Lexitronics Books, Materials and Courses

1. Introducing Learners to the 2709 most frequent words in English.

Billuroğlu, A., & Neufeld, S. (2007). BNL 2709: The essence of English (4th ed.). Nicosia: Rüstem Kitabevi.(Turkish and Arabic Versions)

  • BNL2709-the essence of English (ISBN 9789944968133), has sold over 10,000 copies in Cyprus to date.
    • The book provides around 180 hours of self-directed learning for the 2,709 most commonly used words in English, and includes a three-stage learning system integrated as part of the companion CD-ROM.
    • For the past two years, the English Preparatory School, Eastern Mediterranean University has based its lexical syllabus on BNL2709. BNL2709 has also been used in a freshmen ELT course and is on the supplementary book lists of five other universities in Cyprus.
    • Pilot projects have taken place to test the Arabic version of BNL2709 at Zayed University, Abu Dhabi. A second project is underway at the National Autonomous University of Mexico to test the BNL2709 approach with Spanish speakers.
  • For practitioners, the principles underlying the BNL are the subject of a series of slidecasts, available at: http://bnl2709.edublogs.org/colour-of-words/
  • Any text can be BNL profiled for free at: http://www.lextutor.ca/vp/bnl/ (Part of Tom Cobb’s Compleat Lexical Tutor Site)
  • For self-directed learning, the BNL is integrated into a MOODLE for preparatory school students at http://ied.emu.edu.tr/ehouse

For further information, please contact: lexitronics@gmail.com

2. Learning Vocabulary in context and in depth: The E-Reader Series

  • The E-Readers are intended to develop knowledge of the 2709 most common words in English. The aim is for learners to acquire a thorough productive knowledge of all 2709 families – which constitute over 90% of running text in English.
  • The E-Readers are intended to provide sufficient exposure to lexis. Research  has  suggested that learners need 10-12 encounters with a word before it is absorbed. It is an operating principle to provide this number and drive students as close as possible to the 95% threshold for lexis to be acquired through such skills as inference. (Cobb)
  • Lexis is studied in-depth. By making use of such tools as on-line glossaries, wikis and online activities each of the target word-families is explored in detail.
  • The E-Readers are the foundation of an E-Community. Use of interactive software allows not only for materials delivery but for learners to discuss the material, interact, and in so doing productively use target lexis.

The approach is not based on classical conceptions of level but on the observation that many students following traditional modes of learning have a lexical deficit. The E-Readers are designed to remedy this. Having said this, the readers are not designed for beginners, and it is anticipated that the e-reader concept and materials might best be marketed through a licence enabling institutions to change, adapt, and use the basic package according to their own needs.

In this respect, the e-reader series is a flexible package, as well as being an embodiment of the lexitronic principles discussed thus far. A sample eReader is available as part of the LexiCLIL course and can be viewed at: http://lexitronics.org

We hope to start putting the eReader series online early in 201o.

For further information, please contact: lexitronics@gmail.com

3. Write Like an Academic Online Course 

The Write Like an Academic Online Course   attempts to realize the principles of lexitronics at a more advanced level. The course started as a classroom-based course with a lexical approach to teaching thesis writing skills. Since then however, it has made extensive use of a corpus-informed approach and concordancing software as well as being adapted to the MOODLE platform, where it is anticipated it can be developed into a stand-alone course of considerable value to non-native speaking academics.

For further information, please contact: lexitronics@gmail.com

Or visit the Write Like an Academic Blog

4. LEXICLIL Teacher Development

The LEXICLIL online teacher development course also follows the same corpus-informed principles as Write Like an Academic. The main theme of the course is to examine how systematic vocabulary acquisition can be integrated into a CLIL environment.

4. Teacher Training and Development

A number of workshops and short courses have been designed around the research, ideas, and tools discussed on this site. Team members have offered and are happy to offer hands-on and on-line support in such areas as:

  • Integrating BNL2709 into MOODLE-assisted hybrid or fully-fledged online courses
  • Data-driven learning
  • Corpus-informed approaches to materials development and syllabus design
  • Practical ways of integrating Web 2.0 tools and instruments into the EFL classroom
  • Differentiating learning and community learning

For further information, please contact: lexitronics@gmail.com 

5. Tools and Technology

As the label ‘lexitronics’ implies, our project makes extensive use of computer technology, in particular Web 2.0 applications. Of these, MOODLE should be singled out for special attention.

Although the new technologies are not a central aspect of our research, they are essential to our approach. We believe that Web 2.0 technologies in particular provide a platform for a collaborative and peer-based learning methodology with extraordinary potential to generate not only receptive but productive learning. With the assistance of appropriately designed ‘techno-frames’, it is our belief that learners can be driven up and beyond key learning thresholds, particularly within the key domain of vocabulary acquisition.

For further information, please contact: lexitronics@gmail.com

Or look at our work in practice at: http://lexitronics.org