English as an Additional Language: Vocabulary Additional Notes and Resources

The Academic Word List (AWL) was developed by Averil Coxhead and contains 570 word families which were selected according to principles. The list does not include words that are in the most frequent 2000 words of English. 

 Take some time to review the list below. How many of these words and word forms have you used in your writing?

Collocations are two or more words that often appear together and sound like a natural blend. These often seem strange for EAL speakers, but you will earn many over time with constant exposure. The list below outlines some of the most used academic collocations.

Academic Idioms are groups of words strung together overtime. These expressions are fused overtime but cannot be understood by the individual words. Expressions like "on the other hand," "bear in mind", and "the bottom line" are considered academic idioms.

 Watch the video below for more information on academic idioms and how you can use them to enhance your writing.

There are many words in English that look alike but have different meaning according to the context. The following words are often confusing for EAL students.

• Advise vs. Advice
• Affect vs Effect
• Breath vs. Breathe
• Capital vs Capitol
• Complement vs. Compliment
• Emigrate vs. Immigrate
• Ensure vs. Insure
• Lay vs. Lie
• Lead vs. Led
• Principle vs. Principal
• Desert vs. Dessert
• Imply vs. Infer

 Watch the video below about confusing English words.

The Oxford 3000 is a list of the 3000 most important words to learn in English, as selected by a group of language experts and experienced teachers. The Manchester Phrasebank also provides mush help for academic writing. Grammar Monster offers suggestions on how to use easily confused words.