What is Academic Vocabulary?

When it comes to academic vocabulary every student becomes an english language learner because this kind of language is new to all of them. Academic vocabulary can be defined in two ways. There is domain-specific vocabulary that is vocabulary that is found in specific subjects like math or science. There is also general academic vocabulary that is vocabulary found across all domains, not just one (Baumann and Graces, 2010).  Nancy Cloud explains that there are 400 words that make up the bulk of the English language. These words are coined Word Zone words by Elfrieda Hiebert (Colorincolorado, 2016). The reason why teaching academic vocabulary is so important is because the more vocabulary students understand, the better they can comprehend the text. They also can spend more time focusing on difficult words.