The focus of this piece is specialized vocabulary in applied linguistics research, and it was originally part of a colloquium at TESOL 2017 entitled: “Teaching and Assessing Vocabulary: What the Research Shows.” Briefly, some of the characteristics of specialized vocabulary are that these words are restricted in some way to a particular field or occupation. This means that people who are in a field or discipline are more likely to know the specialized meanings of these words than people who are outside the field (Nation, 2016). This point is important because language learners need exposure to this lexis in context, and yet this vocabulary is not necessarily part of their everyday lives. That said, another important characteristic of specialized vocabulary is that it is spread across the range of high-, mid-, and low-frequency words in English. This point is important because we might expect that specialized vocabulary might only include long or Latin- or Greek-based lexis such as we might see in medical texts (for example, melioidosis), or unfamiliar words such as rubella. But, in reality, some everyday words can have specific meanings in a field (think of file in computer science and in carpentry, e.g.). This means that learners and teachers need to recognize that everyday words in a discipline may have a specialized meaning, and therefore it is important to pay attention to this new meaning in texts and in use.

I want to highlight four key points from research here. First, specialized vocabulary can involve a large number of words in a text: up to one word in three in a discipline, according to research by Chung and Nation (2004). Second, this vocabulary can be single words or multiword units (e.g., Simpson-Vlach & Ellis, 2010). Third, specialized vocabulary can include high-frequency, everyday words that have technical meanings. And finally, research in this field has been dominated by higher educational contexts, but other areas, such as secondary school and trades-based specialized vocabulary research are beginning to appear in the literature. Let’s look at each of these key points briefly in turn, using examples from my own research and that of others in the field.

Proportions of Specialized Vocabulary in Texts

Early estimates in research on amounts of technical or specialized vocabulary in texts suggested fairly low proportions in written texts. Then Chung and Nation (2004) investigated technical vocabulary using a variety of approaches. One of the most reliable approaches they used was a scale of technical words, which they applied to an applied linguistics textbook and an anatomy textbook. They found that the anatomy textbook contained more technical vocabulary than the applied linguistics textbook, and that one word in three in a line of text in anatomy was technical (Chung & Nation, 2004). Their scale had four steps to it, from vocabulary with no connection to a discipline to vocabulary that only appears in a discipline. For example, in anatomy, words such as commonly and early might appear in an anatomy textbook but do not have a technical meaning, whereas hematopoietic and pectoralis are highly technical words in the field.

This finding about the amount of technical vocabulary in different texts is important because it suggests that learning the vocabulary of a discipline involves a larger number of words than was previously thought. For teaching and learning, this means that we need to think carefully about the vocabulary learning goals for specialized vocabulary in courses and independent learning, and recognize that the learning task is larger than we might have imagined. In a study of carpentry (Coxhead, Demecheleer, & McLaughlin, 2016), we found similar proportions of technical vocabulary, though we did not use the same methodology as Chung and Nation (2004). Our study involved quantitative and qualitative approaches: corpus analysis, expert judgement, and extensive reference checking of specialized vocabulary in discipline dictionaries and concordance lines from the corpus.

Specialized Vocabulary as Single Words or Multiword Units

Word lists of specialized vocabulary, such as Coxhead, Demecheleer, and McLaughlin’s (2016) carpentry word list and Greene and Coxhead’s (2015) middle school vocabulary lists, have focused mostly on single words. For example, here are some of the most frequent words in the middle school maths list from Greene and Coxhead (2015): equate, graph, area, fraction, chapter, data, triangle, percent, decimal, and factor. Recently, multiword units have become a focus of word list development, for example in research on academic formulas in English by Simpson-Vlach & Ellis (2010). These researchers produced three lists of formulas: a “core” written and spoken formulas list (e.g., and the same, as opposed to), a list of spoken formulas (e.g., [nothing] to do; the same thing; blah, blah, blah), and a list of written formulas (e.g., be related to the, is more likely). The spoken and written only formula lists contain 200 items each.

Another example of multiword units can be seen in carpentry, where we found a range of abbreviations that have technical meanings, for example medium density fibreboard (MDF), megapascal (MPa), and machine stress grading 6 (MSG6; Coxhead et al., 2016). This research direction into multiword units is important because it broadens our understanding of technical or specialized vocabulary. For teaching and learning, this research highlights the importance of looking at chunks or sequences of technical vocabulary and paying attention to their frequency. High frequency multiword units are a good starting point for planning for specialized vocabulary in courses. These examples above also draw our attention to the importance of abbreviations in some fields of study, such as carpentry. For more on making, using, and critiquing word lists as well as more on multiword units, see Nation (2016).

High-Frequency, Everyday Words With Technical Meanings

High-frequency words occur often in English in all kinds of texts, but in some disciplines these words might take on a technical meaning. For example, in computer science, everyday words with technical meanings include save, open,and close. In carpentry, we also see everyday words with technical meanings, such as finish and line. Also, by their very nature, high-frequency words occur often in texts. This means that learners and teachers need to think carefully about high-frequency words. If the general meaning is already known, then the initial focus needs to be on the specialized meaning of the word and ensuring that learners use the words with the correct meaning in their writing and speaking.

Specialized Vocabulary in Secondary School and Trades-Based Contexts

This final point focuses on moving research on specialized vocabulary into contexts, such as secondary school and trades education, that have not been so well served in the literature to date. It is clear from the research that university contexts have been explored in both English for general academic purposes and English for specific academic purposes in vocabulary studies. There are word lists for engineering, for example, and there has been quite a lot of research into medical English. Recent research has begun to investigate specialized vocabulary in schools. Greene and Coxhead (2015), for example, focused on middle school vocabulary textbooks in English grammar and writing, health, math, science, and social sciences and history in the United States. The aim of this project was to analyze the vocabulary in the textbooks and identify the most frequent words in the texts. We already saw examples from the aforementioned maths middle school list. Here are some more examples, this time the top words from the middle school health list: drug, physical, alcohol, stress, goal, teen, affect, emotion, healthful, and injury. Greene and Coxhead (2015) outline principles of selection for these word lists and provide many practical activities for focusing on this lexis in classrooms.

Another area of new research is specialized vocabulary in trades education (Coxhead et al., 2016). The Language in the Trades Education (LATTE) project focused on discourse and vocabulary in four trades: carpentry, plumbing, automotive engineering, and fabrication or welding (go to this page on the Ako Aotearoa website for more on this project). Word lists for each trade were developed using corpora and expert-informed research. As we might expect, there are everyday words in English that are also technical words in the trades (for example, trim in carpentry) and identifying these words took a great deal of careful effort. Part of the LATTE project involved interviewing and surveying tutors and students in the trades about technical vocabulary. It became clear in this project that, like any other field of study, the trades have a large and specific vocabulary that all learners have to know. After all, part of being a builder is to not only walk the walk, but talk the talk. For learning and teaching, this research is important because it provides starting points for planning for specialized vocabulary in the trades through the word lists and expands research in applied linguistics into areas where first, second, and foreign learners of English need support.

Conclusion

In this article, I have highlighted four main points from research into specialized vocabulary. This fascinating area of lexical research is growing rapidly and moving into new contexts. It is also moving from single words to multiword units. This research is important because its findings can support teachers and learners with identifying and dealing with the specialized vocabulary of disciplines in different contexts, such as in school, university, and the trades.

References

Chung, T., & Nation, I. S. P. (2004). Identifying technical vocabulary. System, 32(2), 251−263.

Coxhead, A., Demelcheleer, M., & McLaughlin, E. (2016). The technical vocabulary of carpentry: Loads, lists and bearings. TESOLANZ Journal, 24, 38–71.

Greene, J., & Coxhead, A. (2015). Academic vocabulary for middle school students: Research-based lists and strategies for key content areas. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.

Nation, I. S. P. (2016). Making and using word lists for language learning and testing. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Simpson-Vlach, R., & Ellis, N. (2010). An academic formulas list: New methods in phraseology research. Applied Linguistics, 31(4), 487–512.

Averil Coxhead teaches undergraduate and postgraduate TESOL and applied linguistics courses in the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. She researches learning and teaching vocabulary in different contexts.