A reconsideration of the construct of "a vocabulary for Japanese learners of English": A critical comparison of the JACET wordlists and new general service lists

By comparing the vocabularies included in the Japan Association of College English Teachers (JACET) wordlists (1993, 2003, and 2016 editions) and recently released New General Service Lists (Brezina & Gablasova, 2013; Browne, 2013), we tried to identify the construct of “the vocabulary for Japanese learners” with which JACET researchers have been concerned. Our quantitative analysis has shown that it includes the vocabulary concerning (a) family and people, (b) houses and daily life, (c) foods and cooking, (d) clothes and fashions, (e) sports, (f) social meetings, (g) transportation, and (h) emotions and mental states, as well as (i) spoken English vocabulary and (j) non-basic forms. This finding will shed new light on the discussion of what kind of vocabulary should be included in pedagogical wordlists.