So Proud of the English Foundation Program

Here is another little video about the English Foundation Program at the University of British Columbia's Okanagan campus:

New English Foundation Program Video by UBCOTV

I have a new article in the Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics

I just has a peek at the Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, and my latest article has been published! The web address for this journal is:  http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/CJAL.

Here is the abstract for my article:

The Lexical Breadth of Undergraduate Novice Level Writing Competency

Scott Roy Douglas

Abstract

This study builds on previous work exploring reading and listening lexical thresholds (Nation, 2006; Laufer & Ravenhorst-Kalovski, 2010; Schmitt, Jiang, & Grabe, 2011) in order to investigate productive vocabulary targets that mark successful entry-level undergraduate writing. Papers that passed the Effective Writing Test (EWT) were chosen to create a corpus of novice university level writing (N = 120). Vocabulary profiles were generated, with results indicating the General Service List (GSL) and the Academic Word List (AWL) cover an average of 94% of a typical paper.  Further analysis pointed to 3,000 word families and 5,000 word families covering 95% and 98% respectively of each paper.  Low frequency lexical choices from beyond the 8,000 word family boundary accounted for only 0.6% coverage.  These results support the frequency principle of vocabulary learning (Coxhead, 2006), and provide lexical targets for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) curriculum development and materials design.

Résumé

Cette étude s'appuie sur des travaux antérieurs qui explorent les niveaux lexicaux pour la lecture et l’écoute (Laufer et Ravenhorst-Kalovski, 2010; Nation, 2006; Schmitt, Jiang et Grabe, 2011). Elle a pour but d'étudier les niveaux de production lexicale qui marquent l'écriture à l'entrée à l'université anglophone. Pour créer un corpus d'écriture de niveau universitaire novice, 120 articles qui ont passé le Effective Writing Test (EWT) ont été choisis. Des profils  de vocabulaire ont été générés et les résultats signalent que la General Service List (GSL) et la Academic Word List (AWL) couvrent une moyenne de 94% d'un document typique. En plus, 3 000 familles de mots et 5 000 familles de mots couvrent 95% et 98% respectivement de chaque article. Les choix de basses fréquences lexicales au-delà de la limite de 8 000 mots ne représentaient que 0,6% de la couverture. Ces résultats appuient le principe fréquence de l'apprentissage du vocabulaire (Coxhead, 2006) et fournissent des niveaux lexicaux pour les programmes d’anglais à des fins académiques.

Keywords

Vocabulary; Composition; Undergraduate Studies; English for Academic Purposes; English (Second Language)

You can go directly to the article here:

http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/CJAL/article/view/21176

TESL Ontario Plenary Speaker

I've just come back from the TESL Ontario conference, and my head is swimming with new and exciting ideas.  Here is one that I introduced at the conference:

I'm working on a paper right now to explain this additional language acquisition formula, but I wanted to put it on my blog to peak people's curiosity.  This formula is tweaked for vocabulary acquisition, but it is the same as my one for additional language acquisition.  Here is the breakdown:

f = focus on form

s = strategies

i+1 = comprehensible input

2 = interaction

m = motivation

i = identity

t = teacher effects

VA = vocabulary acquisition

If you would like to cite this for a paper, please use:

Douglas, S. (October 2013). Pathways to Production: Exploring Lexical Thresholds in Speaking and Writing. Teachers of English as a Second Language Association of Ontario Annual Conference, Toronto, Ontario. Keynote Address.

Academic Inquiry: Writing for Post-secondary Success

I'm happy to say that my new book has just been published by Oxford University Press Canada:

http://www.oupcanada.com/catalog/9780199004553.html

Thanks to all of the hard working folks at OUP Canada who made this happen!

The English Foundation Program at UBC's Okanagan Campus

Here is a new video about the English Foundation Program at UBC's Okanagan campus.  I've very proud of how well the students have been doing in the first year of this program.  They are a real credit to the university!