The availability of corpora has greatly strengthened the possibilities of identifying high-frequency lexical items in a more systematic and objective manner than has typically been used for vocabulary instruction. This article adopts a corpus-based approach to accommodate the vocabulary instructional needs of students enrolled in university reading support courses. The adopted model identifies high-frequency interdisciplinary academic vocabulary and their functions in authentic academic language with the support of the Word and Phrase Tool (WPT). Considering academic vocabulary to be an interrelated feature of academic language, as opposed to a series of isolated items, the instructional model shows how the use of this tool, in connection with a well-designed selection process, can advance the capabilities of instructors while doing justice to the dual necessities of depth and brevity.