sources. Finally, it is possible
that difficulty with the pronunciation of some technical words could lead to
poor memorizing of the words. ESP teachers can assist learners by helping
them improve general pronunciation, raising awareness of syllables in words,
and reading in the International Phonetic Alphabet form.

Selecting the Appropriate Vocabulary for Teaching

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In preparing the vocabulary component of a language course, it is

vital that teachers should have the basic words to refer to and they should
evaluate whether a specific word is important enough to be given attention to.
The use of word lists as the main source of vocabulary learning is favorable
in the teaching and learning of the English vocabulary (Nation, 2001).

Word Lists at an Early Stage

Pre-compiled word lists are of great help because they are derived
from different corpora developed from millions of words, for example GSL
(West, 1953), UWL (University Word List) (Xue and Nation, 1984) and
AWL (Academic Word List) (Coxhead, 1998). They contain general
academic words useful to ESP students. The benefits of utilizing word lists
are that they not only help teachers to select words worth focusing on and
teaching but also enable learners to have a systematic study of academic
words they need for academic or specific purposes.

Awareness of Criteria in Selection

Experts recommend that teachers refer to word lists when teachers

prepare a vocabulary teaching program. However, mechanically making use
of word lists in class may be demotivating to some learners. Some criteria
should be taken in account to select words that are appropriate for the context
and students.
The word lists must contain words that are representative of the
varieties of words they are intended to reflect. For example, if we are to teach
vocabulary of speech, we must first make sure that the word list we select for
teaching is based on a corpora of spoken data which represent the words to be
learned.
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The words selected should occur across a range of different text types.
The occurrence of a word in a wide range of text types will be beneficial to
learners who major in different subject areas for academic or specific
purposes.
In addition, special attention should be paid to some vocabulary items
with multi-units whose meaning are not deducible from the meaning of
individual words, For example, so far, good night, all right, etc. They
should be regarded as a whole and included in the teaching list.

The Use of Concordance

Concordance is one method of promoting vocabulary learning that

has some specific advantages for learners. Learners can encounter the
vocabulary in real contexts with a variety of aspects of, familiarizing
themselves with a word including collocates, grammatical patterns, word
family members, related meanings and homonyms presented. Nation (2001)
maintains that learners have the opportunity to formulate generalizations, not-
patterns, and exceptions arise when the use of concordances are employed in
the learning process.

Teaching and Learning Vocabulary

Considering the complexity of the task of vocabulary learning, it is an

unreasonable expectation for the teacher to explicitly teach all facets of
vocabulary and an entire set of words of a list to learners. Instead, learners
can be encouraged to learn how to continue to acquire vocabulary on their
own after developing a fundamental level of vocabulary. Gairns and Redman
(1993) assert that individual learning of vocabulary not only gives more
responsibility toward a student’s own learning, but can also help focus on
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individual learner needs (pg.76). Since individual learning of vocabulary can

be beneficial to learners, it is recommended that teachers encourage learners
to develop their own vocabulary learning strategies which consist of
guessing, dictionary, and memory strategies (Gu and Johnson, 1996).
Learners can be directed and trained to develop these strategies in their
independent study time. The following are some vocabulary learning and
teaching strategies that can be applied:

Contextual Guessing

Contextual guesswork means inferring meaning from the clues in the

context. There are three ways of achieving this. Firstly, learners should have
strategies behind ‘guessing’, in other words, methods through which they can
guess through incidental and intentional reading presented and explained to
them. Secondly, the proportion of unknown words to be guessed in a text
should not exceed 10%. Teachers should if possible present materials that are
comprehensible and/or help guide learners towards texts that are over 90%
comprehensible to the individual. Finally, learners should be taught and
practice skills to help identify what can be learned from the context, develop
the ability to identify parts of speech, become aware of collocations, and the
various forms that a word can take.

Memorizing

Memory strategies involve relating the word to be retained with some

previously learned knowledge—that is facilitating the storage and retrieval of
words. Visualization is one particularly powerful memorization strategy. As
Nattinger (1988) observes, “words in our mental lexicon are tied to each
other not only by meaning form and sound but also by sight.”
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Learning of Affixes

Another popular strategy that learners can work to develop is the

knowledge of affixes (Nation 1990; Bauer & Nation 1993) . Within English
vocabulary, a relatively small group of affixes that are useful and accessible
can be introduced to learners when learners are at appropriate levels of their
language development. For example, low intermediate learners may start with
affixes like, --able, --er, un--, --tion, etc. An important aspect in helping the
learner become independent is for the learner to recognize his/ her own style
of learning and to find their own ways of expanding and organizing their
word stores. Whatever vocabulary strategies are in use, learners must find the
right ones for them. In the meantime, teachers may help the student develop a
personal plan that best suits his/ her vocabulary learning.
Independent vocabulary learning strategies are both necessary and
useful and should be incorporated in teaching. Nonetheless, we should be
aware that individual learners have different styles of acquiring unfamiliar
vocabulary or they are not all at the same level of proficiency in English.
Therefore, it is sensible for teachers to teach vocabulary explicitly considering
these factors. Explicit teaching can be carried out through teacher instruction or
classroom activities. A teacher should pay attention to both proficiencies and
learning styles when preparing their teaching and classroom activities:

Repetition and Recycling Words

Due to the fact that there are many aspects to learn about a word, a
single encounter with it is makes it highly improbable it will be learned or
retained. Following Richard’s ‘knowing a word statement’ (1976), and
Nation’s (2001) concept of receptive and productive knowledge of words as a
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continuum, knowing a word covers the recognition of occurrence, spelling,

derivation, appropriateness in different situations and word associations.
Only through multiple encounters with the word, can a learner develop a full
understand of its use and meaning.

Relating the Word to Reality

The use of visual images in the classroom is highly recommended in

vocabulary teaching because it helps create concrete items in a person’s mind
rather than thinking about an abstract word (Gairns and Redman, 1993).
Using teaching tools such as wall charts, flashcards, and pictures can help
learners to imagine the words visually.
According to Jordan (1997), “the most effective way for students to
increase their active vocabulary store is for them to be centrally involved in
the learning process (pg. 162).” This may be under the direction of a teacher,
doing group work with other students, or during independent study, as
previously discussed.

Brainstorming Activities

Doing brainstorming activities is another way to help increase a

learner’s vocabulary. This process generally refers to brainstorming
associations that a word has with others words and then diagramming the
results. For example, when asked to give words learners thought of when
they hear the word ‘bank’, most learners would generate a number of words
and phrases: money, invest, loan, deposit, debit, account, etc. Subsequently,
learners can cluster these words together in ways they think are linked and
receive feedback from peers or the teacher.

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Considerations for ESP and Non-ESP Vocabulary Teaching

at Asia University

Currently, there are a range of EFL and ESL courses at Asia

University that focus on disciplines of Business English, Business Hospitality
(Travel and Tourism), and International Relations. One could argue, based on
Hutchinson and Water’s (1987) notion that ESP is rooted in tailoring a course
to meet the learners’ needs that at this institution, these courses are more
specific in their goals and objectives. On the other hand, the Freshman
English program and to some extent, the Sophomore-level English courses
represent integrated four-skills language courses that are more generalized in
their objectives. The content taught, skills focused on, methods and
approaches to instruction, pace of instruction of both ESP and non-ESP
courses will vary due to departmental guidelines, syllabi, textbooks, student
language proficiencies, student interests, individual teacher preferences and
teaching styles, and motivation. The goal of this section is to highlight
aspects of vocabulary learning and teaching to consider for ESP and non-ESP
courses at Asia University. The suggestions are based on the author’s
experience of teaching at Asia University and research on ESP.
● Though vocabulary learning is one component of language learning,
teachers should help students realize acquiring a larger vocabulary is
an important aspect of their learning and should be considered over
the long-term. Simultaneously, teachers should also provide students
with strategies to learn and utilize vocabulary so they have the tools
to independently acquire vocabulary. Furthermore, if possible find
ways to assist students learn vocabulary not course by course but
over a series of courses or over
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a span of several years (e.g. coordinate programs so that students

learn the first 500 words the first year, and then learn the next 500
words the following year.)
● Level students into classes based on proficiency groupings. Once
students are enrolled into a class, try to further assess vocabulary
development individually, or as a class to help determine which
words lists, or words to focus on in relation to focus or objectives
of the course.
● Focus primarily on the learning of high frequency words in both
ESP and non-ESP courses. According to Nation (2001), learning
the 2000 most frequent words of English can help approximately
cover 90% of conversation types of text and approximately 78%
of academic texts. Based on needs or goals of a course, introduce
semi-technical and technical words.
● Find ways to introduce the learning of academic word lists and
other semi-technical words for students who are beyond the 2000
most frequent words and/or specifically need these words for their
future aims.
● Ask teachers to realize they do not necessarily have to be experts
in the specialist subject areas. As Hutchinson and Waters outlines,
ESP teachers only require, “A positive attitude towards the ESP
content, a knowledge of fundamental principles of the subject
areas, and an awareness of how much they already know.” Rather
than becoming a specialist, in essence, they describe it as a role
(pg.163). in which the teacher becomes an interested student of the
subject matter and can ask intelligent questions about that topic.

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Conclusion

Having discussed the four parts of vocabulary teaching and learning,

we may conclude that the teaching and learning of vocabulary, although it is
only one sub-goal of a range of goals that is important in second language
learning, plays a key role in the overall structure of any language teaching
program because of its basic functions in the language components. It is
important for learners, especially learners with specific or academic purposes
to make distinctions between all types of English vocabulary to help achieve
their goals. Furthermore, it is vital for teachers to make a careful selection of
the types of English vocabulary to be taught to students whether it is for
general purposes or for more specific purposes. To some extent, ESP teachers
may not need to pay extensive attention to technical vocabulary that is too
particular to a certain discipline or field. Moreover, working with high
frequency words can be beneficial for both general purpose English and
specific goal-oriented English courses. Encouraging and providing learners
with the strategies and support to be independent in acquiring a second
language should be the goal of not only individual teachers but collectively
and ultimately the objective of the institution.

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