Abstract:
This paper reports results from a corpus-based study that
explored the frequency of words in the abstracts of applied
linguistics journal articles. The abstracts of major articles in
leading applied linguistics journals, published since 2005 up to
November 2011 were analyzed using software modules from
the Compleat Lexical Tutor. The output includes a list of the
most frequent content words, lists of frequent words and
abbreviations not found in the British National Corpus. The
study also weighed applied linguistics abstracts against the
General Service List and the Academic Word List and
identified words in these abstracts which are shared by the
GSL or the AWL or are unique to one set. The report
separately lists words from the GSL and the AWL which are
proportionally more frequent in these abstracts than in
general written texts, and hence may be reasonably regarded
as playing key textual roles in applied linguistics abstracts and,by extension, discourse.
Machine summary:
"The 100 most frequent content word families in ALAAs* discuss 760 instruct 926 develop 1215 language 5344** practice 745 process 911 speak 1173 learn 4618 investigate726 word 833 article 1167 teach 3077 suggest 723 context 811 task 1151 study 2808 show 716 examine 795 find 1069 student 2705 data 705 relation 793 difference 1063 use 2531 text 699 level 786 group 1053 English 2387 foreign 692 assess 782 base 1036 write 1988 proficient 686 acquire 772 read 1036 research 1723 present 672 know 769 result 1032 second 1445 educate 670 participate766 effect 1021 analyze 1345 paper 663 interact 764 room 999 test 1303 type 439 pedagogy 468 first 547 strategy 653 EFL 438 model 466 academy 538 linguistic 634 way 436 significant466 course 538 school 632 need 435 class 464 theory 518 focus 627 describe 430 construct 464 make 514 identify 625 role 424 measure 456 compare 508 form 596 indicate 422 self 456 culture 507 approach 590 able 417 experience 454 vocabulary 507 report 586 argue 415 work 454 meaning 499 provide 585 time 407 vary 451 program 495 native 584 comprehend 403 discourse 448 Spain 490 perform 574 feedback 402 specific 443 explore 474 communicate 562 complex 394 university 443 understand 474 high 552 *Parts of compound words are also included in the counts."