Academic Word List and Reading Lists
Academic Word List
Parents often ask how they can help their child whilst at secondary school. One simple way of supporting your child is to make them aware of the Academic Word List. The Academic Word List was created by Averil Coxhead at Victoria University in New Zealand. It is a list of 570 headwords, plus derivations that appear frequently in academic texts. They are very general academic words and are not specially connected with any particular subject, so they are very useful for all students. Those wishing to be successful with A-level and undergraduate study should have a good command of these words. A simple way of learning them is looking up their definitions and creating flashcards. These can even be made electronically.