Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education

Publication Date

3-9-2026

Abstract

This paper serves as a guide for the development of contextually relevant word lists and word guides for English-medium early childhood teacher education programs internationally. Such resources are particularly important for English-medium programs in higher education settings where English is typically a second or foreign language for students, and where limited vocabulary knowledge can curtail learning. In the context of an undergraduate early childhood teacher education program at an English-medium university in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a rapidly modernizing Gulf state with a new interest in early childhood education, language, and content teachers co-developed word lists for Arabic-speaking students in core content courses. A hybrid approach–combining expert judgment with procedures from corpus linguistics–was used to create a small, specialized corpus of course-specific vocabulary. These lists were based on key terms from mandated course textbooks, as well as input from subject-matter experts on core disciplinary vocabulary. To enhance their pedagogical value for students with developing English proficiency, accompanying word guides were also created. These guides included first-language translations and contextualized sentences to support intentional, independent vocabulary learning. This paper outlines the collaborative process involved in developing word lists for the field of early childhood education. It offers a model for integrating language and content expertise to better support learning in international English-medium teacher education programs.

ISSN

1090-1027

Publisher

Informa UK Limited

Disciplines

Education

Keywords

Psychology (0.74), Early childhood teacher (0.68), Vocabulary (0.66), Teacher education (0.61), Early childhood (0.61), Early childhood education (0.54), Pedagogy (0.52), Vocabulary development (0.51), Mathematics education (0.48), Core (optical fiber) (0.48), Language teacher (0.47), Faculty development (0.4), Common core (0.39), Student teacher (0.38), Professional development (0.35), Language development (0.33), Teaching method (0.33), Developmentally Appropriate Practice (0.33), Preschool education (0.3), Child development (0.26), Language acquisition (0.25)

Scopus ID

105032470440

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

yes

Open Access Type

Hybrid: This publication is openly available in a subscription-based journal/series

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