Academic Vocabulary: Academic Words - Olsen Amy E. 2012
Preface
Because students benefit greatly from increased word power, the study of vocabulary should be enjoyable. Unfortunately, vocabulary workbooks often lose sight of this goal. To make the study of vocabulary an exciting and enjoyable part of college study, I wrote Academic Vocabulary.
The goal of this book—the third in a three-book interactive vocabulary series—is to make the study of vocabulary fun through a variety of thematic readings, self-tests, and interactive exercises. As a casual glimpse through the book will indicate, these activities involve writing, personal experience, art, and many other formats. The goal of these activities is simple: to utilize individual learning styles in order to help students learn new words in a large number of contexts.
Underlying the text's strong visual appeal is the philosophy that an essential part of learning vocabulary is repeated exposure to a word. Academic Vocabulary provides eight exposures to each vocabulary word in the text plus more opportunities for exposure through the Collaborative Activities and games in the Instructor's Manual.
Content Overview
Academic Vocabulary is an ideal text for both classroom and self-study. The nineteen main chapters follow a consistent format.
✵ Thematic Reading: Because most vocabulary is acquired through reading, each chapter— with the exception of the Word Parts and Review Chapters—begins with a thematic reading that introduces ten vocabulary words in context. These readings come in a variety of formats, from worksheets to essays. The goal is to show that new words may be encountered anywhere. Rather than simply presenting a word list with definitions, students have the opportunity to discover the meanings of these new words via context clues.
The themes for Academic Vocabulary were chosen from disciplines that most students will encounter at some point in their college careers. In choosing the words, I've been guided by five factors: (1) relation to the chapter theme; (2) use in textbooks, novels, magazines, and newspapers; (3) occurrence in standardized lists or tests such as the Academic Word List, SAT, and GRE; (4) containing word parts introduced in the text; and (5) my own experiences in teaching reading and writing.
✵ Predicting: The second page of each chapter contains a Predicting activity that gives students the chance to figure out the meaning of each vocabulary word before looking at its definition. The Predicting section helps students learn the value of context clues in determining a word's meaning. While the text does offer information on dictionary use, I strongly advocate the use of context clues as one of the most active methods of vocabulary development.
✵ Self-Tests: Following the Predicting activity are three Self-Tests in various formats. With these tests, students can monitor their comprehension. The tests include text and sentence completion, true/false situations, matching, and analogies. Some tests employ context clue strategies such as synonyms and antonyms and general meaning. Critical thinking skills are an important part of each test. (Answers to the Self-Tests appear in the Instructor's Manual.)
✵ Word Visions: The Word Visions activities, new to this edition, give students the opportunity to connect the vocabulary words to visuals. The Word Visions are either located within the Self-Tests section or as an Interactive Exercise. The activities ask students to identify a vocabulary word represented in a drawing or photo or to use a photograph as inspiration to write sentences or a paragraph using the chapter's vocabulary words.
✵ Word Wise: Following the Self-Tests is the Word Wise section that teaches a variety of skills that are helpful to vocabulary acquisition. There are six types of activities: Internet Activities, Context Clue Mini-Lessons, Collocations, Word Pairs, Connotations and Denotations, and Interesting Etymologies. Each activity is explained in the Getting Started section. These activities give students additional practice and insight into the words they are learning.
✵ Interactive Exercise: Next is an Interactive Exercise that may include writing, making lists, or answering questions. The Interactive Exercises give students the chance to really think about the meanings of the words, but, more importantly, they encourage students to begin using the words actively. Some instructors have their students do the Interactive Exercise in small groups (or pairs) and then have the groups share their responses with the whole class. (See the Instructor's Manual for more collaborative activities.)
✵ Hint, Word Part Reminder, or Conversation Starters: Each chapter includes one of these features. The Hints cover tips for developing vocabulary, reading, or study skills. The Word Part Reminders are exercises that give students a chance to practice using the word parts they have recently learned. The Conversation Starters provide questions students can use to talk to each other. The goal of the Conversation Starters is to get students to use the vocabulary words in daily life.
✵ Word List: The last page in a chapter contains a list of the vocabulary words with a pronunciation guide, the part of speech, and a brief definition. I wrote these definitions with the idea of keeping them simple and nontechnical. Some vocabulary texts provide complicated dictionary definitions that include words students do not know; I've tried to make the definitions as friendly and as useful as possible.
✵ Words to Watch: The final activity asks students to pick three to five words they may be having trouble with and to write their own sentences using the words. This section is an additional chance for students to grasp the meaning of a few words that may be difficult for them.
Additional Features
In addition to the thematic vocabulary chapters, Academic Vocabulary includes the following sections to assist students in learning new vocabulary.
✵ Getting Started: The text begins with an introductory chapter to familiarize student8 with dictionary entries, the parts of speech, and analogy exercises. The chapter also explains the benefits of creating flash cards and word maps and the role of each of the Word Wise activities.
✵ Word Parts: The three Word Parts chapters introduce prefixes, roots, and suffixes used throughout the book. Students leam the meanings of these forms, sample words illustrate the forms, and Self-Tests give students the opportunity to practice using the word parts.
✵ Review Chapters: The five Review Chapters focus on the preceding four to five chapters. They divide the words into different activity groups and test students' cumulative knowledge. The words appear in test, written, puzzle, and collaborative formats. These repeated and varied exposures increase the likelihood that students will remember the words, not just for one chapter or test, but for life.
✵ Glossary: The Glossary lists all the vocabulary words along with the part of speech and the definitions given in each chapter. Students may find it handy to refer to the Glossary when reviewing words from several chapters.
✵ Create Your Own Flash Cards: The "Create Your Own Flash Cards" section teaches students how to make and use flash cards. Students can use the cards for self-study. Additionally, instructors can use them for the supplemental activities and games found in the Instructor's Manual.
✵ Make Your Own Word Maps: The "Make Your Own Word Maps" section teaches students how to make word maps that focus on learning the definition, synonyms, and antonyms for a word. Students can use the maps as another strategy for self-study.
✵ Pronunciation Key: On the inside front cover is a pronunciation key to help students understand the pronunciation symbols used in this text. The inside front cover also offers some additional guidelines on pronunciation issues.
✵ Word List: The inside back cover features a list of all the vocabulary words and the page numbers on which the definitions are given. A list of the word parts from the Word Parts chapters is also included on the inside back cover with page references.
Features New to This Edition
This fifth edition has several new features in response to instructor comments.
✵ New Word Visions Activity: The Word Visions activity calls on students to use visuals to interact with the vocabulary words. Students today are experienced in using various visual environments from the Internet to video games. The Word Visions activities expand on students' familiarity with visuals. The activities include having students identify vocabulary words in drawings or photographs, answer questions in relation to a photograph, or write sentences or a paragraph using a photograph for inspiration. These new activities use students' critical- and creative-thinking skills in fun ways that relate to the words they are learning.
✵ Expanded Content in the Review Chapters: The review chapters contain three new Self-Tests that give students more practice with the words. Students are asked to identify synonyms and antonyms, work with the collocations introduced in the Word Wise sections, and review some of the Word Parts introduced in earlier chapters.
✵ Added Content: Sentence starters have been added to some chapters as an Interactive Exercise. The sentence starters come in two formats: a vocabulary word is in the starter and students need to finish the sentence so that the use of the vocabulary word makes sense, or students need to incorporate a vocabulary word into their completion of the sentence. The new "Make Your Own Word Maps" section gives directions on how to make and use word maps for studying vocabulary. Learning Objectives have been added to help students understand the goals of the text and to allow them to better see the benefits of studying vocabulary.
✵ Updated Readings and Design: Three of the chapters have updated readings with new words that are commonly used in academic settings. The Word Visions activity has provided additional photographs that further enhance the visually-friendly nature of the text.
✵ New Price: In response to the current economic climate, the price of the text has been lowered from past editions. The new price is intended to allow more students access to a book that provides a comprehensive and creative approach to vocabulary instruction.
The Teaching and Learning Package
Each component of the teaching and leaning package for Academic Vocabulary has been carefully crafted to maximize the main text's value.
✵ Instructor's Manual and Test Bank (ISBN: 0-20-521189-5): The Instructor's Manual and Test Bank includes options for additional Collaborative Activities and games. The collaborative section explains ways students can share their work on the Interactive Exercises. Ideas for other collaborative activities using different learning styles are also offered. The games section presents games that can be used with individual chapters or for review of several chapters. The Collaborative Activities and games give students the opportunity to use the words in conversational settings and a chance to work with others.
The Test Bank, formatted for easy copying, includes two tests for each chapter and combined tests of two chapters. Mastery Tests accompany the Review Chapters, and fullbook Mastery Tests can be used as final exams.
✵ Academic Vocabulary Web Site: Available with this text is access to the Academic Vocabulary Web site, which features additional quizzes that provide for more interaction between the students and the words. The Web site also has an audio component that allows students to hear the pronunciation of each word as often as they choose. Visit www.pearsonhighered.com/olsen.
For Additional Reading and Reference
The Longman Basic Skills Package
In addition to the book-specific supplements discussed above, other skills-based supplements are available. These supplements are available either at no additional cost or at greatly reduced prices.
✵ The Dictionary Deal. The New American Webster Handy College Dictionary, a paperback reference text with more than 100,000 entries, can be shrink-wrapped with Academic Vocabulary at a nominal fee. For more information, please contact your Pearson publishing representative.
✵ Longman Vocabulary Web Site. For additional vocabulary-related resources, visit our free vocabulary Web site at http://wps.ablongman.com/long_longman_vocabulary_3/.
✵ MyReadingLab (www.myreadinglab.com). MyReadingLab is the first and only online learning system to diagnose both students' reading skills and reading levels. This remarkable program utilizes diagnostic testing, personalized practice, and gradebook reports to allow instructors to measure student performance and help students gain control over their reading.