3. METHOD
3.3 Procedures and Data Analysis
With the attempt to answer the research questions, the data were examined from the following aspects: word size, consistency between JH-textbooks and SH or VH textbooks, new word density, and the frequency of word encounters.
First, the question related to vocabulary load was explored from two aspects: the size of the new words in the vocabulary lists and the exact number of the “unlisted”
words, referring to the words which are neither included in SH/VH vocabulary lists nor taught in the JH teaching materials. The program, FREQUENCY33 was adopted to count the numbers of the graphic word types in six vocabulary lists of the six textbooks (SH-textbooks*3 and VH-textbooks *3) and the 22 classified corpora. The word lists (Word-JHA, Word-JHB, Word-JH1000, and Word-JH2000) used in
JH-textbooks were also calculated by the same program. With the help of RANGE32, the size of unlisted new words could be examined. By editing the JH word lists as the
word bases in the program, RANGE32 enabled the researcher to match the word lists (Word-JHA, Word-JHB, Word-JH1000, and Word-JH2000) used in JH-textbooks with the 22 classified corpora of the SH and VH textbooks. For the editing of the word bases, the inflections, including plural, third person singular present tense (-s/es), past tense (-ed, or irregular), past participle (-ed, or irregular), present participle (-ing), comparative (-er), and superlative (-est), are covered and the derivations, inclusive of affixes, such as –ly after an adjective, are also included in the word lists because such rules have been taught in junior high school.
Second, the question about the consistency between JH-textbooks and
SH/VH-textbooks was examined through the operation of the RANGE32 program.
Particularly, JH word lists are designed for different purposes, i.e. Word-JHA or Word-JH1000 for required courses while Word-JHB or Word-JH2000 for elective courses. Therefore, with the help of EXCEL, this study not only examined the differences between the old and the new word lists but also investigated the different gaps students might encounter since not every JH student learned the word lists for both required and elective courses before using SH/VH textbooks.
Third, the question of new word density was inspected from the two aspects through the calculation of EXCEL: (1) the ratio of the new graphic words in the vocabulary lists to the 22 classified corpora and (2) the ratio of total new graphic words, including listed and unlisted ones, to the 22 classified corpora.
Fourth, the question regarding the frequency of word exposures, both the listed and unlisted ones, will be investigated in the 22 classified corpora by running the programs, RANGE32 and EXCEL.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In this chapter, the statistical findings of this study are presented and discussed in terms of the four research questions listed in Chapter One. The results are presented in the following four sections covering the aspects of word size, consistency between JH (Junior High School) word lists and SH (Senior High School) /VH (Vocational High School) textbooks, new-word density, and word exposures. In the tables and figures presented in this chapter, FE stands for Far East Reader, LT for Lung-teng Reader, SMC for Sanmin Reader edited by Chen Ling-Hsia while FEV, LTV, and SMV refer to the vocational versions by the same three publishers.
4.1 Word Size in the SH-Textbooks and VH-Textbooks In this section, the statistical results are presented to answer the first research question and to probe into the word size a senior or vocational high school freshman should encounter. The first research question this study tries to answer is to find out to what extent the size of new words, including those presented in vocabulary lists and those unlisted but never learned in either JH vocabulary lists or in other parts of the SH/VH textbooks, exists in the six high school English textbooks (three versions for SH and three versions for VH, respectively). According to the related literature in Chapter Two, it should be understandable that parts of students’ heavy learning burden may lie in a huge amount of vocabulary and its related knowledge, which overloads learners’ short term memory, let alone for transforming short term memory into long term memory (Huang, T. L. 2001). Therefore, the first focus of this study is on whether the size of new words, not only those presented in the vocabulary lists but also the unlisted new words is too big for high school freshmen to handle.
4.1.1 New-word Size
In order to find out whether there is a sudden increase of vocabulary learning load, which might influence learning, it is necessary to examine the new-word size in the JH and SH/VH textbooks respectively. Before that, the focus is on the difference between the old centralized JH textbooks and the new JH word lists so that the gap of new-word size between them and SH/VH textbooks could also be investigated.
The following two tables (Table 4.1 & Table 4.2) show the learning load a junior high school student had to shoulder from the old textbooks edited by NICT and the new words one has to learn from the new vocabulary lists by the MOE. From Table 4.1, the learning load, in terms of word entries (namely headwords of word families), does not increase in the newly-issued JH word lists, but decreases in the new
vocabulary lists (New JH / Old JH = 89.53%).
However, while considering types (i.e. running words excluding repeated occurrences) by applying basic rules of word formation, instead of word entries, the junior high school students have more to learn from the new vocabulary lists.
Specifically, the basic amount of required vocabulary does not change much. In other words, no matter which version a student choose, the old centralized one or the new ones based on the new vocabulary lists by the MOE, if he or she only have to learn the required course with Word-JHA or learn the vocabulary for production
(Word-JH1000), the vocabulary load does not increase much. (Word-JH1000/
Word-JHA = 109.08%).
Nevertheless, when the elective course, namely Word-JHB or Word JH-2000, is included, the learning load shows a noticeable increase, from 591 types per semester to 783 types per semester (New JH/ Old JH = 132.52%).
Table 4.1 The Word Size (Entries) for JH Students
A. Entries JHA JHB JH-1000 JH-2000
Entries/ 1033/ 1201/ 1000/ 1000/
Per Semester 172.17 200.17 166.67 166.67 Total Entries/
Per Semester 372.33 333.33
Table 4.2 The Word Size (Type) for JH Students
B. Types JHA JHB JH-1000 JH-2000
Types/ 2082/ 1464/ 2271/ 2428/
Per Semester 347 244 378.5 404.67
Total Types/
Per Semester 591 783.17
The next two tables (Table 4.3 & Table 4.4) present the learning load of new words for a senior or vocational high school student to face in the first semester.
Taking only the Words for Production, the number of new entries the students have to learn in one semester seems quite reasonable. The numbers of Words for Productions in all the six versions are far below the rule of vocabulary load regulated by the MOE (350 words per semester for 1st-year SH/VH students, see Table 1). Even all the new entries in different sections, such as Words for Conversation, are added, the total number of new entries seem to observe the rule of vocabulary load regulated by the MOE. Both FEV (309 entries / semester) and LTV (262 entries / semester) even provide lighter learning burden for their students than what is suggested by the MOE.
Table 4.3 The Size of the *Listed New Words (Entries) for SH/VH Freshmen
*Note. “Listed New Words” refer to those words listed in the vocabulary lists or marked as new words in the textbooks.
Among the three versions of SH textbooks, the number of new word entries in LT is the lowest (391 entries / semester) among the three versions. As for
VH-freshmen, those who adopt SMV might suffer the most from the increase of new word entries (396 entries / semester)while those who use LTV (262 entries / semester) the least.
Table 4.4 The Gap of *Listed New Word (Entries) Load (Times)
New Entries SH/VH
* Note. “Listed New Words” refer to those words listed in the vocabulary lists or marked as new words in the textbooks.
From Table 4.4, there is hardly a gap for those JH students who learned both Word-JHA and Word-JHB no matter which version of SH/VH textbooks they use.
They might feel the learning load of new listed words is even lightened if they adopt FEV or LTV. By the same token, for those JH students who learned both the
newly-issued lists by the MOE, there is no increase of learning burden which might have negative influences on their learning. However, not all the JH students learned both the required and elective word lists before they enter SH/VH. For those who merely finished the required lists (Word-JHA or Word-JH1000), no matter whether they choose SH or VH, they might need to face an increase of vocabulary load. They might face at most 2.60 times (SM v.s. Word-JHA) or at least 1.31 times (LTV v.s.
Word-JH1000) more vocabulary load than what they were used to in junior high school. The increase might still seem reasonable since they are expected to learn more when they grow older.
Table 4.5 The Size of the *Listed New Words (Types)
B. Types FE LT SMC FEV LTV SMV
Words for Production 230 201 265 132 119 187
Derivatives 57 78 N/A 60 5 42
Idioms & Phrases 138 169 177 75 181 164 Words for Recognition 45 47 95 35 131 39 Words for Conversation 44 12 66 123 11 159
Total 514 507 603 425 447 591
* Note. “Listed New Words” refer to those words listed in the vocabulary lists or marked as new words in the textbooks.
Evaluating the size of new words by types, the learning load of new words still seems acceptable (See Table 4.5). For most students, the learning burden is even reduced, particularly for those who have learned both Word-JHA and Word-JHB (591 types / semester) or both Word-JH1000 and Word-JH2000 (783.17 types / semester).
Similarly, based on the size of new word types, LT (507 types / semester) is the most acceptable version among SH freshmen while SMV (591 types / semester) is still the most challenging one for VH freshmen.
Table 4.6 The Gap of *Listed New Word (Types) Load (Times)
* Note. “Listed New Words” refer to those words listed in the vocabulary lists or marked as new words in the textbooks.
Table 4.6 shows that except for those who adopt SM version, for most of those who learned both the required and elective vocabulary lists (Word-JHA + Word-JHB or in Word-JH1000+Word-JH2000) junior high school, they face a lighter learning burden in terms of the number of listed new word types. Although not every JH student learn both required and elective word lists, the increase of listed new word types (1.70 times more in SMV at most and 1.12 times more in FEV) may still be seemingly acceptable when they step into further educational stages with the expectation of more learning load.
4.1.2 Unlisted-new-word Size
However, the vocabulary lists are not the only source of new words for students.
For both SH and VH students, there are plenty of unlisted new words, which refer to those words that were neither taught in junior high school nor included in the
vocabulary lists in their SH/VH textbooks. The size of unlisted new words is usually what indeed influences students’ learning. With the help of the program, RANGE32, the words that are neither included in the new JH wordlists (Word-JH1000 and
Word-JH2000) nor covered in the SH/VH vocabulary lists could be counted and listed.
Due to the limitation of the program design, the results will only be discussed in the
light of types. In addition, since reading texts are the main but not the only focus of teaching and examinations, all the unlisted new words in the 22 classified corpora will be examined.
From Table 4.7 and Figure 4.1, for those students who learn only the basic required vocabulary, namely Word-JH1000 and Word-SHP, in reading texts only, they might averagely face 22.29% words which they have never learned before. While those students read through the sections of reading texts, conversations, example sentences and English explanations of vocabulary, they might encounter up to 36.71%
of unlisted new words on average. Among the three versions, LT (LT-SHD: 38.9%) might be the most difficult for those who only obtain the basic required vocabulary while SMC (SMC-SHD: 35.23%) could be the easiest (See the detailed statistics in Appendix A, A-1).
Table 4.7 *Unlisted New Word Types with the Exclusion of Word-JH1000 + Word-SHP (Word for Production)
1. Baseword 1: Word-JH1000 2. Baseword 2: Word-SHP Unlisted/
Total Types Corpus-SHA Corpus-SHB Corpus-SHC Corpus-SHD
FE 259/1197 343/1351 647/1942 743/2066
LT 336/1341 401/1470 718/2059 892/2293
SMC 248/1244 306/1379 576/2010 828/2350
Ave. 281/1261 350/1400 647/2004 821/2236
* Note. “Unlisted New Words” refer to those words that are neither listed in Word-JH1000 and Word-JH2000 nor included in the vocabulary lists in their SH/VH textbooks.
Figure 4.1. Unlisted New Word Types in the 22 Classified Corpora with the Exclusion of Word-JH1000 + Word-SHP
Word-JH1000 + Word-SHP
0 10 20 30 40
Percentage of Unlisted New Words
FE 21.64 25.39 33.32 35.96 LT 25.06 27.28 34.87 38.9 SMC 19.94 22.19 28.66 35.23 AVE. 22.29 25 32.29 36.71
SHA SHB SHC SHD
For those who successfully learn all the new words listed in all the SH vocabulary lists, including Words for Recognition, Idioms & Phrases, listed Derivatives, and Words for Conversation, they might still averagely have 16.21%
unknown words in reading texts only and 30.16% new words in corpus-SHD (See Table 4.8 & Figure 4.2). Specifically, FE (FE-SHD: 28.51%) should be the most preferred version while LT (LT-SHD: 32.36%) provides most challenges for students (See the detailed statistics in Appendix A, A-2).
Table 4.8 *Unlisted New Word Types with the Exclusion
of Word-JH1000 + Word -SH-All (All New Vocabulary) 1. Baseword 1: Word-JH1000
2. Baseword 2: Word-SHP 3. Baseword 3: Word-SHO Unlisted /
Total Types Corpus-SHA Corpus-SHB Corpus-SHC Corpus-SHD
FE 191/1197 247/1351 485/1942 589/2066
LT 271/1341 328/1470 569/2059 742/2293
SMC 155/1244 192/1379 446/2010 696/2350
Ave. 206/1261 256/1400 500/2004 676/2236
* Note. “Unlisted New Words” refer to those words that are neither listed in Word-JH1000 and Word-JH2000 nor included in the vocabulary lists in their SH/VH textbooks.
Figure 4.2 Unlisted New Word Types in the 22 Classified Corpora with the Exclusion of Word-JH1000 + Word -SH-All
Word-JH1000 + Word-SH-ALL
0 10 20 30 40
Percentage of Unlisted New Words
FE 15.96 18.28 24.97 28.51 LT 20.21 22.31 27.63 32.36 SMC 12.46 13.92 22.19 29.62 AVE. 16.21 18.17 24.93 30.16
SHA SHB SHC SHD
According to Table 4.9 and Figure 4.3, for those students who learn both
vocabulary lists, namely Word-JH1000 and Word-JH-2000, in junior high school and merely Word-SHP in senior high school, in reading texts only, they might averagely face 13.36% words which they have never learned before. While those students read through the sections of reading texts, conversations, example sentences and English explanations of vocabulary, they might encounter up to 22.55% of unlisted new words on average. Among the three versions, LT (LT-SHD: 23.68%) might be the most difficult for those who only obtain the basic required vocabulary while FE (FE-SHD:
21.93%) could be the easiest (See detailed statistics in Appendix A, A-3).
Table 4.9 *Unlisted New Word Types with the Exclusion of Word-JH2000 + Word-SHP (Word for Production)
1. Baseword 1: Word-JH1000 + Word-JH2000 2. Baseword 2: Word-SHP
Unlisted/
Total Types Corpus-SHA Corpus-SHB Corpus-SHC Corpus-SHD
FE 153/1197 211/1351 401/1942 453/2066
LT 174/1341 226/1470 435/2059 543/2293
SMC 178/1244 219/1379 367/2010 518/2350
Ave. 168/1261 219/1400 401/2004 505/2236
* Note. “Unlisted New Words” refer to those words that are neither listed in Word-JH1000 and Word-JH2000 nor included in the vocabulary lists in their SH/VH textbooks.
Figure 4.3 Unlisted New Word Types in the 22 Classified Corpora with the Exclusion of Word-JH2000 + Word-SHP
Word-JH2000 + Word-SHP
0 10 20 30
Percentage of Unlisted New Words
FE 12.78 15.62 20.65 21.93
LT 12.98 15.37 21.13 23.68
SMC 14.31 15.88 18.26 22.04
AVE. 13.36 15.62 20.01 22.55
SHA SHB SHC SHD
For those who not only memorize both Word-JH1000 and Word-2000 but also successfully learn all the new words listed in all the SH/VH vocabulary lists,
including Words for Recognition, Idioms & Phrases, listed Derivatives, and Words for Conversation, they might still averagely have 9.05% unknown words in reading texts only and 17.92% new words in corpus-SHD. Again, FE (FE-SHD: 16.84%) should be the easiest version while LT (LT-SHD: 18.88%) offers most challenges for students (See Table 4.10 & Figure 4.4 and the detailed statistics in Appendix A, A-4).
Table 4.10 *Unlisted New Word Types with the Exclusion
of Word-JH2000 + Word -SH-All (All New Vocabulary) 1. Baseword 1: Word-JH1000 + Word-JH2000
2. Baseword 2: Word-SHP 3. Baseword 3: Word-SHO Unlisted /
Total Types Corpus-SHA Corpus-SHB Corpus-SHC Corpus-SHD
FE 106/1197 148/1351 288/1942 348/2066
LT 131/1341 180/1470 326/2059 433/2293
SMC 106/1244 136/1379 273/2010 424/2350
Ave. 114/1261 155/1400 296/2004 402/2236
* Note. “Unlisted New Words” refer to those words that are neither listed in Word-JH1000 and Word-JH2000 nor included in the vocabulary lists in their SH/VH textbooks.
Figure 4.4 Unlisted New Word Types in the 22 Classified Corpora with the Exclusion of Word-JH2000 + Word -SH-All
Word-JH2000 + Word-SH-ALL
0 10 20 30
Percentage of Unlisted New Words
FE 8.86 10.95 14.83 16.84
LT 9.77 12.24 15.83 18.88
SMC 8.52 9.86 13.58 18.04
AVE. 9.05 11.02 14.75 17.92
SHA SHB SHC SHD
Even though the vocabulary in VH textbooks is relatively smaller than SH versions, it is quite possible for VH freshmen to suffer from the new words that are not covered in the given vocabulary lists. Since it is generally considered that VH students usually have poorer academic performances than SH ones, it should be understandable that many of the former are usually asked to learn solely the basic required vocabulary lists, the receptive Word-JH1000 in junior high and the Word-VHP in vocational high schools.
For such learners, on average there could be 18.25% (in Corpus-VHA) to 28.38% (in Corpus-VHC) of words which look unfamiliar to them. It should be
noticeable that the ratio of unlisted words in Corpus-VHA in LTV (27.56%)could be twice higher than the other two versions (FEV-VHA: 13.09% & SMV-VHA: 14.06%).
Moreover, because only FEV provides English explanation for vocabulary, there is only on Corpus-VHD (See detailed statistics in Appendix A, A-1).
Table 4.11 *Unlisted New Word Types with the Exclusion
of Word-JH1000 + Word-VHP (Word for Production) 1. Baseword 1: Word-JH1000
2. Baseword 2: Word-VHP Unlisted /
Total Corpus-VHA Corpus-VHB Corpus-VHC Corpus-VHD
FEV 83/634 172/850 429/1396 588/1639
LTV 202/733 270/908 366/1209 N/A
SMV 106/754 179/926 320/1326 N/A
Ave. 130/707 207/895 372/1310 588/1639
* Note. “Unlisted New Words” refer to those words that are neither listed in Word-JH1000 and Word-JH2000 nor included in the vocabulary lists in their SH/VH textbooks.
Figure 4.5 Unlisted New Word Types in the 22 Classified Corpora with the Exclusion of Word-JH1000 + Word-VHP
Word-JH1000 + Word-VHP
0 10 20 30 40
Percentage of Unlisted New Words
FEV 13.09 20.24 30.73 35.88 LTV 27.56 29.74 30.27
SMV 14.06 19.33 24.13
AVE. 18.24 23.10 28.38
VHA VHB VHC VHD
For those VH students who learned the required JH list only and are able to learn all the new words in VH vocabulary lists, they, on average, might still encounter one unfamiliar word every ten words (9% unlisted new words) in Corpus-VHA and about one new word every six words (18% unlisted new words in Corpus-VHC). Focusing on VHA, LTV (LTV-VHA: 12.96%) should be the hardest version while FEV presents more new words which are not covered in other vocabulary lists in both Corpus-VHC (20.27%) and Corpus-VHD (26.91%)(See detailed statistics in Appendix A, A-2).
Table 4.12 *Unlisted New Word Types with the Exclusion
of Word-JH1000 + Word -VH-All (All New Vocabulary) 1. Baseword 1: Word-JH1000
2. Baseword 2: Word-VHP 3. Baseword 3: Word-VHO Unlisted /
Total Types Corpus-VHA Corpus-VHB Corpus-VHC Corpus-VHD
FEV 42/634 82/850 283/1396 441/1639
LTV 95/733 157/908 239/1209 N/A
SMV 56/754 82/926 192/1326 N/A
Ave. 64/707 107/895 238/1310 441/1639
* Note. “Unlisted New Words” refer to those words that are neither listed in Word-JH1000 and Word-JH2000 nor included in the vocabulary lists in their SH/VH textbooks.
Figure 4.6 Unlisted New Word Types in the 22 Classified Corpora with the Exclusion of Word-JH1000 + Word -VH-All
Word-JH1000 + Word-VH-ALL
0 10 20 30 40
Percentage of Unlisted New Words
FE 6.62 9.65 20.27 26.91
LT 12.96 17.29 19.77
SMC 7.43 8.86 14.48
AVE. 9.00 11.93 18.17
VHA VHB VHC VHD
There are many VH students who have learned both Word-JH1000 and
Word-JH2000 as well. However, even with the knowledge of Word-VHP, they might still have the same problem of unlisted new words: from 12.62% in Corpus-VHA to 18.81% in Corpus-VHC. LTV (LTV-VHC: 20.84%) could be the most puzzling version and SMC (SMC-VHC: 15.76%) might be the easiest to handle (See detailed
Word-JH2000 as well. However, even with the knowledge of Word-VHP, they might still have the same problem of unlisted new words: from 12.62% in Corpus-VHA to 18.81% in Corpus-VHC. LTV (LTV-VHC: 20.84%) could be the most puzzling version and SMC (SMC-VHC: 15.76%) might be the easiest to handle (See detailed