The Academic Word List, or AWL, contains 570 English word families commonly found in academic texts. Averil Coxhead developed it at Victoria University of Wellington, and her study A New Academic Word List was published in 2000. The list helps you select general academic vocabulary for reading and writing, including IELTS preparation.
570 families does not mean 570 individual spellings. The verb analyse, for example, belongs with related forms such as analysis, analytical, and analytically. Recognising the root helps, but a sentence also requires the right part of speech and construction. This is often where a memorised translation stops being enough.
LetsWords includes an AWL set with word-use practice. The service checks a sentence containing the word you are learning, explains the mistakes, and suggests a more precise formulation. Spaced repetition brings the material back so that you practise retrieving and using academic vocabulary for writing.
How the Academic Word List is organised
Coxhead’s study describes selection from an academic corpus of 3.5 million running words. The AWL covers vocabulary used across academic disciplines, making it useful across IELTS essay topics.
The list has ten sublists. According to the university’s AWL resource, the first nine contain 60 families each; the tenth contains 30. The ordering reflects frequency in the academic material used to compile the list, with more frequent families in the first sublist.
| What you see in the AWL | What it means for learning |
|---|---|
| Headword | The main word under which a family is grouped |
| Word family | Related forms whose uses you need to distinguish |
| Sublist | A group of families for working through the list |
| Sublist number | A frequency guide within the AWL, not a CEFR level or IELTS band |
Reaching sublist ten and being able to use the words in Writing are different achievements. To check the second, find out which forms you can actually put into a sentence without a model.
Which sublist should you start with?
If you are new to the AWL, sublist one is a practical starting point. Look at a few words and separate those you recognise from those you can use in writing. You do not have to learn all 60 families at once. Choose a manageable number that leaves time to write sentences and understand the corrections.
For example, benefit may seem completely familiar. Check three things: can you use it as a verb, name the source of the benefit, and form a sentence with the adjective beneficial? Knowing only a translation leaves useful work to do.
You do not need to stay on an entire sublist because of one meaning you rarely need. Work with the relevant meaning and continue expanding your usable vocabulary. Later reading will reveal other uses worth adding.
Returning to words matters. Reading a page once is quicker than learning to choose words in a new situation. Meeting a difficult family in several different sentences is therefore more useful than simply ticking off each of its members.
Word families: change the form to fit the sentence
Consider the analyse family.
| Form | Example | Function |
|---|---|---|
| analyse | Researchers analyse the results. | An action |
| analysis | The analysis revealed a clear pattern. | The process or result of analysing |
| analytical | The course develops analytical skills. | A quality of the skills |
| analytically | The students approached the problem analytically. | How the action was performed |
Suppose you are studying analysis in LetsWords and write:
The researchers made an analyse of the results.
What the feedback explains. The noun analysis is needed after an here; analyse is a verb. To describe conducting the work, carry out an analysis is a natural combination. The correction is:
The researchers carried out an analysis of the results.
A shorter version: The researchers analysed the results. This version expresses the idea through a verb and no longer needs the noun. That is the difference between recognising a family and using it: you select the form for the sentence, and the feedback explains that choice.
Another example is require and requirement. In The course requires a high level of English, the verb expresses the requirement directly. In Applicants must meet the entry requirements, you need the noun, which combines with meet. Knowing the meaning of require alone does not tell you which verb belongs with the related noun.
Work with the forms you need rather than filling a long table for its own sake. A verb and noun may be enough for your present topic. Add other forms when you have a clear reason to use them.
See what this kind of feedback finds in the words you are learning now.
Collocations: a word needs the right neighbours
Academic vocabulary is especially useful when learned in its usual combinations. Instead of focus alone, learn focus on something. Instead of impact, learn have an impact on something. You retain the meaning, verb, and preposition together.
Error: The study focuses in young adults.
Correction: The study focuses on young adults.
The verb focus introduces its object of attention with on. The noun has a different surrounding construction: in the focus of the study, of links the focus to the study. You cannot transfer a preposition automatically between forms of the same root.
On focus on, you can check a sentence with the construction for free. Say what your course, project, or research concentrates on.
Another example:
Error: The policy has a positive impact to participation.
Correction: The policy has a positive impact on participation.
The thing affected follows on: an impact on participation. Both have an impact and make an impact are possible; the preposition needs correcting here. The sentence becomes more informative if the reader also knows how participation changed. Academic wording should help communicate an observation. Practise the construction for free on have an impact.
How to use the AWL in IELTS Writing
Start with the idea you need to express. If regular feedback helps students, two different constructions are possible:
Students benefit from regular feedback.
Regular feedback is beneficial to students.
The first uses benefit as a verb; the second uses the adjective beneficial. Their meanings are close, but their grammar differs. Students are benefit from feedback incorrectly mixes the two patterns.
Academic words such as affect, require, indicate, and assess are useful when they make an idea more precise. You do not need to replace every use with a longer word or attach significant to every noun. Calling a small difference significant may make an account less accurate.
You also need vocabulary suited to the topic. The AWL supplies general academic language; the 18 IELTS vocabulary topics help you add subject-specific expressions. Access to education and access to transport share a construction but require different concrete details.
What to do with an AWL PDF or downloaded list
A PDF helps you see the list’s contents and find a sublist. For practice, add a meaning, a short example, and one construction to a word you select. Then cover the example and write about a different situation.
After access to educational resources, for instance, write about information for patients or residents’ access to public transport. The content changes, while you have to retrieve the construction. Retyping the model does not yet show that you can use it independently.
Looking over all the forms is not the same as retrieving them. At your next session, first try to recall the English word from its meaning, then use it. A mistake in a preposition or word form shows exactly what needs more practice.
Why learn the AWL in LetsWords?
A printed list shows analyse and analysis, but it cannot explain why a different form is needed in the sentence you wrote. In LetsWords, choose the ready-made AWL set, use a word, and receive feedback on that attempt. The word returns through spaced repetition informed by response history. You can use English definitions, hide the translation while studying, and choose brief or detailed explanations.
You can then apply the constructions in IELTS Writing, with tasks, practice for individual criteria, and feedback on a complete response. This extends work on word meaning and form into a longer text.
Study the AWL in LetsWords in the way you will need it for Writing: select a form, express an idea, and work through inaccuracies. Familiar roots can then become constructions you know how to use. Start learning: choose your goal and level, explore the practice, and try the feedback before paying.