Open AccessA Reconsideration of the Construct of “A Vocabulary for Japanese Learners of English”: A Critical Comparison of the JACET Wordlists and New General Service Lists
Author(s) -
Shin’ichiro Ishikawa
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
vocabulary learning and instruction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2187-2759
pISSN - 2187-2767
DOI - 10.7820/vli.v08.1.ishikawa
Subject(s) - vocabulary , construct (python library) , psychology , linguistics , service (business) , clothing , mathematics education , computer science , geography , marketing , philosophy , archaeology , business , programming language
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.