Hello! Welcome to the third lesson in our module on Academic Vocabulary Foundations.
In our last lesson, you practiced identifying the meaning of words from AWL Sublist 1 when you see them in a text. This is an essential receptive skill. Today, we'll build on that foundation and move to an active, productive skill. Our goal is to use words from AWL Sublist 1 to form sentences relevant to academic topics. This is crucial for improving your scores in the IELTS Writing and Speaking sections, where you need to produce your own accurate and academic language.
1. From Understanding to Using: Paraphrasing
A great way to start producing new sentences is by paraphrasing—saying the same thing in a different way. This forces you to think about how words can be used flexibly. Let's start with a warm-up activity.
Academic Word List, Most Frequently Used English Academic Words | Set 1
In our previous lesson, you watched parts of the video 'Academic Word List, Most Frequently Used English Academic Words | Set 1'. Let's return to it for a final exercise on restatement, or paraphrasing. This will help you transition from simply understanding a word to using it yourself.
Please watch the 'restatement exercise' section from 23:41 to 33:09. The presenter shows a sentence and then a paraphrased version using one of the AWL words. Pay close attention to how the sentence structure changes to fit the new word.
Notice how words like review were replaced with analysis, and influence with impact. This is a key strategy for making your language more academic.
2. Strategy: Upgrading Your Vocabulary
To score well in IELTS, you need to show the examiner you have a good range of vocabulary. A simple but powerful technique is to replace common, everyday words with their more academic synonyms from the AWL.
The following video demonstrates this strategy very clearly. It will show you how to 'upgrade' words you already know to sound more formal and precise.
1.1.4: Academic Words - Từ quan trọng trong Sublist 1
This video from the 'Trung T. Le Học tiếng Anh' channel provides excellent examples of replacing simple words with more academic alternatives from AWL Sublist 1. We will watch several short clips from it.
Watch the following segments. For each one, notice the simple word and the more academic word you can use instead: 01:33 - 02:30: Replace 'way' with approach. 02:44 - 03:20: Replace 'check' or 'evaluate' with assess. 03:20 - 04:01: Replace 'is made up of' with consists of (very useful for Writing Task 1). 05:44 - 06:29: Replace 'show' with indicate (another great word for describing data). 06:29 - 07:12: Replace 'need' with require. 07:12 - 07:47: Replace 'part' with role. 07:47 - 08:59: Replace 'a lot' or 'big' with significant, considerable, or enormous. 08:59 - 09:35: Replace 'differ' with vary.
This strategy of substitution is like choosing a specialized dental instrument for a specific procedure instead of using a general tool. The specialized word (e.g., assess, indicate) does the job more precisely and professionally.
3. Guided Practice: Building Sentences
Now let's practice using these words in sentences. We will use a resource that provides a fantastic master list of all 60 word families in Sublist 1, along with examples and exercises.
IELTS Academic Word List (AWL): The Ultimate Guide to High-Band ...
Let's turn to the 'IELTS Academic Word List (AWL): The Ultimate Guide'. We'll first look at its master list, which will be a valuable reference for you. Then, you will complete some practice exercises.
First, scroll through the table under the heading 'AWL Sublist 1 — Master List with Meanings, Collocations & Examples'. Keep this table open in a separate tab; it will help you with the next task. Next, find the section 'Practice exercises (with answer key)'. Complete 'A. Complete the sentence with the correct AWL word'. Try to do it without looking at the answers first. Then, check your answers using the key at the bottom.
These exercises help you see how the words fit grammatically into a sentence. Getting this right is the first step to using them correctly in your own writing and speaking.
4. Independent Practice: Making It Personal
The most effective way to master new vocabulary is to use it to talk or write about things that are meaningful to you. In this activity, you will create your own sentences using AWL words, connecting them to your field of dentistry.
This self-study guide has a great activity for this.
Self-Study Activities to Use with Academic Word List Cards
This PDF guide, 'Self-Study Activities to Use with Academic Word List Cards,' suggests an excellent method for making new vocabulary your own.
Read 'Activity 3: These words are for me!'. We are going to adapt this activity for our lesson. You don't need to sort cards into piles.
Now, it's your turn to practice.
Your Task (10 minutes):
- Choose four words from the list below. All of them are from AWL Sublist 1 and are highly relevant to science and medicine.
researchdatafactorevidentindicaterequiresignificantspecific
- For each word you choose, write one complete sentence related to dentistry or health.
- Use the master list from the "Ultimate Guide" resource (LINK) to help you. Check the meaning, word form, and common collocations before you write.
Example:
If you choose the word factor, you could write:
- "Poor oral hygiene is a major factor in the development of periodontal disease."
Try to write your sentences in a notebook or a document. This will be the start of your personal vocabulary log.
Conclusion
Well done! Today you moved from recognizing academic words to actively using them. This is a big step towards fluency and a higher IELTS score. By building your own sentences, especially ones related to your own interests and studies, you make the vocabulary more memorable and meaningful.
Key Takeaways:
- You can make your language more academic by replacing common words with synonyms from the AWL (e.g.,
show→indicate). - Forming your own sentences is the best way to move vocabulary from your 'passive' knowledge to your 'active' knowledge.
- Connecting new words to your own field (dentistry) makes them easier to remember and use correctly.
In our next lesson, we will focus on a topic we touched on today: collocations. You'll learn how to use common academic collocations in your writing and speaking. This will make your English sound more natural and sophisticated, just like a native speaker.