医学英语高频词汇

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EnglishforSpeciﬁcPurposes27(2008)442–458

ENGLISHFORSPECIFICPURPOSESwww.elsevier.com/locate/esp

EstablishmentofaMedicalAcademicWordListqJingWang,Shao-lanLiang,Guang-chunGe*DepartmentofForeignLanguages,FourthMilitaryMedicalUniversity,Xi’an,China

Abstract

Thispaperreportsacorpus-basedlexicalstudyofthemostfrequentlyusedmedicalacademicvocabularyinmedicalresearcharticles(RAs).AMedicalAcademicWordList(MAWL),awordlistofthemostfrequentlyusedmedicalacademicwordsinmedicalRAs,wascompiledfromacor-puscontaining1093011runningwordsofmedicalRAsfromonlineresources.TheestablishedMAWLcontains623wordfamilies,whichaccountsfor12.24%ofthetokensinthemedicalRAsunderstudy.ThehighwordfrequencyandthewidetextcoverageofmedicalacademicvocabularythroughoutmedicalRAsconﬁrmthatmedicalacademicvocabularyplaysanimportantroleinmed-icalRAs.TheMAWLestablishedinthisstudymayserveasaguideforinstructorsincurriculumpreparation,especiallyindesigningcourse-booksofmedicalacademicvocabulary,andformedicalEnglishlearnersinsettingtheirvocabularylearninggoalsofreasonablesizeduringaparticularphaseofEnglishlanguagelearning.

Ó2008TheAmericanUniversity.PublishedbyElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.

1.Introduction

Theacquisitionofvocabularyhaslongbeenconsideredtobeacrucialcomponentoflearningalanguage(Coady,Magoto,Hubbard,Graney,&Mokhtari,1993;Nation,2001)becausethebreadthanddepthofastudent’svocabularywillhaveadirectinﬂuenceuponthedescriptiveness,accuracyandqualityofhisorherwriting(Read,1998).Nagy(1988)alsoclaimedthatvocabularyisamajorprerequisiteandcausativefactorincompre-hension.ThedramaticallylargenumberofEnglishwords,however,isalearninggoalfar

q*Thearticleisco-authoredequally.

Correspondingauthor.Tel.:+862984774475;fax:+862983234516.E-mailaddress:guangcge@fmmu.edu.cn(G.-c.Ge).

08-4906/$34.00Ó2008TheAmericanUniversity.PublishedbyElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.doi:10.1016/j.esp.2008.05.003

J.Wangetal./EnglishforSpeciﬁcPurposes27(2008)442–458443

beyondthereachesofsecondlanguagelearnersandevenbeyondthereachesofmostnativespeakers.

Fortunately,allwordsarenotequallyimportantindiﬀerentstagesoflearning.Nation’s(2001)divisionofvocabularyintofourlevels—highfrequencywords,academicvocabu-lary,technicalvocabularyandlowfrequencywords—indicatesthatsomewordsdeservemoreattentionandeﬀortthanothersindiﬀerentphasesoflanguagelearningorfordiﬀer-entpurposes.AccordingtoNationandWaring(1997),itisgenerallyagreedthatthebeginnersofEnglishlearningshouldfocusontheﬁrst2000mostfrequentlyoccurringwordfamiliesofEnglishintheGeneralServiceList(GSL)(West,1953),whileforinter-mediateoradvancedlearnerswhousuallystudyEnglishforacademicpurposes,thecom-mandoftheseGSLwordsmaynolongerbetheirmajorconcernandthepriorityoftheirvocabularyacquisitionmaybeshiftedtolowerfrequencyvocabulary.Inacademicset-tings,ESPstudentsdonotseethesetechnicaltermsasaproblembecausethesetermsareusuallythefocusofthediscussionintheclassroomorareglossedinthetextbook(Strevens,1973).ThevocabularythatESPstudentshavemostdiﬃcultywithisknown,inESPjargon,asnon-subject-speciﬁcsemi-technicalvocabularyoracademicvocabulary(Li&Pemberton,1994;Shaw,1991;Thurstun&Candlin,1998).1.1.Academicvocabulary

Academicvocabulary,whichisalsocalledsub-technicalvocabulary(Cowan,1974)orsemi-technicalvocabulary(Farrell,1990),isviewedas‘‘formal,context-independentwordswithahighfrequencyand/orwiderangeofoccurrenceacrossscientiﬁcdisciplines,notusuallyfoundinbasicgeneralEnglishcourses;wordswithhighfrequencyacrosssci-entiﬁcdisciplines”(Farrell,1990,p.11).Thehighfrequencyoccurrenceofacademicwordsinacademictexthasbeenconﬁrmedbysomeresearchers.Sutarsyah,Nation,andKen-nedy(1994)reportedthatacademicvocabularyaccountedfor8.4%ofthetokensintheLearnedandScientiﬁcsectionsoftheLOBandWellingtoncorpora,andfor8.7%ofthetokensineconomicstexts.Coxhead(2000)reportedthattheacademicvocabularyinherAcademicWordListcovered10%ofthetokensinher3500000runningwordaca-demiccorpus.Santos’research(2000)revealedthatroughly16%ofthewordsinhistext-booksamplesacrossdiﬀerentdisciplineswereacademicwords.Thishighcoverageofacademicwordsintheacademictextshasfarexceededthe5%ratiooftheunknowntotheknowncomprehensionthresholdsuggestedbyLaufer(1988),whohaspointedoutthatalearnerhastoknow95%ofthewordsinatexttoensurereasonablecomprehensionofthetextbecausetheratioofunknowntoknownwordsover5%isnotsuﬃcienttoallowreasonablysuccessfulguessingofthemeaningoftheunknownwords.Inaddition,Kuehn(1996)observedthatknowledgeofacademicwordsdiﬀerentiatedacademicallywell-pre-paredfromunder-preparedcollegestudentsfromallbackgrounds.TheﬁndingsfromthesestudiesclearlyindicatethatEAPlearners,withoutsuﬃcientknowledgeofacademicvocabulary,cannotdealeﬀectivelywithreadingmaterialsforvarioustypesofacademictaskstheyaresupposedtofulﬁll(Laufer&Nation,1999).However,proﬁcientuseofaca-demicvocabularyisoneofthemostchallengingtasksinESPstudents’wordexpansion.AndersonandFreebody(1981)foundthatacademicwordswerethewordsmostoftenidentiﬁedasunknownbyherstudentsinacademictexts.Basedonhisstudy,Farrell(1990)reportedthatthelackofknowledgewaspartlytheresultoftheassumptionofsome

444J.Wangetal./EnglishforSpeciﬁcPurposes27(2008)442–458

subjectteachersthattheirstudentsknewthesewordsandasaresulttheyseldomtaughtthesewordsexplicitly.

1.2.Previousstudiesonacademicvocabularylistdevelopment

Previousstudiesonacademicvocabularyhaveproducedsomeveryhelpfulacademicwordlists.Quiteanumberoftheseacademicwordlistsfocusedontheacademicvocabularyoccurringacrossdiﬀerentdisciplines.Byanalyzing301800wordsintextbooksandlecturespublishedinjournalscovering19academicdisciplines,CampionandElley(1971)devel-opedawordlistcontaining500mostcommonwordsand3200frequentlyusedwords.Theitemsintheirlistrepresentedthevocabularythatstudentswerelikelytoencounterintheiruniversitystudies.Praninskas(1972)compiledtheAmericanUniversityWordlist,whichwasbasedonacorpusof272466wordsfrom10university-leveltextbookscovering10academicdisciplines.Lynn’s(1973)andGhadessy’s(1979)wordlistsweredrawnupbycountingthewordsforwhichforeignstudentswroteannotationsintheiruniversitytext-booksandthewordsthatthestudentshadfounddiﬃcultduringtheirreading.XueandNation(1984)combinedthefourearlier-compiledwordlists(CampionandElley’s,Pra-ninskas’s,Lynn’s,andGhadessy’s)intotheUniversityWordList(UWL),consistingofabout800wordsthatwerenotintheﬁrst2000wordsoftheGSLbutthatwereofhighfre-quencyandofwiderangeinacademictexts.XueandNation’spurposeofsettinguptheUWLwastocreatealistofhighfrequencywordsforlearnerswithacademicpurposes,sothatthesewordscanbetaughtanddirectlystudiedinthesamewayasthewordsfromtheGSL.Morerecently,Coxhead(2000)developedtheAcademicWordList(AWL),usingacorpusof3.5millionrunningwords,plusRange—thesoftwarewhichcouldcalculatehowoftenawordoccurred(itsfrequency)andinhowmanydiﬀerenttextsinthecorpusitoccurred(itsrange).Thetextsinhercorpuswereselectedfromdiﬀerentacademicjournalsanduniversitytextbooksinfourmainareas:arts,commerce,lawandnaturalscience.TheAWLcontains570wordfamiliesthataccountforapproximately10%ofthetotalwordsinherselectedacademictexts.ComparedwiththeUWL,theAWLcontainsfewerwordfam-iliesbutprovidesmoretextcoverageandmoreconsistentwordselectioncriteria.AWLnowisawidelycitedacademicwordlistacrossabroadrangeofdisciplines.

Inadditiontothesediscipline-crossingacademicwordlists,someresearchershavefocusedontheacademicvocabularyusedinasinglediscipline.Theyassumedthattheremightbesomeuniquefeaturesintheacademicvocabularyacrosssub-disciplinesofonediscipline.Lam(2001)conductedanempiricalstudyofacademicvocabularyofComputerScienceinordertoﬁndthevocabularyproblemsencounteredbythecomputersciencestu-dentsinreadingacademictexts.Shenotedthatacademicvocabularywassemanticallydis-tinctfromthesamevocabularywhenitappearedingeneraltexts.Shesuggestedthatsuchlexicaltermsshouldbepresentedasaglossaryofacademicvocabularywithinformationoffrequencyofoccurrencesbasedonaspecializedcorpus.Mudraya(2006)establishedtheStudentEngineeringEnglishCorpus(SEEC),containingnearly2000000runningwordsselectedfromengineeringtextbooksin13engineeringdisciplinesandproducedanaca-demicwordlistof1200wordfamiliesforengineeringstudents.Thewordfamiliesinherwordlistarefrequentlyencounteredinengineeringtextbookscompulsoryforallengi-neeringstudents,regardlessoftheirﬁeldsofspecialization.ShearguedthatacademicvocabularyshouldbegivenmoreattentionintheESPclassroom.

J.Wangetal./EnglishforSpeciﬁcPurposes27(2008)442–458445

Despitetheacademicvocabularylistsacrossdiﬀerentdisciplinescompiledrespectivelybysomeresearchers,therewerefewdetailedstudiesexclusivelyonmedicalacademicvocabularyusedintheﬁeldofmedicine.Baker(1988)analyzedthreerhetoricalitemsinmedicaljournalarticlesandsheconcludedthatrhetoricalitemswereinthecategoryofacademicvocabularyandthatidentifyingacademicitemshadsomepedagogicalimplica-tions.ChenandGe(2007)analyzedtheoccurrenceanddistributionoftheAWLwordfamiliesinmedicalRAs.Theirﬁndingsconﬁrmedthattheacademicvocabularyhadahightextcoverageanddispersionthroughoutamedicalresearcharticleandservedsomeimportantrhetoricalfunctions,buttheyarguedthattheAWLwasfarfromcompleteinrepresentingthefrequentlyusedmedicalacademicvocabularyinmedicalRAsandcalledforeﬀortsinestablishingamedicalacademicwordlist.

ThestudyreportedinthispaperwasdesignedtodevelopaMedicalAcademicWordList(MAWL)ofthemostfrequentlyusedmedicalacademicvocabularyacrossdiﬀerentsub-disciplinesinmedicalscience.WehopetheMAWLestablishedinthisstudymayserveasaguideformedicalEnglishinstructorsincurriculumpreparation,especiallyindesign-ingcourse-booksofmedicalacademicvocabulary,andformedicalEnglishlearnersinset-tingtheirvocabularylearninggoalsofreasonablesizeduringaparticularphaseofEnglishlanguagelearning.2.Methodology

2.1.Corpusestablishment

Weestablishedasthedatabaseforourstudyawrittenspecializedcorpuscontaining1093011runningwordsfrom288writtentextsofasinglegenre—medicalresearcharti-cles,becausereadingandwritingmedicalRAsisthefundamentalconcernformostlearn-ers/usersofEnglishforMedicalPurposes(EMP).

2.1.1.Datacollection

AllthewrittenmedicalRAstobeadoptedinthecorpusweredownloadedfromthedatabaseScienceDirectOnline(http://www.sciencedirect.com),theworld’slargestelec-troniccollectionofscience,technologyandmedicinewithfulltextandbibliographicinfor-mation,accessedatthelibraryoftheFourthMilitaryMedicalUniversity(FMMU).ThedatabaseScienceDirectOnlinecontainsover1800journals,includingalmosteverytoptitleacross24disciplinesfromnaturalsciencetosocialscience,andisconsideredtobeoneofthemostauthoritativeandrepresentativedatabases.

InthedisciplineofMedicineandDentistryofScienceDirectOnline,therewere32sub-jectareasatthetimeofourstudy,coveringalmostalltheﬁeldsofmedicalscience.Thesamplesinthecorpuswerechosenfromthefollowing32subjectareas.1.2.3.

AnesthesiologyandPainMedicineCardiologyandCardiovascularMedicine

ClinicalNeurology

17.MedicineandDentistry18.Nephrology

19.Obstetrics,GynecologyandWomen’s

Health

Linemissing

446J.Wangetal./EnglishforSpeciﬁcPurposes27(2008)442–458

4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12.13.14.15.16.

ComplementaryandAlternativeMedicine

CriticalCareandIntensiveCareMedicine

Dentistry,OralSurgeryandMedicineDermatology

EmergencyMedicine

Endocrinology,DiabetesandMetabolism

ForensicMedicineGastroenterologyHealthInformaticsHematologyHepatology

Immunology,AllergologyandRheumatologyInfectiousDiseases

20.Oncology21.Ophthalmology

22.Orthopedics,SportsMedicineand

Rehabilitation

23.OtorhinolaryngologyandFacialPlastic

Surgery

24.PathologyandMedicalTechnology25.Perinatology,PediatricsandChild

Health

26.PsychiatryandMentalHealth27.PublicHealthandHealthPolicy

28.PulmonaryandRespiratoryMedicine29.RadiologyandImaging30.Surgery

31.Transplantation32.Urology

AllthesamplemedicalRAsincludedinthecorpuswerekeptattheiroriginallength,writtenintheinternationallyconventionalizedIMRD(Introduction–Method–Result–Dis-cussion)structure,publishedintheyears2000–2006andwrittenbynativeEnglishspeak-ingwritersbyWood’s(2001)‘‘strict”criteria(ﬁrstauthorshadtohavenamesnativetothecountryconcernedandalsobeaﬃliatedwithaninstitutionincountrieswherethislan-guageisspokenastheﬁrstlanguage).

Athree-roundselectionwasconductedinchoosingthesamplemedicalRAsforthecor-pus.Intheﬁrstround,wetookeachofthe32subjectareasasonestratumandthenbystratiﬁedrandomsamplingweselected3journalsfromeachofthe32subjectareas/stra-tum,totaling96journals.Inthesecondround,werandomlyselectedoneissueoutofeachofthe96journalsobtainedintheﬁrstround.Fromthe96selectedissues,thearticleswhichwerenotfollowingtheIMRDformat,werenotwrittenbynativeEnglishspeakingwritersorwereshorterthan2000runningwordsorlongerthan12000,runningwordswereeliminated.Inthethirdround,weselected3criteria-fulﬁllingarticlesfromeachofthe96issuesbysimplerandomsampling.Afterthisthree-roundselection,288textswerechosenforthecorpus,theshortestonecontaining2923runningwordsandthelongestonecontaining10901runningwords(4939onaverage).

2.1.2.Dataprocessing

Inthisstudy,dataprocessingincorporatedthestandardizationofthemedicalRAstobestoredinthecorpusandthenormalizationofthewordsintheto-be-storedRAs.ForthestandardizationofthemedicalRAsincludedinthecorpus,thecharts,diagrams,bib-liographiesandsomecomponentsintexts,whichwerenotabletobeprocessedbycom-puteranalyzingprogramsorshouldnotbeincludedinthelexicalanalysisinthechosenmedicalRAs,wereremovedsoastoeliminatethefactorsunrelatedtothelexicalanalysisandtoensurethatthetextsstoredinthecorpusbereadablebythecomputersoftware.The

J.Wangetal./EnglishforSpeciﬁcPurposes27(2008)442–458447

normalizationofwordswasfulﬁlledautomaticallybythecomputersoftware.Thecom-putersoftwarewouldreadallinﬂectionsorderivationsofawordasitsbasicformandwouldcounttherangeandfrequencyofthemasonewordfamily.Forexample,induce,induced,induces,inducingandinductionwouldbecountedasonewordbythecomputersoftware.Wordfamily,asdeﬁnedbyBauerandNation(1993),isthebasewordplusitsinﬂectedformsandtransparentderivations,includingallcloselyrelatedaﬃxedformsaswellasthestem’smostfrequent,productiveandregularpreﬁxes,suﬃxesandperceivedtransparency.AccordingtoCoxhead(2000,p.218),‘‘comprehendingregularlyinﬂectedorderivedmembersofafamilydoesnotrequiremuchmoreeﬀortbylearnersiftheyknowthebasewordandiftheyhavecontrolofbasicword-buildingprocesses”,whichmayaccountforthegeneraladoptionofthewordfamilyinmanywordlists.Afterthestan-dardizationofthesampletextsandnormalizationofwords,thewordsinthecorpuswerecountedandsortedautomaticallybycomputer.2.2.Listdevelopment

2.2.1.Wordselectioncriteria

Thethreeprinciples(specializedoccurrence,rangeandfrequencyofawordfamily)usedbyCoxheadindevelopingtheAWLwereadoptedinourstudywithsomeadjust-ment.Inherstudy,Coxheadnamedwide-rangewordfamiliesasthewordfamilieswhosemembersoccurinatleasthalfofthe28subjectareasinhercorpus.Inthisstudy,wealsoset50%asthecriterionforinclusion.ThemembersofawordfamilytobeincludedintheMAWLshouldoccurin16subjectareas,halfofthe32subjectareasinourcorpus.TheleastfrequencyofthemembersofawordfamilytobeincludedintheMAWLwas30times,athirdofCoxhead’s100times,forthenumberoftherunningwords(1000000)inourcorpuswasonlyaboutonethirdofthat(3500000)inCoxhead’scorpus.

Coxhead(2000)alsoreportedthatinherAWLwordselection,rangewastheﬁrstcri-terionandfrequencythesecondbecauseawordcountbasedmainlyonthefrequencywouldhavebeenbiasedbylongertextsandtopic-relatedwords.Thisprinciplewasalsoappliedinthepresentstudy.Onlywordfamiliescovering16subjectareasormorewouldbeincludedintheMAWL,whilewordfamiliesoccurringwithveryhighfrequencybutcoveringfewerthan16subjectareaswouldbeexcluded.

Insum,alltheﬁnallyincludedwordfamiliesintheMAWLmetthefollowingwordselectioncriteria:

1.Specializedoccurrence:Thewordfamiliesincludedhadtobeoutsidetheﬁrst2000mostfrequentlyoccurringwordsofEnglish,asrepresentedbyWest’sGSL(1953).

2.Range:Membersofawordfamilyhadtooccuratleastin16ormoreofthe32subjectareas.

3.Frequency:Membersofawordfamilyhadtooccuratleast30timesinthecorpusofmedicalresearcharticles.Asisknown,thedivisionbetweentechnicalvocabularyandacademic/sub-technicalvocabularyisnotalwaysdistinct(Chung&Nation,2003;Mudraya,2006).Insomecases,arbitrarydecisionsneedtobemadetodistinguishtechnicalvocabularyandacademic/sub-technicalvocabulary.IncompilingtheMAWL,twoexperiencedprofessorsofEnglishforMedicalPurposesfromourdepartmentwereconsultedwheneveranyarbitrarydecision

448J.Wangetal./EnglishforSpeciﬁcPurposes27(2008)442–458

wasneededintheinclusionortheeliminationofsomecriteria-fulﬁllingcontroversialwordfamiliesinorfromthecomputer-screened-outcandidatelist.

2.2.2.MAWLdevelopment

FollowingthestandardizationofthemedicalRAsandthenormalizationofthewords,thefrequencyandtherangeofthewordfamiliesinthecorpuswerecountedandlistedbycomputersoftware.ThewordselectioncriteriawerethenappliedtolocateourtargetwordfamiliestobeincludedintheMAWL.ThewordfamiliesincludedintheGSLwereelim-inatedﬁrstandthenfromtheremainingwordfamilies,thewordfamiliesoccurringatleastin16ormoreofthe32subjectareaswereselected.Fromthescreened-outwordfamilies,onlythosethatoccurredatleast30timesinthecorpusofmedicalresearcharticleswereselectedforthecandidatewordlist.Iftherewasanyuncertaintyaboutanyofthecrite-ria-fulﬁllingwordfamiliesinthecomputer-screened-outcandidatelist,twoexperiencedEnglishprofessorswhohavetaughtandconductedstudiesonEnglishforMedicalPur-posesformorethan20yearswereconsulted,asmentionedabove,andtheymadethedeci-siononwhetherthewordfamiliesinquestionshouldbeincludedinorexcludedfromtheﬁnalizedwordlist.TheﬁnalizedlistwastermedastheMedicalAcademicWordList(MAWL).3.Results

Therewere1093011runningwords,31275wordfamiliesand4128pagesoftextinthecorpus.Totally3345wordfamilieswerefoundtohaveoccurredP30times(frequency).AftertheeliminationoftheGSLwordfamilies(19wordfamilies),1446wordfamilieswereleftand650(44.95%)wordfamiliesofthemoccurredin16ormoresubjectareasunderstudy(range).ByconsultingthetwoexperiencedprofessorsofEnglishforMedicalPurposes,27(4.15%)borderlinewordfamiliesoutofthe650wordfamiliesinthecom-puter-screenedcandidatelistwereeliminatedbyexpertopinion.Table1displaysthe27wordfamilieswhichwereeliminatedbyexpertopinion.

Table1

Twenty-sevenwordfamilieseliminatedbyexpertopinionNumber12345671011121314

Headwordpathogenesiscytokineepithelial

mitochondrialcarcinomaligandsitu

lymphoidvitro

pulmonaryposterioranteriorlysiscardia

Frequency14611911511080796868656563636056

Range2218171616171616171618181618

Number15161718192021222324252627

Headwordnecrosiscutaneousstentvivohepaticaorticischemiacerebraldorsal

hemorrhagepathophysiologyexogenousphenotypic

Frequency555552525150504944443933

Range16161617191817171618171616

J.Wangetal./EnglishforSpeciﬁcPurposes27(2008)442–458449

ByourwordselectioncriteriaplustheexpertopinionofourconsultedexperiencedEMPprofessors,623(95.85%of650)wordfamilieswereultimatelychosenandformedtheMedicalAcademicWordList(seeAppendix),whichappeared133746timestotally.IntheMAWL,themostfrequentlyusedwordwascell,whichappeared4421timesandappearedinallthe32subjectareasinthecorpus,whiletheleastfrequentlyusedonewasstatic,whichappeared30timesandappearedin20subjectareasinthecorpus.Table2showsthestatisticalresultsofthetop30mostfrequentlyusedwordfamiliesintheMAWL.

ThewordfamiliesintheMAWLoccurredinawiderangeofthesubjectareasinourcorpus.Ofthe623wordfamiliesinthelist,104(16.69%)coveredallthe32subjectareasand321(51.52%)covered25ormoresubjectareas(seeTable3).Totally,486wordfam-ilies(78.01%)intheMAWLoccurredin20ormoreofthe32subjectareasunderstudy.Takingthelistasawhole,thefrequencyandtherangeofthewordfamiliesincludedintheMAWLwerepositivelycorrelated(rs=0.753,p=0.000).Amongthetop100mostfre-quentlyusedwordfamiliesinthelist,(%)appearedinallthe32subjectareasand

Table2

Statisticalresultsofthetop30wordfamiliesoftheMAWLHeadwordcelldata

muscularsigniﬁcantclinicanalyzerespondfactormethodproteintissuedosegenepreviousdemonstratenormalprocesssimilar

concentratefunctiontherapyindicateareaobtainresearchvaryactivaterequireinducecancer

FrequencyOccurrence442122262049203915981447142712371209112210971035999926861819819810787756749745734705704695673669668667

%3.311.661.531.521.191.081.070.920.900.840.820.770.750.690.0.610.610.610.590.570.560.560.550.530.530.520.500.500.500.50

RangeOccurrence323223323232323232282926283232323232273229323232323231323022

%100.00100.0071.88100.00100.00100.00100.00100.00100.0087.5090.6381.2587.50100.00100.00100.00100.00100.0084.38100.0090.63100.00100.00100.00100.00100.0096.88100.0093.7568.75

450J.Wangetal./EnglishforSpeciﬁcPurposes27(2008)442–458

Table3

Subject-areacoverageofwordfamiliesinMAWLSubjectareascovered3231302928272625242322212019181716Total

Numberofwordfamilies10431303732272931382232353829403533623

%16.694.984.825.945.144.334.6.986.103.535.135.626.104.656.425.625.30100.00

90(90%)appearedin25ormoresubjectareas,whileamongthebottom100wordfamiliesinthelist,only1(1%)covered32subjectareasand42(42%)coveredfewerthan20subjectareas.

TheaveragetextcoverageoftheMAWLwas12.24%ofthetotalwordsinthemedicalRAsunderstudy.Thefollowingpassagerandomlyselectedfromamedicalresearcharticle(Supp&Boyce,2005)inourcorpusgaveusapictureoftheacademicwordsusedinsuchtexts.ThewordsincludedintheMAWLareunderlined.

Chronicwoundsrepresentadiﬀerentkindofchallengeforwoundhealing.Thesewoundsdonotusuallyinvolvealargesurfacearea,buttheyhaveahighincidenceinthegeneralpopulationandthushaveenormousmedicalandeconomicimpacts.Themostcommonchronicwoundsincludepressureulcersandlegulcers.IntheUni-tedStatesalone,thesewoundsareestimatedtoaﬀectmorethan2millionpeoplewithtotalclinicaltreatmentcostsashighas$1billionannually.Pressureulcers,characterizedbytissueischemiaandnecrosis,arecommonamongpatientsinlong-termcaresettings,butpatientshospitalizedforshort-termcaresettingsarealsoatriskifmobilityisimpaired.Legulcerscanhaveavarietyofetiologies.Venousulcersarethemostcommon,oftenresultingfromdysfunctionofvalvesinveinsofthelowerlegthatnormallypreventthebackﬂowofvenousblood.Venousconges-tionleadstoleakageofbloodandmacromoleculesintothedermis,whichcanactasphysicalbarrierstodiﬀusionofoxygenandnutrientsfromthevasculatureintotheskin.Arterialinsuﬃciencyanddiabetesalsocontributetothedevelopmentoflegulcers.Arterialblockagecanleadtotissueischemia,inducingulcersornecrosis.Thepatientswithdiabetesarepronetolegulcersbecauseofseveralaspectsoftheirdisease,includingneuropathy,poorcirculation,andreducedresponsetoinfection.Diabeticfootulcerscanleadtocomplicationsthatresultinasmanyas50,000ampu-tationsannuallyintheUnitedStates,accountingfor45–70%ofalllower-extremity

J.Wangetal./EnglishforSpeciﬁcPurposes27(2008)442–458451

amputationsperformed.Historically,treatmentoftherelativelysmallchronicwoundshasincludedtheuseoftopicalagentsandocclusivedressings,andgraftingofsplit-orfull-thicknessskin.Skingraftscanprovidetimelywoundcoverage,butmayleadtopainfuldonorsiteswhichareslowtohealandmaybeunsuccessfulbecauseofunderlyingdeﬁcienciesinwoundhealing(p.403).

Amongthe305wordsintheabovepassage,37belongedtotheMAWL.TheMAWLtextcoverageinthepassagewas12.13%,whichwasconsistentwiththeresultsofourstudy.

Wehaveincludedonly623basewordsofthewordfamiliesintheMAWL,eventhoughderivativeformsaresometimesmorefrequentthanthebaseforms,becauseinmostcaseslearningthederivedformrequiresverylittleextraworkoncethebaseformisknownandiflearnershavecontrolofbasicword-buildingprocesses(Xue&Nation,1984).IntheAppendix,thewordsintheMAWLarelistedaccordingtothefrequencyoftheiroccur-renceinthecorpusinadescendingorder,thatis,themorefrequentlyusedwordfamiliesarelistedpriortothoseappearinglessfrequentlyinthecorpus.ThisfrequencypriorityinlistingillustratestherelativeusefulnessofthesewordsinmedicalEnglish,whichisoneofthemajorobjectivesofthepresentstudy.

Only342(.90%)ofthe623wordfamiliesintheMAWLoverlappedwiththe570wordfamiliesintheAWL.ThemarkeddiﬀerencebetweentheMAWLandtheAWLarguesforitselfthatdiﬀerentpracticesanddiscoursesofdisciplinarycommunitiesrequireamorerestricteddiscipline-basedlexicalrepertoire,whichunderminestheusefulnessofgeneralacademicwordlistsacrossdiﬀerentdisciplines.Wordslikelesionandvein,thoughtheytendtobeconsideredastechnicaltermsbypeopleoutsidemedicalﬁeld,areincludedintheMAWLasmedicalacademicvocabularybecausetheyaregeneralpurposemedicalwordsfrequentlyusedacrossdiﬀerentmedicalsubjectdisciplines.Academicvocabularyorsemi-technicalvocabularyisaclassofwordsbetweentechnicalandnon-technicalwordsandusuallywithtechnicalaswellasnon-technicalimplications.ThewordfamiliesincludedintheMAWLaremedicalacademicvocabularycommonacrossvarioussub-dis-ciplinesofmedicinebutnotwithinonesinglesub-disciplineofmedicine.4.Thepedagogicalimplications

TheMAWLcanserveasreferenceforaMedicalEnglishlexicalsyllabus.Asthefre-quentlyandwidelyusedmedicalacademicvocabularyinmedicalRAs,thewordfamiliesintheMAWLareworthspecialattentionindesigningsomeEnglishforMedicalPurposes(EMP)courses.TheMAWLcanprovidesomeguidelinesconcerningvocabularyincurric-ulumpreparation,particularlyindesigningEMPcourse-booksforlearningmedicalaca-demicvocabularyandinselectingrelevantteaching/learningmaterials.TheMAWLcanhelplearners/instructorscenteronessentialmedicalacademicwords,providinglearnerswithsomemorespeciﬁcapproachtolearningmedicalacademicvocabularyandfacilitat-inginstructors’settingoftheirmedicalacademicvocabularyteachinggoalsindiﬀerentstages.Well-timedandrepeatedexposuretothewordfamiliesoftheMAWLinavarietyofcontextsmaysigniﬁcantlycontributetotheacquisitionofthedeep-goingpropertiesofthisimportantsetofmedicalacademicwords.

TheMAWLcanalsohelplearnersstudyEMPacademicvocabularyinamorecon-sciousandmanageableway.TheMAWLprovidesaclearanddirectaccesstothemost

452J.Wangetal./EnglishforSpeciﬁcPurposes27(2008)442–458

frequentlyusedmedicalvocabularyforEMPlearnersandenablesthemtoconductexplicitlearningofvocabularywhenthesewordsareﬁrstintroducedtothelearners.Withmoreexposuretomedicaltexts,thelearnerswillconsolidatethevocabularyknowledgeacquiredfromtheMAWL.Thispatternoflearningacademicvocabularyinmedicalcontextmayalsoexemplifyacompromiseforalong-runningdebateaboutexplicitlearningversusguessingfromcontext.5.Conclusion

TheMAWL,amedicalacademicwordlistbasedonaMedicalRAsCorpuswith1093011runningwords,hasbeencompiledforthebetterlearningandapplicationofmed-icalacademicwordsinthedisciplineofmedicine.Althoughanumberofwordlistsofaca-demicwordsinotherdisciplineshavebeenreported,ourMAWLhasbeensofartheonlylistofacademicwordstargetedexclusivelyonmedicalscience.Bydevelopingalistofthefrequentlyusedmedicalacademicwordsinmedicine,wehopetoinspireenoughattentionofinstructorsandlearners/userstothistypeofvocabulary.Itwouldbeofspecialsignif-icanceforEMPstudents/instructorsandmedicalprofessionalsinlearningorusingmed-icalacademicvocabularyinmedicalreadingandwriting.

OurresearchisonlyapreliminarystudyonthemedicalacademicvocabularyusedinmedicalRAs.Ifpossible,theMAWLneedstoberecheckedinlargercorporaorinothergenresofmedicine,suchasmedicaltextbooksorspokenmedicalacademicEnglish.WehopetheavailabilityofexercisesandtestsbasedontheMAWLwillpromoteeﬀectiveandeﬃcientteachingandlearningofmedicalacademicvocabulary.Appendix

MedicalAcademicWordList(submittedbyfrequencyofwordfamilies)

Number1234567101112131415

Headwordcelldata

muscularsigniﬁcantclinicanalyzerespondfactormethodproteintissuedosegenepreviousdemonstrate

Number161718192021222324252627282930

Headwordnormalprocesssimilar

concentratefunctiontherapyindicateareaobtainresearchvaryactivaterequireinducecancer

Number313233343536373839404142434445

Headwordoccurroleevidentrangeidentifyperiodoutcomephasespeciﬁcliverinfectculturemediatescoreaﬀect

J.Wangetal./EnglishforSpeciﬁcPurposes27(2008)442–458453

Appendix(continued)NumberHeadword46potential47individual48expose49involve50survive51target52respective53intervenesite55per56design57primary58approach59estimate60component61acid62baseline63procedureoverall65pathway

66inﬂammation67region68participate69lesion70technique71volume72serum73deﬁne74evaluate75prior76assay77injury78section79task80achieve81symptom82detect83molecular84error85incubate86donor87intense88

chronic

NumberHeadwordfraction90insulin91contrast92react93source94available95disorder96positive97structure98multiple99generate100conclude101medium102inhibit103complex104distribute105major106tumor107initial108channel109receptor110membrane111stress112strain113nuclear114ratio

115approximate116release117transplant118surgery119assess120impact121versus122drug

123laboratory124minimize125onset126reveal127scan128monitor129criterion130visual131

duration

NumberHeadword

132cycle

133investigate134acute135sequence136select137maximize138whereas139peak140elevation141image142enzyme143parameter144isolate145mutation146enhance147calcium148glucose149appropriate150incidence151conduct152protocol153background1stimulate155algorithm156establish157eﬃcacy158hypothesis159feature160interval161mortality162array163derive1series165buﬀer166specimen167focus168display169plasma170abstract171grade172secondary173

strategy

(continuedonnextpage)

4J.Wangetal./EnglishforSpeciﬁcPurposes27(2008)442–458

Appendix(continued)NumberHeadword174graft175undergo176peripheral177transcription178despite179consist180status

181furthermore182immune183reverse184infuse185author186interact187issue188negative1throughout190goal191vein192chamber193independent194proliferation195formation196subsequent197predict198correspond199correlate200regulate201exclude202metabolic203device204recruit205ﬁnal206impair207inject208percent209publish210remove211syndrome212exhibit213blot214defect215biopsy216

index

NumberHeadword217diameter218cognitive219followup220ﬂuid221lipid222magnetic223margin224energy225locate226survey227software228proﬁle229attribute230convention231synthesis232recover233objective234ﬁlter235segment236compound237link

238guideline239extract240proportion241regression242questionnaire243discharge244respiratory245gender246summary247promote248tract249toxic250relevant251episode252acquire

253communicate2internal255dimension256layer

257microscope258adverse259

recipient

NumberHeadword260density261virus262interpret263document2instruct265oral266theory267illustrate268probe269diagnose270consequence271version272create273dilute274skeletal275novel276threshold277technology278element279dynamic280challenge281typical282transfer283aspect284diet285cohort286external287vector288antibiotic2domain290temporary291linear292plus293digit294accurate295concept296transport297rotate298input299absorb300replicate301distinct302

radical

J.Wangetal./EnglishforSpeciﬁcPurposes27(2008)442–458455

Appendix(continued)NumberHeadword303superior304contact305ensure306stable

307prevalence308capture309degrade310anesthesia311optimal312kit313bias

314proximal315constant316incorporate317suﬃcient318sustain319label320barrier321zone322chart

323implement324trauma325fund326context327hence

328community329lateral330facilitate331trim332prolong333quantify334perception335accumulate336expert337grant

338ampliﬁcation339random340construct341mount342renal

343environment344

couple

NumberHeadword345laser

346magnitude347formula348deﬁcit349alter350access

351supplement352eliminate353graph3shift355capacity356qualitative357simulate358globe359modulate360output361attenuate362statistic363prescribe3diﬀerentiate365equivalent366orient

367practitioner368substantial369chemical370thereby371consent372intake373stance374trend375overnight376contribute377enable378spectrum379assign380option381implicate382aid383tag384portion385electron386cope387

decline

NumberHeadword

388species3unique390overlap391adjacent392node

393transform394modify395manual396colleague397core398entry399deﬁcient400cascade401beneﬁt402identical403parallel404migrate405reagent406exceed407comprise408highlight409evolution410schedule411organism412predominant413cumulative414purchase415plot416seek417emerge418aﬃnity419valid420code421sterile422compute423prospect424utilize425deposit426column427contract428scar429

axis

(continuedonnextpage)

456J.Wangetal./EnglishforSpeciﬁcPurposes27(2008)442–458

Appendix(continued)NumberHeadword430inferior431deviate432trigger433loop

434precursor435perceive436preliminary437undertake438substitute439whilst440scenario441adapt442adult443expand444cord

445fundamental446feedback447sum448elicit

449circulation450tolerance451team452sex

453candidate4assume455imply456terminal457vascular458hormone459minor460panel461aggressive

462comprehensive463residual4perspective465brief466trace467equip468accelerate469template470mode471diminish472consecutive473

foundation

NumberHeadword474emphasize475physiology476oxide477restore478conﬂict

479phenomenon480invade481restrict482attach483longitude484technical485nevertheless486append487inﬁltrate488bacterium4agonist490rely491capable492manipulate493histology

494pharmacology495saline496persist497integrity498precede499rear500mental

501demographic502pathology503prominent504apparatus505paradigm506adjust507crucial508nervous509gradient510disrupt511encounter512nitrogen513format514robust

515spontaneous516principal517

transmit

NumberHeadword518audit519decade

520compromise521cue522gland523assist524inner525intrinsic526consume527suppress528fragment529hypertension530placebo531dominant532text

533susceptible534spinal535corporate536principle537relapse538numerical539resolve0mature1uniform2diverse3retain

4abdominal5lane6vital7suspend8voluntary9diﬀuse550rationale551simultaneous552transient553secrete5methanol555confer556constitute557accomplish558enroll559embryo560logistic561

project

J.Wangetal./EnglishforSpeciﬁcPurposes27(2008)442–458457

Appendix(continued)Number5625635565566567568569570571572573574575576577578579580581582

Headwordinsightcomplianceemissionsolublecommentoxygenwarrantroutemorbiditywidespreadalcoholconjugateacknowledgealternativemanifestclusternotionrender

malignancyresembleobvious

Number5835845855865875885590591592593594595596597598599600601602603

Headwordantigen

concomitantfusionelucidateconsensusﬁlebiologyurbanverifyspeculatepostulateroutinesomewhatcatheterodddiscreteconversespanaugmentdepictadequate

Number604605606607608609610611612613614615616617618619620621622623

Headwordneutralthereafterannualplastic

professionalrecallentityprecisesuccessivecontaminatetoneintegrateconfoundprofoundtensiondramaticblast

encompassconsultstatic

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