臺灣博碩士論文加值系統

本篇研究旨在探討四技二專統一入學測驗(統測)及高職英語教科書的常用字、及字彙涵蓋量。本研究蒐集了91年至101年的統測共同科英文試題，以及三個被廣泛使用的高職英語課本；並且採用WordSmith (5.0)和Range軟體來各別探討這兩個語料庫的常用字及字彙涵蓋量。
本研究首先整理出統測和高職英語課本的常用字表，並指出統測的字彙豐富性遠比高職英語課本來的高。第二，研究結果顯示統測和高職英語課本的字彙重疊率達到百分之八十九，不過實際上單一版本和統測的字彙重疊率平均卻只有百分之七十七。第三，研究結果發現英國國家語料庫(British National Corpus, BNC)的前四千個單字家族可以達到統測和高職英語課本百分之九十五的字彙涵蓋率，而一萬一千個單字可達到高職英語課本百分之九十八的字彙涵蓋率。相較之下，統測則需要一萬二千單字才能達到百分之九十八的字彙涵蓋率。這顯示出統測提供的字彙量和字彙豐富性遠大於高職英語課本。此外，本研究比較教科書及BNC字表的字彙涵蓋率，發現BNC的前一千個單字家族(相當於12,694個單字)就涵蓋了統測百分之八十一點五的字彙，這遠超過於總字數約15萬的單一課本涵蓋率。再者，BNC的前四千單字家族(約41,546個單字)進而涵蓋了統測百分之九十五的字彙，這也遠超出三個課本所能提供的總字彙涵蓋率上限。研究指出了透過教科書學習單字的不足之處，也指出BNC字表對提升統測字彙涵蓋率有所助益。本研究亦針對其結果提供教學建議和未來研究方向。

This study aims to explore the most frequently used words in testing corpus and textbook corpus, and their vocabulary coverage is also examined. Two corpora, i.e., TCTE and Textbook, were constructed. The former consists of 10 examinations (2003 ~ 2012) of general subjects in English, while the latter includes three major English textbooks. WordSmith 5.0 was employed to analyze the frequently used words of these two corpora, and their coverage was examined by Range (Nation, 2005). The results firstly propose the most frequently used words, and indicate a high lexical diversity in Testing Corpus over Textbook Corpus. Second, 89% of the words in Testing Corpus are overlapped with that of the Textbook Corpus, but the overlapping rate drops to 77% when a comparison between each individual textbook and Testing Corpus is made. Third, it is found that 4,000 word families plus proper nouns and marginal words reach 95% of vocabulary coverage in both Textbook and Testing Corpus. However, 11,000 word families are required to achieve 98% of the vocabulary coverage in Textbook Corpus, whereas 12,000 word families are needed to achieve 98% of the vocabulary coverage in Testing Corpus. Last, a comparison of the TCTE coverage provided by the overall textbooks and BNC wordlists indicates that the first 1000 word families (12,694 running words) of the BNC wordlist account for 81.5% of the TCTE coverage, which is far more effective than the coverage provided by a single textbook. Furthermore, the 4,000 word families (41,546 running words) of the BNC wordlist reach 95.73% of the TCTE coverage, which is also far beyond the 89% of the overlapping rate provided by the overall textbooks (429,911 running words). The results reveals an insufficiency of the vocabulary learning provided by the textbooks, and highlights the effectiveness of utilizing BNC wordlist in achieving the adequate coverage of TCTE exams. Suggestions for teaching and future research are also discussed.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1
1.2 Purpose of the Study and Research Questions ------------------------------------------------- 3
1.3 Significance of the Study ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4
1.4 Definition of Key Terms -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5
1.5 Organization of the Study ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8
CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Vocabulary Competence and Language Learning --------------------------------------------- 10
2.2 Vocabulary Coverage ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11
2.2.1 What is Counted as a “Word”? -------------------------------------------------------------- 12
2.2.2 Vocabulary Coverage for Understanding a Text ------------------------------------------ 13
2.2.3 Related EFL studies -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20
2.3 Word Frequency Lists ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24
2.3.1 Frequency and Incidental Vocabulary Learning ------------------------------------------ 24
2.3.2 Word Frequency Lists and Language Testing --------------------------------------------- 27
2.3.3 Word Frequency Lists and Textbook Design ---------------------------------------------- 29
2.4 Chapter Summary and Research Rationale ----------------------------------------------------- 31
CHAPTER THREE METHDOLOGY
3.1 Developing Corpus Data -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 34
3.1.1 Selection Criteria ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 36
3.2 Descriptions of the Corpus Data ----------------------------------------------------------------- 37
3.3 Instruments ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 38
3.3.1 WordSmith (5.0) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 38
3.3.2 Range Program -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 40
3.3.3 AntWordProfiler ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 41
3.4 Data Analysis Procedures ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 43
3.5 Chapter Summary ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 45
CHAPTER FOUR FINDINGS AND DISSCUSSIONS
4.1 Analysis of the Textbook Corpus ---------------------------------------------------------------- 46
4.1.1 Frequently Used Words of Textbook Corpus --------------------------------------------- 46
4.2 Analysis of the TCTE Corpus -------------------------------------------------------------------- 50
4.2.1 Frequently Used Words of TCTE Corpus ------------------------------------------------- 50
4.2.2 Discussions of the First Research Question ----------------------------------------------- 52
4.3 Comparisons of the Textbook Corpus and TCTE Corpus ------------------------------------ 53
4.3.1 Discussions to the overall overlapping words -------------------------------------------- 58
4.3.2 Discussions of the Second Research Question ------------------------------------------- 60
4.4 Vocabulary Coverage of Textbook Corpus and TCTE Corpus ------------------------------ 62
4.4.1 Comparisons of the Coverage between TCTE Corpus and Textbook Corpus -------- 66
4.4.2 Discussions of the Third Research Question ---------------------------------------------- 68
CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
5.1 Summary of the Main Findings ------------------------------------------------------------------ 71
5.2 Pedagogical Implications ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 74
5.3 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research --------------------------------------------- 75
REFERENCES ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 79
APPENDIXES
Appendix I A Sample of TCTE Exam -------------------------------------------------------- 84
Appendix II The Most Frequently Used Words of Textbook Corpus ---------------------- 85
Appendix III The Most Frequently Used Words of TCTE Corpus ------------------------- 91
Appendix IV Overlapping Content Words between Textbook and TCTE Corpus -------- 97
Appendix V An Overview of the Overlapping Words between the TCTE Corpus and
the Sub-Textbook Corpus---------------------------------------------------------
106

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