The Secondary Phrase List (Economics)

The pedagogical approach of Disciplinary Literacy has been gaining recognition in secondary schools internationally. It shares much with English for Specific Purposes, though as yet there have been few interdisciplinary connections. The Secondary Phrase Lists (SPL) are a set of discipline-specific lists containing content word phraseology across multiple subjects.  There has been a debate over the extent of a general academic vocabulary, which has led to a focus on discipline-specific pedagogical wordlists. Additionally, there has been a movement toward capturing phraseology. The SPL combines these two trends. The extent of a general academic vocabulary has been questioned by previous research that has found vocabulary and lexical bundles vary so much by discipline that a discipline-specific approach to vocabulary instruction should be adopted. The research on content word phraseology (e.g. gamma rays) underlying  these lists shows that there is disciplinary variation greater than previous phraseological research into lexical bundles, suggesting limited general academic vocabulary for phrases of this kind, thereby supporting the need for discipline-specific resources that capture them.

There are lists for Economics (this list), Chemistry, Biology, English, Geography, History, Math, and Physics. There is also a list of core phrases that are present in over 50% of all disciplines.