As part of our annual State of the Chapter event, we are very happy to welcome Averil Coxhead as our featured speaker. Following a brief chapter meeting, during which we will announce officer election results, Dr. Coxhead will speak about Vocabulary in Instructional Materials. We hope you can join us!
Vocabulary in instructional materials: Taking a good hard look
Abstract:
Instructional materials (e.g. textbooks, teachers’ handouts and even teacher talk) are important sources of input for learners in any context. This talk reports on three studies on the vocabulary of each of these kinds of input and provides practical suggestions for carrying out similar studies of such materials. Finally, we will consider two approaches to evaluating popular textbook exercises for vocabulary.
Bio:
Professor Averil Coxhead teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses in vocabulary, EAP, TESOL and Applied Linguistics in the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand. Her research interests include general and specialised vocabulary for English for Academic Purposes and English for Specific Purposes. Her recent books include Connecting corpora and language teaching (in press; Foreign Language Teaching and Research); a volume on language in trades education (Coxhead, Parkinson, Mackay & McLaughlin (2019, Routledge); Vocabulary and English for Specific Purposes research (2018; Routledge), and a series of textbooks called Reading for the academic world with Professor Paul Nation (2018, Seed Learning). Averil is currently researching specialised vocabulary, including multiword units, in spoken and written English in the trades and higher education.
