Specialized vocabulary in TED talks and TED-Ed animations: Implications for learning English for science and technology

Abstract

TED talks and TED-Ed animations have been widely used in English language courses to facilitate the learning of general and general academic English. However, little is known about their potential as resources for learning specific academic English. This study helps to fill this gap by examining, from a lexical perspective, their potential as learning materials for English for science and technology (EST). Specifically, it analyzes specialized vocabulary in two corpora, one of science and technology TED talks and the other, of science and technology TED-Ed animations. The results show that, given their high coverage of specialized vocabulary (comparable to that of science lectures), both these types of material may be useful in EST instruction. In particular, the TED talks may serve as bridging materials for EST beginners, while the TED-Ed animations may be more suitable for familiarizing students with specialized words that are infrequent in general English. Also, because TED-Ed animations are comparable to written science texts in terms of their coverage of specialized vocabulary, they may be especially useful as materials for EST vocabulary learning.