Suitability of science & technology documentaries for EAP and EST listening

Abstract

Selecting English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Science and Technology (EST) listening materials is a challenging task as many different criteria could inform that choice. This study examines the suitability of science and technology documentaries for EAP and EST listening based on a corpus of 100 such documentaries. Departing from the premise that criteria such as thematic suitability, appeal and visual support for the vocabulary presented, as well as the fact that they are delivered in standard English, might recommend science and technology documentaries for this purpose, we further explore their lexical profile, lexical density and speech rate, so as to pass a more informed judgement in this regard. The results obtained are compared against those for academic lectures in general and science lectures in particular. They show that science and technology documentaries may be reasonably followed with a vocabulary size of 3,000 to 4,000 words, similar to what is required for lectures. Additionally, this genre is a good source of academic and technical vocabulary. Its higher lexical density is compensated by its slower delivery than that of lectures. Based on this, we support the inclusion of science and documentary films as EAP and EST materials.