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A corpus-based study of vocabulary in English language textbooks for senior secondary education in China
Author
Yu, Min
Supervisor
Renandya, Willy A.
Netto-Shek, Jo-Ann
Abstract
The study investigates the vocabulary profile of a set of English textbooks New Senior English for China, which is widely used for senior secondary education in China. It examines how the words required by the 2017 National English Curriculum Standard for General Senior Secondary Education in China (2017 English Curriculum Standard) are covered and repeated in the textbooks. The study also analyzes vocabulary activities in the textbooks using the checklist for Technique Feature Analysis (TFA) developed by Nation and Webb (2011). Combining quantitative and qualitative analysis, the study seeks to address the following research questions:
1. To what extent does the set of textbooks New Senior English for China cover the vocabulary in the wordlists required by the 2017 English Curriculum Standard?
2. What is the rate of the repetition and dispersion of these words in this set of textbooks?
3. How many words required by the 2017 English Curriculum Standard are practiced in vocabulary activities in the textbooks and how effective are these vocabulary activities?
The results show that the textbooks only cover about 80% of the lemmas required by the 2017 English Curriculum Standard. Among these lemmas which are covered in the textbooks, only half of them are repeated more than four times in the textbooks. Most of the lemmas which recur more than four times in the textbooks have dispersion values above 0.5. Lemmas with dispersion values below 0.1 are mainly composed of theme-based words. The vocabulary activities in the textbooks provide opportunities to practice 57% of the lemmas which are required by the 2017 English Curriculum Standard. However, more than 90% of them are practiced only once. Analysis of vocabulary activities with the checklist of TFA reveals that the vocabulary activities in the textbooks lack effectiveness in promoting vocabulary learning because the TFA point values are low and unevenly distributed. The TFA point values of 73% of the vocabulary activities are between 7 and 9. Such massed distribution of TFA point values demonstrates lack of diversity in the vocabulary activities. The results of the study point to the need for additional or supplementary exposure of the words required by the 2017 Curriculum Standard to students.
1. To what extent does the set of textbooks New Senior English for China cover the vocabulary in the wordlists required by the 2017 English Curriculum Standard?
2. What is the rate of the repetition and dispersion of these words in this set of textbooks?
3. How many words required by the 2017 English Curriculum Standard are practiced in vocabulary activities in the textbooks and how effective are these vocabulary activities?
The results show that the textbooks only cover about 80% of the lemmas required by the 2017 English Curriculum Standard. Among these lemmas which are covered in the textbooks, only half of them are repeated more than four times in the textbooks. Most of the lemmas which recur more than four times in the textbooks have dispersion values above 0.5. Lemmas with dispersion values below 0.1 are mainly composed of theme-based words. The vocabulary activities in the textbooks provide opportunities to practice 57% of the lemmas which are required by the 2017 English Curriculum Standard. However, more than 90% of them are practiced only once. Analysis of vocabulary activities with the checklist of TFA reveals that the vocabulary activities in the textbooks lack effectiveness in promoting vocabulary learning because the TFA point values are low and unevenly distributed. The TFA point values of 73% of the vocabulary activities are between 7 and 9. Such massed distribution of TFA point values demonstrates lack of diversity in the vocabulary activities. The results of the study point to the need for additional or supplementary exposure of the words required by the 2017 Curriculum Standard to students.
Date Issued
2019
Call Number
PE1068.C6 Yu