Automatic gapped selection of Academic Word List items

In October I wrote about studying the Academic Word List using Quizlet. To continue this theme, I can recommend the Academic Vocabulary website maintained by Sandra Haywood of the University of Nottingham in the UK.

expand your academic vocabulary using the Academic Word List

Expand your academic vocabulary using the Academic Word List

The part I find most useful is the AWL Gapmaker. You can use it to paste in any text and it will automatically find the words in the text that are in the AWL. You can choose from only sublist 1, sublists 1 and 2, sublists 1, 2 and 3, and so on, right up to include all the AWL sublists. You can then have the words taken out and gaps created in their place, with the option of having an alphabetical list of the gapped words created at the end of the  exercise for the students to use. I tend to use it if I find an online news article I wish to discuss or create another exercise around the content. Very useful as a homework exercise. As it is an online resource, it can be used by Linux, Windows Android and Apple devices. However, as you have to copy and paste, and print, it really needs some sort of laptop or Chromebook to use it efficiently.

Here is the process I use:

  1. Find and copy an article online. For example from The Guardian
  2. Go to the gapmaker: AWL Gapmaker
  3. Paste the article – or as much as you wish to use up to 2400 characters, into the gapmaker.
  4. Press Submit
  5. The resulting file can be printed, but it is best to copy that into a word processor and tidy it up with a proper heading and formatting.
  6. Print it out – and make sure you keep a copy of the original to ensure you know which word goes where!

There is also the AWL Highlighter which highlights the AWL vocabulary items. Use this to create a flipped classroom where the students learn the vocabulary at home then do a Quizlet Scatter race the next class. Be sure that the definitions of the vocabulary items match the meanings in the article!

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