TED-Ed animations as resources for learning academic formulas

Abstract

Knowledge of academic formulas is essential for second language learners, particularly those studying English for academic purposes, as it greatly affects their comprehension and expression in academic settings. Yet, resources facilitating the learning of these formulas are very limited. To address this gap, this study examines the potential of TED-Ed animations for learning academic formulas by analyzing the variety and occurrence of those formulas in a corpus comprising 1,513 such animations. The findings show that TED-Ed animations contain a diverse range and a high density of academic formulas, particularly those core to both spoken and written academic discourse, with a notable 97 % of them occurring within the corpus. Also, extensively viewing these animations would offer learners repeated encounters with various academic formulas, potentially helping enhance their knowledge of these items. These findings highlight the value of TED-Ed animations as resources for learning academic formulas, particularly through extensive viewing practices, and reaffirm academic nature of such animations from a phraseological perspective. Additionally, this study reveals a higher occurrence and variety of spoken academic formulas compared to their written counterparts within TED-Ed animations, providing further insights into the lexical characteristics of such discourse.