Contrastive Analysis Of AWL Coverage In EGP And EGAP Textbooks

Averil Coxhead developed the Academic Word List(AWL)with the help of corpus technology in 2000.She found that AWL coverage of academic English text is about 10%and that AWL coverage of general English text is about 1.4%.Other scholars verified her findings,which resulted in the same as that of Coxhead.Therefore,AWL can be used as a basis for calculating how academic a corpus is.This thesis,by using quantitative research methods based on the Compleat Lexical Tutor,analyzes two series of widely used textbooks New Horizon College English(3rd ed.)and An Integrated Academic English Course by calculating AWL coverage in these two textbook series,in order to find out how academic English for General Purpose(EGP)and English for General Academic Purpose(EGAP)textbooks are.The thesis has the following findings.First,AWL coverage of An Integrated Academic English Course(9.99%)is much higher than that of New Horizon College English(3rd ed.)(4.63%),the first textbook series being more academic.Second,New Horizon College English(3rd ed)belongs to neither EGP nor EGAP textbooks,but it is more inclined to EGP textbooks.Third,An Integrated Academic English Course belongs to EGAP textbooks.Fourth,the four textbooks of New Horizon College English(3rd ed.)present a smooth flow with small fluctuations in AWL coverage,but none of them strictly belong to typical EGP textbooks.Fifth,AWL coverage of An Integrated Academic English Course presents a steady uprising trend,except for the second textbook which appears the lowest among the four books in terms of AWL coverage.The findings of this paper can not only provide data reference to help students to select suitable reading materials,and teachers to choose appropriate teaching resources,but they provide data support for current college English reform.