Consistency between JH-Word lists and SH/VH-Textbooks

between the JH vocabulary lists, inclusive of both the old ones and the new ones, and the 22 classified corpora in the SH/VH textbooks. The second research question this study tries to answer is to find out to what extent do the new word lists, Word-JH1000 (1000 productive vocabulary) and Word-JH2000 (1000 receptive vocabulary) in the Grade 1-9 Curriculum Guidelines overlap with the words in each of the six senior high school English textbooks? Do the new word lists provide better consistency with senior high school textbooks than that offered by the old centralized junior high school textbooks?

According to Figure 4.9, for the SH freshmen who could only completely handle Word-JHA, when they start their new English course in SH after the

graduation from junior high school, there might be more than 40% unknown words when they read the texts in their new SH textbooks. While thumbing through the whole textbooks (Corpus-SHD), they might be shocked that more than half of the words they read in the books seem unfamiliar (See detailed statistics in Appendix B, B-1).

Figure 4.9 The Gap between Word-JHA and SH Textbooks The Gap between Word-JHA and SH Textbooks

0 20 40 60

Percentage of Unlisted New Words

JHA 42.77 46.53 44.45 45.82 47.35 44.6 52.78 52.36 50.55 53.87 55.52 55.32

Figure 4.10 indicates that for those who can fully apply both Word-JHA and Word-JHB in their English learning in senior high school, there could be at least 29.49% new words in the reading texts only and up to 42.56% new words in those sections included in their further tests and exams (Corpus-SHD). The amount of unknown words could be so enormous that it might form a gap which might hinder the students’ learning and affect their learning attitude and interest (See detailed statistics in Appendix B, B-2).

Figure 4.10 The Gap between Word-JHA + Word-JHB and SH Textbooks

The Gap between Word-JHA + Word-JHB and SH Textbooks

0

Percentage of Unlisted New Words

JHA +JHB 29.49 34.68 30.47 31.83 35.71 30.75 38.31 39.87 34.93 39.16 42.56 39.66

As for the newly-issued JH vocabulary lists, the gap between JH and SH/VH might be smaller than the old ones but still exists. For LT readers, they might still encounter more than half of unknown words in Corpus SHD while for the users of SMC, the easiest one among the three, there might also be 37.46 % new words when they read the texts only once they graduated from junior high schools (See detailed statistics in Appendix B, B-3).

Figure 4.11 The Gap between Word-JH1000 and SH Textbooks

The Gap between Word-JH1000 and SH Textbooks

0

Percentage of Unlisted New Words

JH-1000 38.1 40.04 37.46 40.34 41.22 38 47.63 47.84 43.58 48.5 50.63 48.43

The knowledge of Word-JH2000 does help but the students could still encounter at least one new word every five words (Corpus-FE-SHA, 21.64% unlisted words) while reading the texts. More than three new words out of ten words read should be recognized as unfamiliar words by LT readers who are reading through the whole book (Corpus-LT-SHD, 31.14% unlisted words) (See detailed statistics in Appendix B, B-4).

Figure 4.12 The Gap between Word-JH1000 + Word-JH2000 and SH Textbooks

The Gap between Word-JH1000 + Word-JH2000 and SH Textbooks

Percentage of Unlisted New Word

JH-1000+ JH-2000 21.64 22.67 22.67 23.54 24.29 23.42 28.27 29.43 25.07 28.61 31.14 28.04

By the same token, the VH students who learned the old JH vocabulary lists might encounter the gap. At the beginning of their English learning in vocational high school, those who could merely master Word-JHA should face about 40% of new words (38.01% in FEV-VHA the least and 50.68% in FEV-VHD the most) (See detailed statistics in Appendix B, B-1).

Figure 4.13 The Gap between Word-JHA and VH Textbooks

The Gap between Word-JHA and VH Textbooks

0

Percentage of Unlisted New Words

JHA 38.01 44.75 40.19 40.71 44.05 41.14 48.64 46.07 46.15 51.68

Word-JHB could effectively reduce the amount of unfamiliar words but there might still be approximately 30% new words (29.72% in FEV-VHA the least and 38.5% in FEV-VHD the most) which might block their learning or learning motivation (See detailed statistics in Appendix B, B-2).

Figure 4.14 The Gap between Word-JHA + Word-JHB and VH Textbooks

The Gap between Word-JHA + Word-JHB and VH Textbooks

0

Percentage of Unlisted New Words

JHA +JHB 27.92 33.42 33.41 30.12 33.42 29.59 36.03 34.57 33.41 38.5

The new JH vocabulary lists do not provide an effective bridging solution to the possible gap between JH vocabulary lists and SH/VH textbooks. For those JH

graduates who could merely master Word-JH1000 should also face about 40% of new words (31.39% in FEV-VHA the least and 45.7% in FEV-VHD the most) at the beginning of their English learning in vocational high school (See detailed statistics in Appendix B, B-3).

Figure 4.15 The Gap between Word-JH1000 and VH Textbooks

The Gap between Word-JH1000 and VH Textbooks

0

Percentage of Unlisted New Words

JH-1000 31.39 39.7 34.08 34.12 39.65 35.96 42.19 40.78 39.97 45.7

Comparing to Word-JHB, Word-JH2000 seems to play a more effective role in bridging the gap. For the JH graduates who can handle both Word-JH1000 and Word-JH2000, they might pass the “all-or-nothing” threshold (80% known-word coverage in a certain text) when they read Corpus FEV-VHA (only 17.82% unlisted words) before the VH English course started. Even in Corpus FEV-VHD, there are merely 26.24% unfamiliar words (See detailed statistics in Appendix B, B-4).

Figure 4.16 The Gap between Word-JH1000 + Word-JH2000 and VH Textbooks

The Gap between Word-JH1000 + Word-JH2000 and VH Textbooks

Percentage of Unlisted New Words

JH-1000+ JH-2000 17.8 25.5 19.8 20.5 26 21.6 24.9 25.8 24.4 26.2

4.3 New Word Density in the SH-Textbooks and VH-Textbooks