Teaching Academic Vocabulary to Social Scientists

Abstract

To be academically literate in today’s world is a challenge not only for international students, but also for academics and researchers, who need specific language support to keep on with proceedings in their discipline and write research papers in English. The course discussed in the paper was designed to help researchers of different ages and positions in postgraduate and professional development programmes to learn academic vocabulary by focusing on the international corpus of words of Latin and Greek origin. To avoid memorizing and motivate adult learners, the course enhances them to work collaboratively, applying their background knowledge and analytic skills to challenging tasks presented through specific PowerPoint-based learning environment. This approach, visualized methodologically as an uprising evolving spiral, provides learners with strategies applicable in their further professional development. Approbated in two universities, it can be of interest to EAP teachers working in postgraduate education and professional development programmes.

Keywords: academic vocabulary, professional development, words from classical languages, PowerPoint-based learning