Einführung

Akademische Texte unterscheiden sich in Ihrer Wortwahl oftmals von der Umgangssprache. Dies gilt im Deutschen wie im Englischen. Im Folgenden geht es darum, welche allgemeinen Wörter/Begriffe besonders oft in englischsprachigen akademischen Texten verwendet werden.

Frau Averil Coxhead von der Victoria University of Wellington (Neuseeland) hat hierzu eine umfassende Zahl von englischsprachigen akademischen Texten untersucht und die häufigsten Begriffe identifiziert. Dabei wurden die 2000 häufigsten Wortfamilien im Englischen ausgeschlossen.

Das Ergebnis ist eine Sammlung von 570 Wortfamilien, die für akademische Texte typisch aber Fach-unspezifisch sind. Diese Sammlung heißt Academic Word List (1998) bzw. A New Academic Word List (2000). Die Sammlung ist in zehn Gruppen (Sublists) unterteilt, wobei die Gruppe 1 die häufigsten Wortfamilien enthält und die Gruppe 10 die am wenigsten häufigen Wortfamilien.

Ich meine, dass die Liste eine gute Ausgangsbasis ist, wenn man eigene akademische Texte verfasst.

Die Academic Word List (AWL)

Download-Möglichkeit

Es gibt die Academic Word List in verschiedenen Darstellungen – für den Anfang empfehle ich diese Darstellung (Quelle).  Nachfolgend die erste Seite, damit man einen Eindruck davon bekommt.

Die Academic Word List zum direkten Betrachten

Gruppe 1

• sector
• available
• financial
• process
• individual
• specific
• principle
• estimate
• variables
• method
• data
• research
• contract
• environment
• export
• source
• assessment
• policy
• identified
• create
• derived
• factors
• procedure
• definition
• assume
• theory
• benefit
• evidence
• established
• authority
• major
• issues
• labour
• occur
• economic
• involved
• percent
• interpretation
• consistent
• income
• structure
• legal
• concept
• formula
• section
• required
• constitutional
• analysis
• distribution
• function
• area
• approach
• role
• legislation
• indicate
• response
• period
• context
• significant
• similar

Gruppe 2

• community
• resident
• range
• construction
• strategies
• elements
• previous
• conclusion
• security
• aspects
• acquisition
• features
• text
• commission
• regulations
• computer
• items
• consumer
• achieve
• final
• positive
• evaluation
• assistance
• normal
• relevant
• distinction
• region
• traditional
• impact
• consequences
• chapter
• equation
• appropriate
• resources
• participation
• survey
• potential
• cultural
• transfer
• select
• credit
• affect
• categories
• perceived
• sought
• focus
• purchase
• injury
• site
• journal
• primary
• complex
• institute
• investment
• administration
• maintenance
• design
• obtained
• restricted
• conduct

Gruppe 3

• comments
• convention
• published
• framework
• implies
• negative
• dominant
• illustrated
• outcomes
• constant
• shift
• deduction
• ensure
• specified
• justification
• funds
• reliance
• physical
• partnership
• location
• link
• coordination
• alternative
• initial
• validity
• task
• techniques
• excluded
• consent
• proportion
• demonstrate
• reaction
• criteria
• minorities
• technology
• philosophy
• removed
• sex
• compensation
• sequence
• corresponding
• maximum
• circumstances
• instance
• considerable
• sufficient
• corporate
• interaction
• contribution
• immigration
• component
• constraints
• technical
• emphasis
• scheme
• layer
• volume
• document
• registered
• core

Gruppe 4

• overall
• emerged
• regime
• implementation
• project
• hence
• occupational
• internal
• goals
• retained
• sum
• integration
• mechanism
• parallel
• imposed
• despite
• job
• parameters
• approximate
• label
• concentration
• principal
• series
• predicted
• summary
• attitudes
• undertaken
• cycle
• communication
• ethnic
• hypothesis
• professional
• status
• conference
• attributed
• annual
• obvious
• error
• implications
• apparent
• commitment
• subsequent
• debate
• dimensions
• promote
• statistics
• option
• domestic
• output
• access
• code
• investigation
• phase
• prior
• granted
• stress
• civil
• contrast
• resolution
• adequate

Gruppe 5

• alter
• stability
• energy
• aware
• licence
• enforcement
• draft
• styles
• precise
• medical
• pursue
• symbolic
• marginal
• capacity
• generation
• exposure
• decline
• academic
• modified
• external
• psychology
• fundamental
• adjustment
• ratio
• whereas
• enable
• version
• perspective
• contact
• network
• facilitate
• welfare
• transition
• amendment
• logic
• rejected
• expansion
• clause
• prime
• target
• objective
• sustainable
• equivalent
• liberal
• notion
• substitution
• generated
• trend
• revenue
• compounds
• evolution
• conflict
• image
• discretion
• entities
• orientation
• consultation
• mental
• monitoring
• challenge

Gruppe 6

• intelligence
• transformation
• presumption
• acknowledged
• utility
• furthermore
• accurate
• diversity
• attached
• recovery
• assigned
• tapes
• motivation
• bond
• edition
• nevertheless
• transport
• cited
• fees
• scope
• enhanced
• incorporated
• instructions
• subsidiary
• input
• abstract
• ministry
• capable
• expert
• preceding
• display
• incentive
• inhibition
• trace
• ignored
• incidence
• estate
• cooperative
• revealed
• index
• lecture
• discrimination
• overseas
• explicit
• aggregate
• gender
• underlying
• brief
• domain
• rational
• minimum
• interval
• neutral
• migration
• flexibility
• federal
• author
• initiatives
• allocation
• exceed

Gruppe 7

• intervention
• confirmed
• definite
• classical
• chemical
• voluntary
• release
• visible
• finite
• publication
• channel
• file
• thesis
• equipment
• disposal
• solely
• deny
• identical
• submitted
• grade
• phenomenon
• paradigm
• ultimately
• extract
• survive
• converted
• transmission
• global
• inferred
• guarantee
• advocate
• dynamic
• simulation
• topic
• insert
• reverse
• decades
• comprise
• hierarchical
• unique
• comprehensive
• couple
• mode
• differentiation
• eliminate
• priority
• empirical
• ideology
• somewhat
• aid
• foundation
• adults
• adaptation
• quotation
• contrary
• media
• successive
• innovation
• prohibited
• isolated

Gruppe 8

• highlighted
• eventually
• inspection
• termination
• displacement
• arbitrary
• reinforced
• denote
• offset
• exploitation
• detected
• abandon
• random
• revision
• virtually
• uniform
• predominantly
• thereby
• implicit
• tension
• ambiguous
• vehicle
• clarity
• conformity
• contemporary
• automatically
• accumulation
• appendix
• widespread
• infrastructure
• deviation
• fluctuations
• restore
• guidelines
• commodity
• minimises
• practitioners
• radical
• plus
• visual
• chart
• appreciation
• prospect
• dramatic
• contradiction
• currency
• inevitably
• complement
• accompany
• paragraph
• induced
• schedule
• intensity
• crucial
• via
• exhibit
• bias
• manipulation
• theme
• nuclear

Gruppe 9

• bulk
• behalf
• unified
• commenced
• erosion
• anticipated
• minimal
• ceases
• vision
• mutual
• norms
• intermediate
• manual
• supplementary
• incompatible
• concurrent
• ethical
• preliminary
• integral
• conversely
• relaxed
• confined
• accommodation
• temporary
• distorted
• passive
• subordinate
• analogous
• military
• scenario
• revolution
• diminished
• coherence
• suspended
• mature
• assurance
• rigid
• controversy
• sphere
• mediation
• format
• trigger
• qualitative
• portion
• medium
• coincide
• violation
• device
• insights
• refine
• devoted
• team
• overlap
• attained
• restraints
• inherent
• route
• protocol
• founded
• duration

Gruppe 10

• whereby
• inclination
• encountered
• convinced
• assembly
• albeit
• enormous
• reluctant
• posed
• persistent
• undergo
• notwithstanding
• straightforward
• panel
• odd
• intrinsic
• compiled
• adjacent
• integrity
• forthcoming
• conceived
• ongoing
• so-called
• likewise
• nonetheless
• levy
• invoked
• colleagues
• depression
• collapse

Weiterführende Links

• „Academic Word List“ auf Wikipedia
• Der Artikel „A New Academic Word List“ aus dem Jahr 2000 oder hier
• „Academic Word List“ auf der Webseite der „Victoria University of Wellington“
• „Academic Word List“ auf Wiktionary
• Webseite der „A New Academic Word List (NAWL)“ bzw. hier (ist eine andere Liste von Dr. Charles Browne, Dr. Brent Culligan and Joseph Phillips aus dem Jahre 2013)