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   Assist. Prof. Dr. Budi Waluyo, Walailak University lecturer, whose expertise is in the area of English Language Teaching, Educational Technology, and International Education has recently released his article “Academic Vocabulary Used by High School Students in Essays and Its Relation to English Proficiency”, co-authored by Ms. Rahmah Bakoko. Both are from School of Languages and General Education. The article has been published in the Journal Language, Linguistics and Literature: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies (Scopus Q1 with 99 percentile).  
   The study looked for 70 of the most frequently occurring words in academic settings from the Academic Vocabulary List (AVL). In the study, they found 48 words known and used by high school students. On a deeper level, gender and proficiency have effects learning of certain words. However, knowledge on academic vocabulary seemed to have nothing to do with how well the students write, speak and read. 
    “Nonacademic words might have played a more significant role in student essays than academic words did,” added Assist. Prof. Dr. Budi. He emphasized that  application of this study that it can supplement both research, and English teaching and learning. 
     “For research, the findings indicate that students do not use all of the most frequently occurring words in their writing, so it is being questioned if the prominent vocabulary lists really represent the contextual academic vocabulary commonly known and frequently used by students from countries that consider English as a foreign language,” said Assist. Prof. Dr. Budi.

    It was emphasized that even though most Thai highschoolers’ English learning was oriented toward taking a national exam, high school is the setting in which they start recognizing and putting academic words in their assignments. How well and how fast they can nurture that skill determines their advancement on a university-leveled use of academic words in writing. 
   Talking about the future direction of research in vocabulary learning, Assist. Prof. Dr. Budi asserted, “Assessing which words students know and use in writing is undeniably important, especially for English teachers as they can develop plans to help advance students' knowledge and skills in English. In the future, I believe research will still focus on this area with the addition of speaking skills.”

    Assist. Prof. Dr. Budi Waluyo, a Fulbright Presidential Scholarship winner, has published over 22 articles from 2018 to 2022 and was awarded Walailak University’s Rising Star Awards 2022 on 24 January 2022. He is a well-recognized author in accredited Language teaching journals including The Journal of Asia TEFL (SCOPUS Q1), the journal Language, Linguistics and Literature: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies (Scopus Q1 with 99 percentile), The electronic journal for English as a second language (TESL-EJ) Q2 etc. 

For further reading on this publication https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357002784_Academic_Vocabulary_Used_by_High_School_Students_in_Essays_and_Its_Relation_to_English_Proficiency

News by Nootchanat Sukkaew 

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