The word profile of a Global Online Course for English language teachers: A corpus-based research project

Sebnem Kurt; Jeanne Beck; Abdulrahman Alharthi

doi:10.54475/jlt.2023.005

Authors

Sebnem Kurt Iowa State University https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4191-5277
Jeanne Beck Iowa State University
Abdulrahman Alharthi Iowa State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54475/jlt.2023.005

Keywords:

AWL, English teachers, learner corpus, off-list words, online teacher education

Abstract

Providing useful reference materials for online course participants is an important aspect for online courses. To aid a course designed to provide professional development to English language teachers from around the world, this corpus-based study investigated the frequency and coverage of Academic Word List (Coxhead, 1998), General Service List (GSL) first 1000 words (1K), and GSL second 1000 words (2K) lists. Gathering course materials and participant discussion board posts into two corpora for this study, frequency and coverage of the three base lists were calculated using AntWordProfiler and AntConc, resulting in a coverage of 9.56 % for AWL words and over 80% coverage for the two GSL lists combined in the first corpus. The high percentage of off-list words (9.75%) in the first corpus and low percentage of AWL words in the second corpus (5.23%) motivated the creation of a new word list that contains the most frequently used words outside of the AWL, GSL 1K, and GSL 2K words from the first corpus to supplement future course participants with technical words that are required to successfully complete the course.

Author Biographies

Sebnem Kurt, Iowa State University

Sebnem Kurt (Corresponding Author) is a Ph.D. student in the Applied Linguistics and Technology program, co-majoring in Human-Computer Interaction at Iowa State University. She worked as an EFL instructor at Akdeniz University for over a decade before she started her doctoral studies. She is a Fulbright scholar and a TESOL certificate holder. Her research interests include computer-assisted language learning, second language assessment and project-based learning.
Email: skurt@iastate.edu
Jeanne Beck, Iowa State University

Jeanne Beck is a Ph.D. student in the Applied Linguistics and Technology Program at Iowa State University. She has an education specialist degree (Ed.S.) in administration and an M.Ed. in TESOL. A certified K-12 teacher and education administrator, she also currently works as an EL coordinator/teacher at the elementary level. Her main interests include second language assessment, teacher training, CALL, and project-based learning.
Email: beckje@iastate.edu
Abdulrahman Alharthi, Iowa State University

Abdulrahman A. Alharthi is a Ph.D. student in the Applied Linguistics and Technology program at Iowa State University. He has a bachelor's degree in English Language from King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia and a master’s degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. His research interests include language assessment, L2 listening comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, language motivation, and Directed Motivational Currents (DMC).
Email: aaharthi@iastate.edu

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