Academic Vocabulary
Acquire and use accurately a broad range of general academic vocabulary and domain-specific words, drawing new vocabulary from reading and listening and deploying it consciously in writing and speech to achieve particular effects
What a learner can do afterwards
- Use academic vocabulary (e.g., analyse, evaluate, justify, convey, imply) accurately and appropriately in essay writing
- Incorporate domain-specific terms from a subject studied (e.g., 'photosynthesis', 'legislature') into explanatory writing
- Draw a new word or phrase from a text read and use it consciously in own writing or speech
1 · Read
Academic vocabulary is the group of words that essays, reports, and serious writing rely on. Words like analyse, evaluate, justify, convey, and imply say something exact. Imply means to hint at something without saying it outright. Everyday words like look at or think about are vaguer. When you meet a new word in a book or a lesson, try it in a sentence of your own within a day or two.
A science paragraph could say, Plants use sunlight. A stronger version uses the subject's own word: Plants convert sunlight into energy through photosynthesis. The exact term photosynthesis makes the explanation sharper than a vague phrase. In civics, legislature names the group that debates and passes laws.
When you meet a new word in a book or a lesson, do not just note what it means. Try it out in a sentence of your own within a day or two. That is what makes the word truly yours.
Precise words like analyse or photosynthesis sharpen your writing, but only once you actually use them yourself.
Rewritten readings were written for this dataset. Other reading passages adapted from catalog collection materials; publisher terms unknown, see per-item provenance in file.
2 · Watch
Take it off screen
Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.