Vocabulary Thresholds Study for Business English Major Based on the Range Corpus
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58557/(ijeh).v4i1.199Keywords:
vocabulary, vocabulary threshold, vocabulary coverage, Selected Readings of Business English, China Economic Net, The Economist, Business EnglishAbstract
The texts have been selected from 45 articles of 15 units of Selected Readings of Business English and from prominent economic English newspapers in China and the United States—China Economic Net and The Economist. Employing the vocabulary corpus software, Range32, we conducted a statistical examination of vocabulary coverage and the frequency of corresponding terms in the British National Corpus (BNC). This rigorous analysis aims to ascertain whether the content of the textbook aligns with the requisites of specific professional tests. Additionally, it serves to assist students and learners of Business English in China by aiding them in identifying suitable English-language reading materials. This research provides a valuable reference, guiding individuals toward reading newspapers that align with their vocabulary proficiency in English. The study findings indicate that to attain a fundamental comprehension of the reading materials, achieving a 95% vocabulary coverage requires a command of 4,000 to 5,000 vocabulary words for Selected Readings of Business English, 4,500 to 5,000 vocabulary words for China Economic Net, and 5,000 to 6,000 vocabulary words for The Economist. For a more fluent reading experience, corresponding to a 98% vocabulary coverage, a mastery of 7,500 to 8,000 vocabulary words is necessary for Selected Readings of Business English, 8,500 to 9,000 vocabulary words for the China Economic Net, and 10,000 to 11,000 vocabulary words for The Economist. And this study suggests that the vocabulary thresholds for Business English majors should be 4,000 to 6,000 (95% vocabulary coverage) and 8,000 to 11,000 (98% vocabulary coverage)
References
Biemiller, A. (2003). Vocabulary needed if more children are to read well. Reading Psychology, 24, 323–335.
Coxhead, A. (2000). A New Academic Word List. TESOL Quarterly, 34(2), 213–238.
Dang, T.N.Y., Coxhead, A., & Webb, S. (2007). The academic spoken word list. Language Learning, 4, 959–997.
Gao, Y. (2015). A study on the correlation between vocabulary and reading comprehension – An empirical study with self-taught English majors. Zhejiang: Zhejiang University.
Gardner, D., & Davies, M. (2014). A new academic vocabulary list. Applied Linguistics, 35(3), 305-327.
Gui, M., Lu, N.N., & Shang, Y.J. (2020). The relationship between the proportion of college students’ text literacy and English reading comprehension. Contemporary Foreign Language Studies (4), 73–81.
Han, G., & Geng, F.Z. (2007). Vocabulary threshold of English reading. Journal of Qilu Normal University (4), 102–104.
He, L.X., & Hao, J. (2012). How much vocabulary do English major learners need to read the New York Times. Northern Literature (5), 206.
Hirsh, D., & Nation, P. (1992). What vocabulary size is needed to read unsimplified texts for pleasure?. Reading in a Foreign Language, 8, 689–696.
Hsu, W. (2011). The vocabulary thresholds of business textbooks and business research articles for EFL learners. English for Specific Purposes, 30, 247–257.
Hsu, W. (2013). Bridging the vocabulary gap for EFL medical undergraduates: The establishment of a .medical word list. Language Teaching Research, 17(4), 454-484.
Hu, M., & Nation, P. (2000). Unknown vocabulary density and reading comprehension. Reading in a Foreign Language, 13(1), 403–430.
Koda, K. (1989). The effects of transferred vocabulary knowledge on the development of L2 Reading proficiency. Foreign Language Annals, 22, 529–540.
Laufer, B. (1989). What percentage of text-lexis is essential for comprehension?. Lauren, Ch., & Nordman, M. Special Language: From Humans Thinking To Thinking Machines. England: Multilingual Matters Press. 316–323
Laufer, B. (1991). The development of L2 lexis in the expression of advanced language learner. Modern Language Journal, 75, 440–448.
Laufer, B. (1997). What’ s in a word that makes it hard or easy: Some intralexical factors that affect the learning of words. In Schmitt, N., & McCarthy, M(Eds.) Vocabulary: Description, Acquisition, and Pedagogy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 140–155.
Laufer, B., & Nation, P. (1993). Word families. International Journal of Lexicography, 6, 253–279.
Laufer, B., & Ravenhorst-Kalovski, G.C. (2010). Lexical threshold revisited: Lexical text coverage, learners’ vocabulary size and reading comprehension. Reading in a Foreign Language, 22(1), 15-30.
Li, C.F., Yu, J., & Lin, J. (2015) Business English Vocabulary: Description, Identification and Teaching – A Data Analysis Based on Fortune's Business English Word List. Foreign Language World (03), 83–88, 96.
Li, Q.D. (2023). A study on the word class distribution of business English listening and speaking textbooks based on Range. Journal of Heilongjiang Vocational Institute of Ecological Engineering (02), 155–160.
Lin, J., Li, C.F. & Yu, J. (2018). Setting vocabulary thresholds for business English majors – Based on Range’s analysis of Financial Times and Fortune business English news from 2006-2015. Journal of Xiamen University (Arts & Social Sciences) (02), 165–172.
Liu, D.L., & Lei, L. (2020). A review of research on academic word lists.Foreign Language Education (2): 34–38, 50.
Ludewig, U., Hübner, N. & Schroeder, S. (2023). Vocabulary, text coverage, word frequency and the lexical threshold in elementary school reading comprehension. Read Writ, 36, 2409-2431. Doi: 10.1007/s11145-022-10385-0
Mao J. (2016). The application of The Economist in university business English teaching. Education Modernisation (14), 123–124.
Nation, P. (2006). How large a vocabulary is needed for reading and listening?. Canadian Modern Language Review, 63, 59–82.
Nation, P., & Waring, R. 2002. Vocabulary Size, Text Coverage and Word Lists. In Schmitt, N. & McCarthy, M. Vocabulary: Description, Acquisition And Pedagogy. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. 6-19.
Qin X.F. & Yang, D.Y. (2009). How much vocabulary is needed to read Chinese English newspapers. Journal of Hebei University of Technology, (4), 132–138.
Quinn, J.M., Wagner, R.K., Petscher, Y. & Lopez, D. (2015). Developmental Relations Between Vocabulary Knowledge and Reading Comprehension: A Latent Change Score Modeling Study. Child Dev, 86, 159-175. Doi: 10.1111/cdev.12292
Schmitt, N., Jiang, X., & Grabe, W. (2011). The percentage of words known in a text and reading comprehension. The Modern Language Journal, 95(1), 26–43.
Schmitt, N., Jiang, X., & Grabe, W. (2011). The percentage of words known in a text and reading comprehension. The Modern Language Journal, 95, 26–43.
Wang, F., & Lian, T.X. (2013). A corpus-based comparative study of vocabulary in business English and general English. Journal of Dalian University of Technology (Social Science Edition) (03), 130–133.
Wang, Y.L. (2017). A corpus-based study of vocabulary coverage and gradient in New High School English. Hohhot: Inner Mongolia Normal University.
Ward, J. (1999). How large a vocabulary do EAP engineering students need. Reading in a Foreign Language, 12, 309–323.
West, M. (1953). A General Service List of English Words. London: Longman Press.
Wilkins, D.A. (1972). Linguistics in Language Teaching. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Zhang, N.N., & Liu, Y. (2019). An empirical study on the relationship between English learners’ vocabulary knowledge breadth and reading comprehension. Journal of Tianjin Vocational University (1), 76–82, 91.
Zhao, Z.G. (2013). Readability research and RALCS system development based on vocabulary coverage. Xinxiang: Henan Normal University.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Wang Run, Li Weina
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
