Academic Vocabulary, Writing and English for Academic Purposes: Perspectives from Second Language Learners

This article focuses on vocabulary and writing at university level from the perspectives of 14 English as an additional language students studying at a New Zealand university. The students individually carried out an integrated reading and writing task and then participated in an interview which focused on their language learning background and academic studies through to vocabulary use in the reading and writing task. Data analysis showed that these students have an overall sense of the importance or need for academic vocabulary for their university studies. They demonstrated a high level of awareness of the academic audience for their writing and its impact on their word choice. Finally, these writers used a variety of techniques to incorporate academic or technical words into their essays. This article concludes by considering possible implications of the findings of this study for teaching second language writing and vocabulary in English for Academic Purposes programmes.