2018 年度 博士学位請求論文 English Language...
Transcript of 2018 年度 博士学位請求論文 English Language...
明治大学大学院国際日本学研究科
2018 年度
博士学位請求論文
English Language Textbook Analysis of Vocabulary and Learning
Strategies in Japan and Taiwan:
From Elementary School to Senior High School
日本および台湾の小・中・高英語検定教科書の分析
―語彙と学習ストラテジーを中心に―
学位請求者 国際日本学専攻
WANG Wei-Tung
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1
Chapter 2
LITERATURE REVIEW -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7
Current situation of English education -------------------------------------------------------- 7
Changes and issues of English education in Japan --------------------------------------- 7
English as a subject in elementary school ------------------------------------------------ 14
Comparisons of the curriculum guidelines ----------------------------------------------- 23
Objectives of the curriculum guidelines ----------------------------------------------- 23
Corpus and English language textbooks ----------------------------------------------------- 28
Importance of vocabulary in language acquisition -------------------------------------- 28
Vocabulary teaching and learning and the curriculum guidelines --------------------- 30
Vocabulary size and high-frequency vocabulary -------------------------------------- 31
Vocabulary knowledge and the importance of retrieval ------------------------------ 34
Vocabulary and the curriculum guidelines --------------------------------------------- 38
Corpus as a research tool -------------------------------------------------------------------- 42
Frequency word lists past and present -------------------------------------------------- 45
Corpus analysis of the authorized English language textbooks ------------------------ 54
Corpus analysis of elementary school English language textbooks ---------------- 55
Corpus analysis of junior and senior high school English language textbooks --- 63
Learning strategies and materials development --------------------------------------------- 78
Definitions and categories of learning strategies ----------------------------------------- 78
Effectiveness of strategy instruction in various contexts -------------------------------- 86
Learning strategies and teaching materials around the world --------------------------- 94
Applications to the present study -------------------------------------------------------------- 96
Chapter 3
METHODOLOGY --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 99
Research questions ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 99
Materials ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 100
Data collection ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 103
Data analysis ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 111
Chapter 4
RESULTS ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 115
Corpus analysis of the authorized English language textbooks ------------------------ 115
Tokens and lemmas ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 116
Lexical variety of vocabulary ------------------------------------------------------------ 127
Frequency of words in the textbooks ---------------------------------------------------- 132
Lexical difficulty of vocabulary ---------------------------------------------------------- 138
The efficacy of the reference word lists ------------------------------------------------- 149
Learning strategies in the authorized English language textbooks ---------------------- 153
Strategy use in elementary school -------------------------------------------------------- 153
Strategy use in junior high school -------------------------------------------------------- 162
Strategy use in senior high school -------------------------------------------------------- 168
Strategy use from elementary school to senior high school --------------------------- 173
Chapter 5
DISCUSSION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 180
Continuity: From elementary to senior high school --------------------------------------- 181
Differences caused by language policy and curriculum guidelines --------------------- 189
Washback effect of entrance examinations ------------------------------------------------- 195
Chapter 6
CONCLUSION ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 199
Summary of findings -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 199
Implications for materials development ---------------------------------------------------- 201
Limitation and suggestions for further studies --------------------------------------------- 202
REFERENCES -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 204
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my supervisor Dr. Naoko Ozeki who
has guided and supported me all these years at Meiji University. She has provided her
valuable time and professional advice for my dissertation. She also has offered me
encouragement throughout my academic journey. She has been a mentor and a role model to
me. Without her, I would not have been here today.
I would also like to express my deep gratitude to my dissertation community members,
Dr. Kate Allen and Dr. Yukio Tono, for their time and expertise. They have provided their
warm support and insightful comments for my dissertation from various perspectives.
Without their guidance, I would not have been able to complete my dissertation.
I am particularly grateful for the assistance given by the members at the Graduate
School of Global Japanese Studies, Meiji University, Mr. Kiyotaka Otsuka, Mr. Jun Kuzuya,
Mr. Tatsuhiro Hirose, and Mr. Yamamoto Hiroki. Their time and support have sustained my
study.
Special thanks go to Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association for its scholarship program. I
am very grateful to receive financial support from the association. Without the support, I
would not have been able to concentrate on my study.
Finally, I would like to thank my wonderful family and dear friends in Japan and
Taiwan for their loving support. It was their love that has kept me going through the years.
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, English language education has been implemented in various contexts, and
as a result, numerous critical issues have been raised and discussed in the field of English
language teaching and learning. Materials development is one of those critical issues
(Richards, 2007; Tomlinson, 2011). Materials play an important role in English language
teaching and learning, especially in the setting of school education. English language
textbooks that teachers and learners use in school significantly influence English language
teaching and learning. On the other hand, curriculum guidelines are also essential when it
comes to English education in school settings. The objectives of English education are
established by governments and described in curriculum guidelines. Teaching materials such
as the authorized English language textbooks are edited based on the curriculum guidelines
and support teachers and learners to achieve the goals of English education in each context.
The Course of Study in Japan changes every ten years. Because of the continuous
changes in these curriculum guidelines, it is important to ensure that the authorized English
language textbooks reflect the objectives of the curriculum guidelines. However, it has been
reported that the authorized English language textbooks in Japan do not necessarily reflect
the curriculum guidelines and it might be difficult for teachers and learners to achieve the
goals of English education by utilizing the textbooks (Hayase, 2017). Therefore, textbook
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analysis could be one of the ways to collect data of the currently used authorized English
language textbooks and the data could be applied to materials development in Japan. There
are several approaches to textbook analysis. This study focuses on vocabulary and learning
strategies because these two elements are essential to language acquisition (Nation, 2013;
O'Malley & Chamot, 1990; Oxford, 2017; Schmitt, 2010), as well as to the achievement of
the curriculum guidelines’ objectives.
There are many previous studies which have utilized corpus analysis to investigate the
vocabulary in authorized English language textbooks. However, there are only few studies
that compare the vocabulary in the authorized English language textbooks between different
countries, and even fewer that compare the textbooks from elementary school to senior high
school. Furthermore, there are only few studies that examine the learning strategies in
English language textbooks, and there are no previous studies which cover the learning
strategies in the authorized English language textbooks from elementary school to senior high
school between countries. Comparisons of textbooks between different countries could
provide rich data for materials development. In addition, because of the radical change in
English education from elementary school to senior high school in Japan, the continuity of
the authorized English language textbooks needs to be reassessed. Therefore, this study
investigates vocabulary and learning strategies in the authorized English language textbooks
from elementary school to senior high school in Japan and Taiwan in order to put forward
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suggestions about materials development in Japan based on vertical and horizontal analyses.
The purposes of this study are to examine the vocabulary and learning strategies
included in the authorized English language textbooks from elementary school to senior high
school in Japan and Taiwan as well as to clarify the efficacy of the Course of Study in Japan
and the curriculum guidelines such as the Grades 1-9 English Curriculum Guidelines and
General Senior High School English Curriculum Guidelines in Taiwan.
This study consists of six chapters, namely introduction, literature, methodology,
results, discussions, and conclusion. Chapter 1 is the introduction in which the background of
the study is presented and a summary of each chapter is provided. Chapter 2 is a literature
review and it includes three parts: (a) current situation of English education in Japan and
Taiwan, (b) corpus and English language textbooks, and (c) learning strategies and materials
development. The first section reviews the recent changes and issues of English education in
Japan and Taiwan. The similarities and differences in the objectives of the curriculum
guidelines between Japan and Taiwan are compared. Moreover, among the changes in
English education from elementary school to senior high school, the introduction of English
as a subject in elementary school in Japan has become a controversial issue. Therefore, the
differences in elementary school English education between Japan and Taiwan are described
in detail. The second section of the literature review focuses on the relation between
vocabulary and the authorized English language textbooks. It begins by illustrating the
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importance of vocabulary in language learning and this is followed by a discussion of
vocabulary size, vocabulary knowledge, vocabulary retrieval, and high-frequency words in
terms of vocabulary acquisition and materials development. The ways the curriculum
guidelines in Japan and Taiwan deal with vocabulary learning and teaching are also
summarized. In addition, the application of corpus analysis to vocabulary research,
development of the frequency word lists, and previous studies on corpus analysis of
textbooks are reviewed in this section. The third section of the literature review includes
definitions and categories of learning strategies, the effectiveness of strategy instruction and
the implementation of strategy instruction in various contexts. Moreover, previous studies on
how teaching materials present learning strategies are reviewed.
Chapter 3, the methodology, presents the research questions, materials for textbook
analysis, and the procedures for data collection as well as data analysis. Twenty-two
frequently used authorized English language textbooks from elementary school to senior high
school in Japan and sixty frequently used authorized English language textbooks from
elementary school to senior high school in Taiwan were analyzed. There were two kinds of
procedures of data collection and data analysis. The first phase was corpus analysis. After the
textbook corpus was constructed, it was analyzed by using two software programs AntConc
and AntWordProfiler. The second phase of data collection and analysis is learning strategy
identification. The activities in the textbooks were analyzed based on Chamot’s (2009)
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learning strategy taxonomy. Chapter 4 reports the results of the textbook analysis. The
chapter is divided into two phases: the results of corpus analysis and the results of learning
strategy identification. In the description of corpus analysis, vocabulary in the authorized
English language textbooks from elementary school to senior high school between Japan and
Taiwan is compared in terms of lexical diversity, lexical frequency, and lexical difficulty. As
for the section on learning strategy identification, it describes how learning strategies are
embedded in the activities at each stage of school education. In addition, this section also
describes the changes in strategy use in the authorized English language textbooks from
elementary school to senior high school between the two countries.
Chapter 5 includes the answers to the research questions and discussions of the results
from three perspectives. First of all, regarding continuity, there are gaps between each stage
of school education in terms of vocabulary acquisition and the use of learning strategies.
Second, language policies and the curriculum guidelines influence the vocabulary selection
and strategy use in the authorized English language textbooks from elementary school to
senior high school in both Japan and Taiwan. Third, the introduction of vocabulary and
learning strategies in the authorized English language textbooks for junior high school and
senior high school in both countries has been affected by the entrance examinations to senior
high school and university. In Chapter 6, the conclusion of the study and implications for
materials development are illustrated. Suggestions for the use of the authorized English
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language textbooks from elementary school to senior high school are presented in two parts.
The first one focuses on vocabulary acquisition in different stages of school education. The
second one describes the integration of learning strategies into activities in the textbooks. In
addition, limitations of textbook analysis and directions for future studies are also stated.
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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, studies related to the following fields are reviewed: (a) current situation
of English education in Japan and Taiwan, (b) corpus and English language textbooks, and (c)
learning strategies and materials development. The first section of the literature review
summarizes the changes and issues of the Course of Study in Japan as well as the curriculum
guidelines in Taiwan. It focuses on the similarities and differences in the objectives of
English education and the introduction of English as a subject in elementary school. The
second section of the literature review illustrates the importance of vocabulary in language
acquisition and previous studies on corpus as well as teaching materials for each stage from
elementary school to senior high school. The third section demonstrates the definitions of
learning strategies, the effectiveness of strategy instruction, and the relation between learning
strategies and teaching materials.
Current Situation of English Education in Japan and Taiwan
Changes and issues of English education in Japan. The Course of Study, which is
also known as the curriculum guidelines in Japan, has been revised every ten years. With the
impact of globalization, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology
(MEXT) has made several changes in the past decade and these changes have raised concerns
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among stakeholders in English education. According to the recent announcements by MEXT
(2013, 2017a), curriculum guidelines have been revised from elementary school to senior
high school. Firstly, English will be introduced as a foreign language activity from Grade 3
and will be implemented as a subject from Grade 5 in elementary school in 2020. Secondly,
English classes will be conducted mainly in English and communicative activities will be
emphasized in junior high school in 2021. Thirdly, for senior high school, besides using
English as the instruction language, activities which are designed to strengthen learners’
abilities to communicate will be heightened in 2022. Fourthly, achievement assessment such
as TOEFL iBT, IELTS, TEAP, and Eiken, which evaluate the four skills (listening, reading,
speaking, and writing) of English will be utilized for university entrance examinations in
2020. With these changes being made at each stage, the continuity of the goals in English
learning from elementary school to senior high school is also emphasized (MEXT, 2013,
2017a). In addition to these changes, MEXT (2011a) proposed using Can-Do lists to set
learning goals and to assess learners’ achievements. Details about Can-Do lists will be
described in the third section of the literature review.
It is not easy for Japan to absorb these tremendous changes in such a short time. As a
result of the rapid changes of English curriculum guidelines, numerous issues such as
evaluation, teacher training programs, teaching approaches, and materials development have
been discussed by researchers (Butler, 2015; Erikawa, Saito, Torikai, & Otsu, 2014; Hayase,
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2017; Higuchi, Kagata, Izumi, & Kinugasa, 2017; Kawahara, 2008; O’ki, 2015; Ota, 2017).
Among these issues, materials development plays a vital role in English education from
elementary school to senior high school (Hayase, 2017). Generally speaking, textbooks are
essential for both teachers and learners (Crawford, 2002; McGrath, 2013; Richards, 2007). As
for English education in school settings, the curriculum guidelines are like the bones which
provide the framework and the textbooks are like the flesh which comprises the contents and
language use. Teachers prepare classes and evaluations based on the textbooks and learners
study with the textbooks in school and outside the classroom. Cunningsworth (1995)
characterizes the roles of textbooks in language teaching and learning as:
A resource of presentation materials (spoken and written), a source of activities for
learner practice and communicative interaction, a reference source for learners on
grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and so on, a source of stimulation and ideas for
classroom activities, a syllabus, and a support for less experienced teachers who have
yet to gain in confidence. (Cunningsworth, 1995, p. 7)
Textbook contents such as grammar and vocabulary as well as activities which provide
opportunities for exercises and interaction are essential for learners to acquire language. On
the other hand, textbooks are resources for teachers to be equipped with sufficient language
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contents as well as activities. Experienced teachers tailor activities in textbooks to their
students by themselves while novice teachers’ lessons are scaffolded by textbooks.
Although textbooks play an essential part in English language teaching and learning in
school, whether or not textbooks conform to the objectives of curriculum guidelines and meet
the needs of teachers and learners is still a question. Masuhara (2011) comments that it is
difficult to find a language textbook which is suitable for both teachers and learners. This is
also a reason why language teachers spend more time and effort in adapting textbooks or
designing supplementary materials than teachers of other subjects. In terms of the authorized
English language textbooks used in schools, rather than just following the curriculum
guidelines, there are other factors that need to be considered such as entrance examinations
(Hayase, 2017; O’ki, 2015; Ota, 2017, Tomlinson, 2015). Hence, facilitating materials
development could be one of the ways to implement the changes of the curriculum guidelines
in Japan.
Hayase (2017) states the reasons why materials development is urgent for English
education from elementary school to senior high school. Firstly, for elementary school,
textbooks which include adaptable contents for teachers are important. In elementary school
in Japan, English is usually taught by homeroom teachers, Assistant Language Teachers
(ALTs) and experienced Japanese English teachers (JETs) in the form of team-teaching
(Butler, 2015; Kagata, 2017; Kawahara, 2008). Most homeroom teachers do not have
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experience in learning and teaching English in elementary school, and thus it is difficult for
these teachers to arrange activities by themselves. As a result, they rely heavily on textbook
materials as well as the assistance from experienced English teachers. However, the current
materials for elementary school English do not have enough contents to satisfy the needs of
teacher, and learners as well as the objectives of curriculum guidelines (Hayase, 2017).
Hayase explained that the elementary school teaching materials such as Hi, Friends 1 and 2
are too thin to include sufficient language contents as well as activities so teachers have to
prepare additional materials by themselves. However, according to the survey conducted by
MEXT (2017b), there is only 5.4% of teachers at elementary school who have an English
teaching license. This indicates that most teachers at elementary school might not have the
ability to prepare lessons based on the current materials. Therefore, if the materials contain
activities in grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation, which are essential for elementary
school students to learn, teachers who have a professional knowledge of English teaching
could easily adapt the materials to their students’ needs. Teachers who are not specialists in
English teaching could also teach more confidently based on these textbooks.
Secondly, for junior and senior high school, textbooks which reflect the changes of the
curriculum guidelines are needed (Hayase, 2017). Because the English language textbooks
for junior and senior high school do not adequately reflect the Course of Study, it is difficult
to implement changes such as teaching English through English, integrating the four skills
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and providing communicative activities (Hayase, 2017; Underwood, 2012). Regarding
teaching English through English, it refers to not only teachers but also learners have to use
English as much as possible. However, the instructions and explanations in the authorized
English textbooks are usually written in Japanese. When teachers and learners rely on the
Japanese instructions and explanation, the opportunities to use English in class decrease. For
integrating the four skills and providing communicative activities, Underwood (2012)
reported that senior high school English teachers feel that it is difficult to conduct
communicative activities while the authorized textbooks focus on reading and grammar
items. The teachers had no choices but to apply the Grammar-Translation method in their
classes.
Although teachers may want to make some changes to their teaching, they have to
cover what is in the authorized English language textbooks. Therefore, they focus on reading
and grammar because not only the textbooks but also the university entrance examinations
emphasize these contents (Nishino, 2008, 2011). In the survey of teachers’ beliefs in
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), Nishino (2008, 2011) reported that the textbook
was one of the reasons why teachers could not implement CLT in classroom. Because the
university entrance examinations tend to test the ability of reading comprehension and
grammar, the textbooks emphasize reading and grammar items. Furthermore, high-stake
assessments such as university entrance examinations usually have far-reaching consequences
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for individuals such as teachers and learners (Bachman & Palmer, 2010). According to
Bachman and Palmer (2010), the effects of assessment on teachers’ instructional practice, and
learners’ learning are called “washback” effects. They use the term “teaching to the test (p,
108)” to imply that teachers’ instruction does not correspond to their own values or to the
goals of education programs. The washback effect influences not only teachers but also
materials. It can explain the situation in Japan. Due to the washback effect, university
entrance examinations have an invisible power which influences both senior high school
English teachers and the authorized English language textbooks.
The university entrance examinations in Japan have been criticized for emphasizing
reading and this leads to the focus on teaching grammar and translation in schools (Nishino,
2008; Underwood, 2012). In order to solve this problem, not only the Course of Study but
also the university entrance examination need to integrate the four skills. Based on the
washback effect, when the university entrance examinations change, it is conceivable that
teachers’ instruction as well as textbooks would also change. On the other hand, considering
the pivotal role that textbooks play in helping teachers assimilate changes in the curriculum
guidelines (Underwood, 2012), revisions of the authorized English language textbooks could
also lead to teachers, textbooks, curriculum guidelines, and entrance examinations being
more integrated. It is not easy to unravel the complex relationships among teachers,
textbooks, curriculum guidelines, and entrance examinations, thus, any improvement needs to
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be done gradually.
To sum up, materials such the authorized English language textbooks are crucial to
English language teaching and learning. Teachers teach and learners learn based on the
textbooks in school and at home. Moreover, textbook contents are influenced not only by the
curriculum guidelines but also by high-stake assessments such as university entrance
examinations. Because changes in the curriculum guidelines as well as the university
entrance examinations have been made, materials development can be one way to
synchronize the teaching in school with the changes. A detailed analysis of the authorized
English language textbooks used from elementary school to senior high school could be the
first step toward effective materials development.
English as a subject in elementary school in Japan and Taiwan. In terms of
continuity, implementing English as a subject in elementary school has drawn close attention
in Japan. From the social-political perspective, Enever (2015) explains the reasons why
primary English education has been promoted all over the world. “With a heightened sense of
global interconnectivity that has emerged as a result of economic globalization and digital
technology advances, politicians have argued for the importance of a plurilingual citizenry
equipped to operate in the global marketplace” (p.17).
Due to the swift changes in technology and increased business communication, there is
a trend towards acquiring and using another language besides one’s first language. According
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to the Council of Europe (2001), plurilingualism aims at developing learners’ flexibility and
communicative competence to communicate with others by using foreign languages in
particular cultural contexts. The concept of plurilingualism prompted the implementation of
English at elementary school level in Europe and soon this trend spread to other continents
(Enever, 2015). With the expansion of English education, English is now used in various
contexts such academic, business, educational, and political fields.
According to an international survey conducted by British Council on primary school
English language teaching in 64 countries, Rixon (2013) demonstrates that 30 countries start
English education from Grade 1 of elementary school and 11 of them introduce English from
Grade 3. Although each country has its own policy on English education, some countries
implement English as a compulsory subject while others teach English as an instructional
language (Enever, 2015; Rixon, 2013). In the case of Japan, the current Course of Study
introduces English as a foreign language activity from Grade 5 (MEXT, 2008a). According to
the revised Course of Study (MEXT, 2013, 2017a), in 2020 English will be taught as a
subject from Grade 5 and as a foreign language activity from Grade 3. English classes in
elementary schools in Japan are now undergoing a transition. There are differences between
teaching English as a subject and as a foreign language activity (Bulter, 2015; Erikawa, Saito,
Torikai, & Otsu, 2014; MEXT, 2013).
For English as a foreign language activity, there is one 45-minute instruction per week
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and it focuses on listening and speaking. The homeroom teachers will be the main instructors.
Regarding teaching English as a subject, there are two English classes every week in which
reading and writing are taken into consideration in addition to listening and speaking. The
classes will be instructed by homeroom teachers and teachers specializing in English teaching
(MEXT, 2013). In addition, when English becomes a subject, not only teacher training
programs but also assessment and evaluation are issues for elementary school English
education (Kagata, 2017; Butler, 2009). To begin with, elementary homeroom teachers do not
have sufficient English proficiency as well as the ability to teach English (Kagata, 2017). As
presented in the previous section, only 5.4% of elementary school teachers have an English
teaching license. Moreover, the teaching license that elementary school teachers have is the
license for teaching English at junior and senior high schools. Because English was not a
subject for elementary school, the teacher training programs at university level are designed
for teaching at junior and senior high school. With the changes that English is going to be
introduced as a subject in elementary school, universities start to include elementary school
English teacher training programs. According to the survey of elementary school English
teacher training programs conducted by Tokyo Gakugei University (2016), among 97
programs, more than 67.69% programs did not provide subjects related to English teaching.
This number indicated that elementary school teachers who obtain licenses after graduating
from the training program are not equipped with the skills and knowledge of English
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language teaching.
Furthermore, because there is a lack of systematic measures, it is difficult to evaluate
whether or not children have accomplished the objectives of curriculum guidelines (Butler,
2015). During the transition from teaching English as a foreign language activity to a subject,
there are numerous challenges that Japan has to overcome. As Butler (2015) states, since East
Asian countries have similarities as well as difficulties in the process of implementing
English at elementary school level, “systematic, cross-national, comparative studies would be
very beneficial in East Asia” (Butler, 2015, p. 335).
Among East Asian countries, Japan shares similar cultural, economic, and educational
characteristics with Taiwan. The similarities can be understood in terms of three aspects.
First, both Japan and Taiwan belong to English as a foreign language (EFL) countries.
According to Kachru’s (2005) model, countries and regions can be divided into three types
based on how English is utilized. The model contains an inner circle, outer circle, and
expanding circle. Inner circle countries include Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and
the United States in which English is used as a native language. These areas are also known
as English as a native language (ENL) countries. Outer circle countries are those such as
Hong Kong and India where English is used in certain contexts like business, education, and
public affairs. Due to colonization or administration by an inner circle country, English still
plays a part in outer circle countries (Rixon, 2013). Besides the first language, English is
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sometimes listed as one of the official languages in outer circle countries. Consequently, there
are opportunities for using English outside the classroom in learners’ daily life. Expanding
circle countries are described as English as a foreign language (EFL) countries. China, Japan,
South Korea, and Taiwan are examples. English is usually taught in school and is rarely used
in daily life. English education in EFL countries is often criticized for the lack of authenticity
or exposure to English outside the classroom. Therefore, Japan and Taiwan share similar
educational environments.
Second, there are some cultural similarities between Japan and Taiwan. Both the
Chinese and Japanese languages use Chinese characters/kanji in their written scripts.
Although the pronunciation and the forms of some Chinese characters are different, many
Chinese characters and kanji share the same meaning. In addition to language, both Japanese
culture and Taiwanese culture are influenced by Confucianism (Hofstede & Bond, 1988;
Hofstede, 2001; Sato, 2015; Zhang, Lin, Nonaka & Beom, 2005). Confucianism, “a set of
pragmatic rules for daily life” (Hofstede & Bond, 1988: 8), has been the basis of how people
behave and treat others as well as how people function in a high-context society (Hofstede,
2001; Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005). According to Hall (1976), a high-context culture
transmits messages implicitly and meanings are usually embedded in the particular context
while a low-context culture conveys meanings explicitly through linguistic words. Japan and
Taiwan are both considered to be high-context cultures (Anderson, Hecht, Hoobler, &
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Smallwood, 2002).
Under the influence of Confucianism, hierarchy, harmony, and collectivism are deep-
rooted in East Asian countries such as China, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea (Hofstede &
Hofstede, 2005). When interacting with others, preserving one another’s face is a
communication pattern influenced by Confucian culture (Yum, 2000). According to Goffman
(1955), face implies “the positive value a person claims for himself by the line others assume
he has taken during a personal contact” as well as “an image of self delineated in terms of
approved social attributes” (p. 306). Face plays a part in communication because people care
about how others think of them. Brown and Levinson (1978) propose that face “can be lost,
maintained, or enhanced” (p. 66) in communication and generally people maintain face when
interacting with others. Nevertheless, there are times when people cannot maintain face
during communication and thus face-threatening activity (FTA) can occur (Brown &
Levinson, 1978). When FTA takes place, speakers and interlocutors use various strategies and
negative politeness is one such strategy (Brown & Levinson, 1978). Negative politeness helps
people reduce a threat to face. Japanese and Chinese have a tendency to express ideas less
explicitly in order to maintain each other’s face during communication. According to Grice
(1975), four maxims are essential for smooth communication. These are summarized in his
Cooperative Principle: quantity, quality, relation, and manner. Manner means to “avoid
obscurity of expression, avoid ambiguity, be brief, and be orderly” (p. 46). Although
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expressing one’s idea briefly and clearly is one of the features of the Cooperative Principle,
Yum (2000) points out that communication in East Asia is influenced more by Confucianism
than by Grice’s maxim of manner.
Confucian words and ideas have influenced people’s ideas and cultures through family
and moral education at school. Not only people’s behaviors but also economics are
influenced by Confucianism. According to Hofstede (1988), the rapid economic growth in
Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea could be recognized as “a cultural link to
economic phenomenon (p. 17)”. It is said that the virtues of Confucianism such as
moderation, patience, and perseverance have resulted in the characteristics of enterprise in
East Asian countries. Recently, although the influence of Confucianism is not as evident as it
used to be due to modernization and globalization, it still plays a role in China, Japan,
Taiwan, and South Korea (Zhang, Lin, Nonaka & Beom, 2005). As such, Japan and Taiwan
share a similar cultural background.
In addition to the Confucianism, another historical event also indicates the cultural
connection between Japan and Taiwan. Taiwan was colonized by Japan for 50 years (1895-
1945) after the Sino-Japanese War in 1895. Taiwanese society was influenced by Japanese
culture during the colonial period (Ching, 2001; Tsai, 2009). Educational system is one of the
examples (Fwu & Wang, 2002; Yang, 2001; Wu, Chen, & Wu, 1989). Education is regarded
as one way to control people’s thinking and to promote imperialism (Yang, 2001). At the
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beginning stage of colonization, Japanese language schools were established in order to fulfill
these goals. According to Wu (1989), there were no higher educational institutions such as
college or university in Taiwan before Japan’s colonialization. Western-style higher education
was introduced in Taiwan during Japan’s occupation (Wu, 1989). The purposes of those
higher education institutions were to improve Taiwanese people’s educational level and “to
decrease the need for recruiting skilled workers from Japan” (p. 119). However, most of the
faculty and the students in higher education in Taiwan were Japanese. Although this
inequality in education had been criticized for a long time, the establishment of higher
education influenced the system of university entrance examinations and people’s perceptions
of teachers in Taiwan (Fwu & Wang, 2002; Yang, 2001). Under the circumstances that most
of the students in higher education were Japanese, it was extremely competitive for
Taiwanese students to pass the entrance examination. Taiwanese students had to study very
hard in order to go through the narrow pipelines to university. In addition to the competitive
university entrance examinations, Taiwanese people’s perceptions of teacher were influenced
by Confucianism and Japanese colonization (Fwu & Wang, 2002). During the Japanese
occupation of Taiwan, most school teachers were recruited from mainland Japan and a few
from local Taiwanese higher education institutions. According to Fwu and Wang (2002),
because Japanese school teachers were the experts from Japan, Taiwanese people regarded
the Japanese term “sensei” as a respectful symbol. Combining with the Confucianism,
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teachers in Taiwan are still recognized as the influential moral figures or role models in
modern Taiwanese society. The above-mentioned points demonstrate the cultural connection
between Japan and Taiwan from a colonial perspective.
Third, Japan and Taiwan share similarities in terms of trade. According to the annual
report on trade and investment issued by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO,
2017), Japan and Taiwan have been major trade partners over the past decades. Next to China
and the United States, Japan and Taiwan have played important roles not only in the import
market but also the export market. For instance, Japan imports petroleum and liquefied
natural gas and exports cars and semiconductors while Taiwan imports petroleum and
electronic machines and exports electronic products like semiconductors and chemicals
(JETRO, 2017). There is a close trade relationship between Japan and Taiwan. Due to
business transactions, both Japan and Taiwan need English as a communication tool to
participate in international trade. This is also one of the reasons why Japan and Taiwan
continuously endeavor to enhance the quality of English education.
As stated above, Japan and Taiwan have many points in common culturally,
economically, and educationally. Based on the similarities, it could be advantageous to
conduct a comparative analysis of Japan and Taiwan. Furthermore, according to the TOEFL
iBT score report (ETS, 2008, 2017), the average score of Japan increased from 65 in 2007 to
71 in 2016 while the average score of Taiwan increased from 72 in 2007 to 81 in 2016. In
23
order to train people who can take part actively in the global economy, Taiwan introduced
English as a subject from Grade 5 in elementary school since 2001 and from Grade 3 since
2005. In 2005, some major cities like Taipei and Hsinchu started English classes from Grade
1 of elementary school. There are two 40-minute classes every week as well as additional
hours in major cities. English is taught by homeroom teachers or specialized teachers and the
evaluation is usually paper-based (Butler, 2015). With an early start, Taiwan has ten more
years of experience in introducing English as a subject in elementary school. This experience
could provide both positive and negative evidence on the merits of English education as well
as information on materials development for Japan. By comparing the two countries, useful
information can be obtained and adapted to the Japanese context.
Comparisons of the curriculum guidelines between Japan and Taiwan.
Objectives of the curriculum guidelines between Japan and Taiwan. Both Japan and
Taiwan set objectives of English education for teachers and learners. By comparing the
objectives of the Course of Study in Japan and the curriculum guidelines in Taiwan,
similarities can be found. In Japan, the Course of Study for English is designed according to
particular academic stages: elementary, junior high, and senior high school. On the other
hand, in Taiwan, there are Grades 1-9 English Curriculum Guidelines for elementary and
junior high school, and General Senior High School English Curriculum Guidelines for
24
senior high school. The objectives of Course of Study for English from elementary school to
senior high school in Japan and objectives of Grades 1-9 English Curriculum Guidelines and
General Senior High School English Curriculum Guidelines in Taiwan are listed in Table 1.
In Japan, developing communicative abilities in the four skills (listening, reading,
speaking, and writing), deepening an understanding of language and culture, and fostering a
positive attitude toward communication are the goals of English education from elementary
school to senior high school (MEXT, 2008a, 2008b, 2010). The new Course of Study further
divided the speaking skills into two categories: spoken interaction and spoken production.
The objectives of each educational stage are similar except for two points. First, familiarizing
pupils with the sounds and basic expressions of English is included in the guidelines at
elementary school level (MEXT, 2008). The reason is that English is introduced as a foreign
language activity which focuses on listening and speaking. Nevertheless, when English is
taught as a subject in 2020, reading and writing will be included (MEXT, 2017a). Second,
although there is no particular description of communicative abilities in elementary and
junior high school, to understand accurately and to convey information appropriately are
included in the goals of communicative abilities for senior high school (MEXT, 2010). These
connect to the following revisions which were made in 2013 and 2017. For instance, being
able to understand, communicate, and discuss familiar topics through interactive activities
were added to communicative abilities for junior high school learners (MEXT, 2013, 2017a).
25
Table 1
Objectives of the Course of Study for English from Elementary School to Senior High School in Japan and Objectives of Grades 1-9 English
Curriculum Guidelines and General Senior High School English Curriculum Guidelines in Taiwan
Japan Taiwan
Elementary
school
1. To form the foundation of communication abilities
2. To develop an understanding of language and
culture
3. To foster a positive attitude toward communication
4. To familiarize pupils with the sounds and basic
expressions of the foreign language
1. To cultivate basic communicative abilities in four skills
2. To foster interest and autonomy in English learning
3. To increase intercultural understanding
Junior high
school
1. To develop basic communication abilities in four
skills
2. To deepen an understanding of language and
culture
3. To foster a positive attitude toward communication
Senior high
school
1. To develop communicative abilities
2. To deepen an understanding of language and
culture
3. To foster a positive attitude toward communication
1. To cultivate communicative abilities in four skills
2. To develop critical thinking skills in English
3. To establish effective learning methods in order to improve
self-regulated learning ability and to achieve lifelong learning
4. To foster a positive attitude and interest in English learning
5. To increase intercultural understanding
Note. This table is based on MEXT (2008a, 2008b, 2010); MOE (2008a, 2008b).
26
As for senior high school, the abilities to understand abstract topics and to communicate in
English smoothly are stated (MEXT, 2013). Presentations, debates, and negotiation are also
listed in the activities for developing communicative abilities.
On the other hand, common objectives of Grades 1-9 English Curriculum Guidelines
and General Senior High school English Curriculum Guidelines are to cultivate
communicative abilities in four skills, to foster interest and autonomy in English learning,
and to increase intercultural understanding (MOE, 2008a, 2008b). The differences between
Grades 1-9 English Curriculum Guidelines and General Senior High School English
Curriculum Guidelines are the following: senior high school emphasizes critical thinking as
well as lifelong learning. At the first stage in elementary and junior high school, learners
establish a foundation of communicative abilities in four skills and develop an interest in
learning English. At the next stage, senior high school, learners improve their communicative
abilities. For critical thinking, learners are trained to analyze, judge, and evaluate in English.
Through English education from elementary school to senior high school, learners have to be
equipped with skills for lifelong learning. This means that after learners graduate from senior
high school, they have the ability to continue learning English or other foreign languages by
themselves throughout their lifetime.
In summary, the overall similarities in the objectives of the curriculum guidelines
between Japan and Taiwan are the following: to cultivate communicative abilities in four
27
skills, to foster interest and autonomy in English learning (zest for life: ikiruchikara), and to
increase intercultural understanding. For the first and the third objectives, learners develop
and integrate their abilities in listening, reading, speaking, and writing in authentic and real
life contexts. Furthermore, not only acquiring knowledge of English language but also
understanding and respecting a foreign culture are essential goals of English education in
Japan and Taiwan. By learning a foreign language, learners begin to understand that there are
similarities and differences between English and their own language and culture. At the same
time, respecting the other language and culture is a crucial point which should be noticed.
As for the second objective, both MEXT and MOE promote lifelong learning (MEXT,
2014; MOE, 2008b). In order to sustain language learning throughout one’s life, autonomy
plays a vital part. To know how to learn as well as to learn effectively and spontaneously are
emphasized repeatedly in Taiwan’s curriculum guidelines from elementary school to senior
high school. On the other hand, Japan’s curriculum guidelines also focus on autonomy in
terms of zest for life: ikiruchikara (MEXT, 2011b). There are three aspects of zest for life:
intelligence, morality, and physical strength. According to MEXT (2011b), intelligence
indicates the ability to acquire knowledge as well as to identify, think, and solve the problems
actively and spontaneously. This concept corresponds to the metacognitive strategies which
foster learner autonomy (Ozeki, 2006). It explains why implementing strategy instruction can
help learners achieve the objectives stated in the curriculum guidelines. The relationship
28
between autonomy and learning strategies will be elaborated later in the following sections of
learning strategies.
To conclude the first section, Japan has undergone major changes in English education
over the past decades. In order to bridge the gap between the curriculum guidelines and the
actual teaching and learning in the classroom, materials development is one way to achieve
this goal. Moreover, a cross-national comparison could provide a better understanding of
textbook data. Therefore, from the perspective of continuity, this study investigates the
authorized English language textbooks from elementary school to senior high school by
comparing the equivalent authorized English language textbooks in Taiwan. There are many
approaches to conducting textbook analysis and this study focuses on vocabulary and
learning strategies. The reasons are illustrated in the following sections.
Corpus and English language textbooks
Importance of vocabulary in language acquisition. The importance of vocabulary in
language teaching and learning cannot be overgeneralized. It has been said that vocabulary is
pivotal in the field of second language acquisition (Coady & Huckin, 1997; Folse, 2004;
Folse, 2011; Nation, 2008; Nation, 2013; Nation & Webb, 2011; Schmitt, 2000; Schmitt,
2010; Schimitt & McCarthy, 1997; Zimmerman, 1997). As the well-known saying points out,
“Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”
29
(Wilkins, 1972, p.111). Krashen (1989) also highlighted the importance of vocabulary in
language acquisition and commented that learners take dictionaries with them rather than
grammar books. Folse (2004) dwelled on the importance of vocabulary by rewording
Wilkins’ saying, “Without grammar little communication may be possible; without
vocabulary, no communication is possible” (p. 25). Folse stated that vocabulary is the basic
element of communication. When learners communicate in a second or foreign language,
they need vocabulary to express themselves. In fact, vocabulary is important not only for
output in communication but also for input. Folse (2004) argued that if learners do not know
enough vocabulary in reading or listening, “comprehensible input [is] therefore neither
comprehensible nor input” (p. v). Therefore, vocabulary is important to second language
acquisition.
Numerous studies on vocabulary acquisition and vocabulary instruction have been
conducted and many books on teaching vocabulary have also been published. However, it
was not until the mid-1980s that vocabulary began to attract attention from researchers and
teachers (Coady & Huckin, 1997). Before that, teachers and researchers mainly focused on
syntax and phonology (Richards, 1976). Moreover, grammar has been emphasized for a long
time (Folse, 2004). In contrast, Meara (1980) pointed out that vocabulary was a neglected
research field regardless of its significant role in second language acquisition. He also
remarked on learners’ awareness of their insufficiency in vocabulary and the difficulty of
30
acquiring vocabulary in a second language (Meara, 1980). This was echoed by Krashen
(1989) who noted that learners themselves identify problems of vocabulary learning. This
attention to vocabulary encouraged researchers to focus on the area.
With attention concentrated on vocabulary, discussion on vocabulary instruction was
also raised. As teaching approaches change, vocabulary plays different roles in different
teaching approaches (Schmitt, 2000; Zimmerman, 1997). For instance, in the Grammar
Translation Method, the meaning and first language (L1) translation of vocabulary are the
bases of instruction. On the other hand, Communicative Language Teaching emphasizes
fluency of vocabulary. This difference is the result of the Grammar Translation Method’s
focus on reading and accuracy while Communicative Language Teaching focuses on real
communication and integration of the four skills. The shift of teaching approaches from being
teacher-centered to learner-centered influences not only on the ways teachers teach but also
the way vocabulary is introduced in the teaching materials. Since vocabulary is crucial to
second language teaching and learning, how it is embedded in the curriculum is a key issue.
Vocabulary teaching and learning and the curriculum guidelines. Folse (2004)
analyzed the materials published by several ESL publishers and found that there are more
materials related to grammar than to vocabulary. He also indicated that most of the ESL
textbooks do not include vocabulary in each unit or lesson, nor a vocabulary index at the end
of the textbook. This demonstrates the lack of focus on vocabulary in teaching materials.
31
What is the situation regarding EFL materials? Before addressing EFL materials, it is
important to know how much vocabulary and what kinds of vocabulary EFL learners need.
Vocabulary size and high-frequency vocabulary. There are 54,000 word families in
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (Goulden, Nation, & Read, 1990) and it is
impossible for a native speaker to know every word in one language. Nation and Waring
(1997) report that native speakers start with 4,000 to 5,000 words in elementary school. It
is said that native speakers acquire 1,000 words every year and an educated English native
speaker knows about 20,000 word families (Nation, 2013; Schmitt, 2000). There are several
ways to count words. For instance, “A word family consists of a headword, its inflected forms
and its closely related derived forms” (Nation, 2013, p. 11). A variation is, “a lemma consists
of a headword and its inflected forms and reduced form” (Nation, 2013, p.10). Inflections
include plural, third person singular present tense, past tense, past participle, comparative,
superlative, possessive, and –ing (Nation, 2013, p.10). For example, slow, slows, slowed,
slower, and slowest are counted as a lemma. On the other hand, correct, corrects, corrected,
correcting, correctly, correctness, and incorrect are counted as one word family. How words
are counted is one of the important factors to consider when conducting vocabulary research.
Although there are variations in the total number between individuals, the goal of
20,000 words which native speakers have on average is too ambitious for a second language
learner to achieve. With the enormous exposure to vocabulary input around them, native
32
speakers acquire vocabulary in various contexts. However, second language learners,
especially EFL learners, do not have similar favorable environments in which to absorb
vocabulary. It is difficult for them to acquire the same amount of vocabulary as native
speakers do. Learner’s vocabulary size has been discussed by researchers for many years. The
amount of vocabulary that learners should acquire depends on various learning purposes
(Schmitt, 2010). For listening, Schmitt (2010) summarized that learners should know 2,000 to
3,000 word families in order to understand 95% of a passage and 6,000 to 7,000 word
families to have 98% coverage of a spoken text. As for written text, Nation (2006) proposed
that it is better to know 8,000 to 9,000 word families for 98% coverage of authentic texts
such as novels and newspapers. The more vocabulary learners have, the more effective they
would be when learning as well. However, due to the limited time and effort that learners
could spend on acquiring vocabulary in English, it is much more effective to introduce high
frequency words to learners (Folse, 2011; Nation, 2008; Nation, 2011; Nation, 2013; Schmitt,
2010; Schmitt & Schmitt, 2012).
High frequency words are important because they occur very often in various contexts
of language use (Nation, 2008). It is said that learners should acquire at least 2,000 high
frequency words in order to deal with both written and spoken texts on a daily basis (Nation,
2008). Schmitt and Schmitt (2012) argued that high frequency words should be enlarged to
3,000 word families. Their point is that mid-frequency words can improve learners’ proficient
33
language use. If learners acquire the words from the 2,000 to 3,000 frequency levels, they
could cover most of the academic words and this would lead to improved academic
performance. Mid-frequency words refer to the words between high-frequency and low-
frequency words. Traditionally, mid-frequency words include 8,000 words from the 2,000 to
10,000 frequency levels (Nation, 2008). According to Schmitt and Schmitt (2012), by raising
the border of high frequency words to the 3,000 frequency level and lowering the border of
low frequency words to the 9,000 frequency level, mid-frequency words would consist of the
6,000 words between the revised boundaries. Expanding on this suggestion, Nation (2013)
stated that the high frequency words are approximately 2,000 to 3,000 word families. It is
advantageous for learners to acquire the high frequency words because they help learners
function efficiently in various contexts. In terms of teaching high and low frequency words,
Nation (1995) commented that high frequency words are essential to be taught explicitly
from a “cost/benefit” (p. 6) perspective. Because high frequency words recur frequently in
the texts, spending time and effort teaching those words in class is beneficial for learners. On
the other hand, teaching low frequency words which do not occur often is not as profitable as
high frequency words. Therefore, teaching strategies such as guessing from the context, using
word parts, and mnemonic techniques to learners could assist them in learning low frequency
words by themselves (Nation, 1995). Schmitt (1997) further maintained that introducing
vocabulary learning strategies in materials could improve learners’ vocabulary acquisition.
34
Vocabulary knowledge and the importance of retrieval. There are two facets of
vocabulary knowledge: breadth and depth. Anderson and Freebody (1981, pp.92-93) assumed
that breadth of vocabulary knowledge means how many words that learners know the
meaning while depth of vocabulary knowledge indicates how thoroughly learners understand
the words. Breath of vocabulary knowledge is the vocabulary size and the depth of
vocabulary knowledge requires learners to demonstrate use of vocabulary in various contexts.
The form-meaning link is often seen as the most important index of vocabulary knowledge
(Schmitt, 2010). According to Schmitt (2010), most vocabulary level tests and vocabulary
research only examine the form-meaning link which usually focuses on the receptive aspect.
However, vocabulary knowledge is more complex (Nation, 2013; Schimitt, 2010).
Nation (2013) maintained there are three features of vocabulary: form, meaning, and
use. Based on this approach, form includes spoken, written, and word parts; meaning
comprises form and meaning, concept and referents, and associations; use contains
grammatical functions, collocations, and other constraints on use such as register and
frequency. Furthermore, all these three aspects are compatible with both receptive and
productive knowledge. For instance, the receptive knowledge of a spoken form means that
learners have to know the sound of a word while the productive knowledge of a written form
implies that learners have to know how to pronounce the word. When it comes to use,
learners have to know what words co-occur with one particular word in reading or listening
35
for receptive knowledge and to know how to use one word with another one in writing or
speaking for productive knowledge. Because of the complexity of vocabulary knowledge,
vocabulary learning is incremental (Schmitt, 2010). In order to acquire all aspects of
vocabulary knowledge such as form, meaning, and use, encountering one word repeatedly in
different times and contexts is essential. Oxford and Crookall (1990) suggest that spiral
learning helps learners consolidate vocabulary knowledge. Due to the multifaceted nature of
vocabulary knowledge, learners have to learn one vocabulary item from different skill areas
like reading, listening, writing and speaking. Therefore, it is vital for learners to encounter
vocabulary frequently in various contexts.
The importance of repetition of vocabulary has also been emphasized in the
pedagogical field (Howatt, 1978; Sinclair & Renouf, 1988; Lewis, 1997; Willis, 1990). Based
on the nature that people tend to use certain words in both spoken and written texts, it is
effective for learners to acquire those frequent words. Regarding syllabus design, Howatt
(1978) maintained that teachers need to help learners become aware of the new encounter or
the recurrence of the words. Because while vocabulary knowledge is consolidated through
spiral learning process, the ways learners be exposed to vocabulary in class and materials are
linear (Howatt, 1978). The teaching materials introduce new vocabulary as learning items in
each lesson. Teachers and learners tend to focus on the new information as the objectives of
the lesson. However, words occurring frequently in the textbooks sometimes do not receive
36
attention as they should be (Sinclair & Renouf, 1988). Therefore, it is essential for teachers to
assist learners in spiral learning. The connection between pedagogy and the repetition of
vocabulary leads to the promotion of a lexical syllabus and lexical approach in English
language teaching (Lewis, 1997; Willis, 1990). Although grammar structures have received
much attention not only in the research area of second language acquisition but also in the
language teaching syllabus, it is inevitable that vocabulary plays a vital part in grammar
structure (Willis, 1990). When learners learn a grammar structure, the grammar structure
needs to be filled with vocabulary so as to convey meanings. As a result, Willis (1990)
proposed the lexical syllabus and Lewis (1997) recommended the lexical approach in 1993.
These pedagogical plans assist learners to notice vocabulary from both receptive and
productive perspectives. Teachers provide learners with meaning-focused exercises to learn at
the same time collocations are emphasized. Lexical approach facilitates the discussion of
retrieval in the fields of vocabulary research and materials development.
Learners need to encounter one word as many times as possible in order to acquire a
word completely (Folse, 2004; Folse, 2011; Nation, 2013; Schmitt, 2010; Webb, 2007). Webb
(2007) conducted a study on the effectiveness of repetition. The participants were 121 EFL
learners in Japan. He divided them into five groups, one control group and four experimental
groups. The experimental groups encountered words for one, three, seven, and ten times in
reading passages. After the treatment, a vocabulary test was used to measure vocabulary
37
knowledge of target words in terms of various aspects such as meaning, form, spelling, and
grammar. Both receptive and productive knowledge were tested. The results indicated that
learners can acquire unknown words to some extent when they encounter them ten times in
texts. Webb (2007) verified that encountering a word ten times is positive evidence to support
vocabulary learning. This result has been viewed as a baseline and applied to later studies of
vocabulary repetition. Hence, it is important to retrieve the target words in various contexts as
many times as possible.
Furthermore, when it comes to consolidating of vocabulary knowledge, retrieval plays
a crucial role in instruction as well as teaching and learning materials (Folse, 2004; Folse,
2011; Nation, 2013). Folse (2004) proposed that teachers have to prepare enough activities
which not only retrieve the form-meaning link of vocabulary but also help learners practice
vocabulary use in different contexts. Later, he also suggested that teachers should choose the
textbooks which include sufficient activities to provide multifaceted encounters with
vocabulary in addition to explicit vocabulary presentations (Folse, 2011).
Despite the fact that it is essential not only to include high frequency words in the
textbooks but also to use plenty of retrieval activities in class, most language course books do
not always introduce high frequency words even though these high frequency words are what
learners need (Nation, 2011; Nation, 2013). Moreover, Oxford and Crookall (1990)
maintained that many second language textbooks “do not present L2 words in a consciously
38
spiraled way” (p.25). According to Bruner’s (1960) spiral curriculum, the contents to be
taught should be introduced repeatedly until learners have fully understood them. In Taiwan,
MOE (2008a, 2008b) stated that the textbooks should present the contents such as grammar
and vocabulary in a spiral way. To facilitate materials development, it is necessary to analyze
how much vocabulary there is and how many times the vocabulary occurs in the textbooks.
Vocabulary and the curriculum guidelines in Japan and Taiwan. In this section, the
status of vocabulary in the curriculum guidelines from elementary school to senior high
school in both Japan and Taiwan are presented. In Taiwan, the Grades 1-9 English
Curriculum Guidelines provide a 2,000-word list. According to MOE (2008a), the list is
based on several sources such as the word list of previous curriculum guidelines for junior
high school in Taiwan, reference words from English curriculum guidelines for elementary
school in South Korea, a word list of English curriculum guidelines for elementary school
and junior high school in China, the frequently used words in junior high school in Japan, a
2,000-word list of the General English Proficiency Test in Taiwan, reference word lists of
university entrance examinations in Taiwan, and a frequency word list of the Collins
COBUILD dictionary. After collecting text data from various sources, the committee selected
the words according to criteria such as elementary and junior high school learners’ cognitive
abilities, life experiences, English learning goals, and learning environment (MOE, 2008a). In
elementary school, learners have to acquire 300 words for oral performance and 180 words
39
for written performance. Junior high school learners have to acquire 1,200 words for
listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The 1,200 words are the basic ones in the 2,000-
word list and the 800 words are for learners who want to reach higher levels in junior high
school. The importance of vocabulary can be determined from the itemized descriptions of
the process of making the word list as well as the principles of introducing words to learners
in the English curriculum guidelines in Taiwan.
Moreover, in order to reduce the learning burden, MOE (2008a) stated that new words
in each lesson can be divided into two parts: words for production and words for reception.
Depending on whether or not the new words are closely related to the main topic of the
lesson, the words which are necessary for learners to comprehend and to complete the lesson
activities are introduced as productive words and those that are indirectly related to the lesson
topic are presented as receptive words. Learners acquire different aspects of vocabulary
knowledge with these two types of words. As for productive words, learners have to know the
form-meaning link, pronunciation in listening and speaking, spelling for writing, and have to
be able to use these words in particular contexts. On the other hand, for receptive words,
learners have to know the meaning, the pronunciation in listening, and to recognize the
spelling while reading. The 2,000 word list in the curriculum guidelines does not clearly
categorize which words are productive or receptive. The words are presented in an
alphabetical order, in the categories of topics and word classes. Therefore, it is the publishers
40
who decide which words are productive or receptive and the decision about productive and
receptive words is influenced by the topics or themes of lessons.
The General Senior High School English Curriculum Guidelines in Taiwan notes that
learners have to acquire 4,500 basic words by the time they graduate from senior high school.
Advanced learners can expand the amount up to 7,000 words. Although there is no reference
word list provided by the curriculum guidelines for senior high school, the College Entrance
Examination Center (CEEC, 2002) released a reference word list which contains 6,480
words. Not only the authorized senior high school English textbooks but also the entrance
examinations are based on this list.
In Japan, the amount of vocabulary to be acquired is illustrated according to three
learning stages. Firstly, for foreign language activities, there is no clear statement on how
many words and which words need to be learned in the curriculum guidelines (MEXT,
2008a). According to MEXT (2017a), when English is taught as a subject from Grade 5 and
as a foreign language activity from Grade 3 in 2020, learners have to acquire about 600 to
700 words in elementary school. However, only the amount of vocabulary has been stated
and there is no further information about which words need to be learned. Secondly, for
junior high school, the amount of vocabulary that learners have to acquire has been increased
from 1,200 to 1,800 words (MEXT, 2008b, MEXT, 2017a). In the current Course of Study
(2008b), 100 words listed in the previous Course of Study (MEXT, 1998) as well as
41
vocabulary relating to seasons, months, days of the week, time, weather, and numbers have
been deleted. Hence, there is no detailed information in both the current and revised
curriculum guidelines regarding which words need to be learned in junior high school.
Thirdly, for senior high school, the current curriculum guidelines state that learners have to
learn 400 words in the first year, 700 in the second year, and 700 in the third year. The total is
1,800 words in the three-year plan (MEXT, 2010). According to MEXT (2017a), the amount
of vocabulary to be learned will be expanded to 2,500 in the revision of the Course of Study.
To sum up, according to the current curriculum guidelines, learners will have a 3,000-
word vocabulary size when they graduate from senior high school. Learners’ estimated
vocabulary size will increase to 5,000 when the new changes are implemented in 2020.
Although the amount of vocabulary is stipulated in the curriculum guidelines, there is,
however, no further description of which words should be learned. In addition, in terms of
counting the words, the ways words are counted is unclear in the curriculum guidelines. In
the Course of Study for junior high school, the description indicates that words are counted
by lemma while the description in the Course of Study for senior high school implies that
both lemma and word families are considered. Okabe and Matsumoto (2010) maintained that
the publishers publish the authorized English language textbooks for senior high school by
using lemma to count the words. From the perspective of vocabulary acquisition, it is
essential to clarify the basis of word counting as well as those words that need to be learned.
42
Analyzing vocabulary in the authorized English language textbooks could be the initial step.
Corpus as a crucial research tool. Collecting language use samples and analyzing
them were not easy tasks until corpus analysis was developed. Corpus means “a database of
written or spoken discourse which can be analyzed to discover the behavior of language”
(Schmitt & McCarthy, 1997, p. 328). With a large amount of language data, patterns of
language use can be analyzed systematically. In the mid-1900s, corpus linguistics received
both attention as well as criticism due to limitations of technology (McEnery & Wilson,
2001; McEnery, Xiao, & Tono, 2006). However, with technological development, corpus has
become one of the effective ways to analyze language (McEnery & Wilson, 2001; McEnery,
Xiao, & Tono, 2006; Schmitt, 2010; Zimmerman, 2013). As a result, various corpora have
been constructed and used in research. According to Hunston (2002), there are specialized
corpus, general corpus, comparable corpora, parallel corpora, learner corpus, pedagogic
corpus, historical or diachronic corpus, and monitor corpus. The most frequently used general
corpora are the British National Corpus (BNC) and the Corpus of Contemporary American
English (COCA) (Akano, Hori, & Tono, 2014; Hunston, 2002; Ishikawa, 2012; Schmitt,
2010). These two corpora are recognized as representatives of general English corpora, that
is, the BNC for British English and the COCA for American English.
The BNC consists of 90 million written and 10 million spoken British English
43
(Schmitt, 2010). The project commenced in 1991 and was completed in 1994. There were
three criteria for data collection: domain, medium, and time. For domain and time, written
texts were collected from various fields. These included informative and imaginative fields.
The informative field consisted of 75% of the data. It collected texts from 1975 and included
applied science, art, belief and thought, commerce and finance, leisure, natural and pure
science, social science, and world affairs. The imaginative field consisted of 25% of the
written text from 1960 and covered creative literature. As for medium, the corpus data
collected 60% of the written texts from books, 25% from periodicals such as magazines and
newspapers, 5 to 10% from other publications including brochures and advertisements, and 5
to 10% from unpublished materials such as diaries, essays, and personal letters. The spoken
texts were collected from 124 volunteers who recorded their conversations in everyday life
and included business, educational, institutional, and leisure situations. Based on the data
collection from various contexts across time, the texts reflected the real use of British English
during that period. Due to its large size and the balanced language data, BNC is recognized as
the “gold standard” corpus of general English and it is used in research (Schmitt, 2010).
On the other hand, the COCA was developed as an American English corpus. In its first
stage of development, it collected words from 1990 to 2008 and it consisted of 309 million
written and 79 million spoken American English words. Since then, it has been updated every
two years. Moreover, the corpus is collected from a balance of five genres such as spoken
44
language, fiction, popular magazines, newspapers, and academic journals. Based on the
characteristics of size and currency, the COCA has become a useful resource for vocabulary
research (Schmitt, 2010).
Recently, numerous computer software programs have been designed to support not
only researchers but also other stakeholders such as teachers and publishers. According to
Nation and Webb (2011), a corpus can be applied to set learning goals, design language
courses, analyze vocabulary in texts, and guide the construction of vocabulary tests. In terms
of materials development, a corpus can provide data for designing tests and materials
(Schmitt, 2000) as well as lessons and tasks (Willis & Willis, 2007). Analyzing and
comparing a pedagogic corpus with frequency word lists may help both teachers and learners
have a better understanding of vocabulary learning (Willis, 2011). McEnery and Wilson
(2001) maintained that there are considerable differences between the vocabulary in language
textbooks and that used in real contexts. This indicates that what the vocabulary learners
learn from textbooks is not always what learners really need in real communication. Although
it is impossible to reach a total match between a pedagogic corpus and frequency word lists,
the gap between teaching materials and authentic language use can be identified through a
comparative analysis thus enabling the gap to be bridged by materials development (Willis,
2011). Hence, a corpus is one of the effective research tools for textbook analysis.
Through corpus analysis, various kinds of information can be obtained. The most
45
important reason why a corpus is a crucial research tool is that it provides abundant
information about frequency (Hunston, 2002; Nation & Webb, 2011; Schmitt, 2010;
Zimmerman, 2013). Based on language data collected in authentic contexts, frequency words
can be extracted from a corpus by using computer software. Frequency word lists are
essential to language teaching and learning because learners do not have the same amount of
exposure to English as native speakers do. Having limited time and input, using frequency
word lists can assist teachers and learners in effective teaching and learning. Zimmerman
(2013) suggests that using corpus analysis to generate word lists and to identify word
frequency in various contexts can provide teachers and learners useful information to meet
their needs.
Due to advanced technology, a corpus has become a key research tool in vocabulary
studies. By applying a corpus to textbook analysis, the amount of vocabulary items and the
frequency of vocabulary items introduced in English language textbooks can be clarified.
Moreover, comparing a pedagogic corpus with frequency word lists can reveal which
vocabulary should be included in English language textbooks. Therefore, corpus analysis will
be applied to this study.
Frequency word lists past and present. Frequency word lists are used not only for
research but also for language teaching and learning. In this section, studies on frequency
word lists will be reviewed in chronological order.
46
The development of word lists could be dated back to the early 1900s. In the
summaries of historical background of word lists (Bright & McGregor, 1977; Gilner, 2011),
vocabulary selection and control started with Thorndike’s Teacher’s Word Book in 1921. It
was developed for pedagogical purpose and was based on pre-electronic corpora (Kennedy,
1998). The purpose of the project was to assist American children to improve reading ability
and to acquire reading vocabulary. Since then, the word lists projects have been conducted by
many researchers. In 1926, Horn created a 10,000 frequent word list, A Basic Writing
Vocabulary, based on written texts such as business and personal letters, magazines, and
newspapers. In 1931, Thorndike revised the previous work and published The Teacher’s Word
Book of 20,000 Words; later in 1944, cooperating with Lorge, Thorndike further developed
The Teacher’s Word Book of 30,000 Words. These works produced word lists based on
frequency and range and also determined the criteria of vocabulary selection in later corpus
studies.
In the beginning stage of vocabulary selection and control, most the word list projects
were conducted in L1 settings. Since the 1920s, the development of word lists has been
combined with English language teaching in EFL countries (Bright & McGregor, 1977;
Gilner, 2011; Howatt & Widdowson, 2004). There are several influential researchers such as
West, Faucett, Palmer, and Richards who brought significant impact on vocabulary learning
and word lists. West served as an officer in India and taught vocabulary for reading to
47
Bengali students (Howatt & Widdowson, 2004). His efforts in vocabulary research on readers
later contributed to the development of the General Service List (GSL). Richards promoted
the Basic English in China when teaching English literature to Chinese university students
(Howatt & Widdowson, 2004; Koeneke, 2004). The Basic English is a 850 word list which
was developed by Ogden in 1930. The purposes of the Basic English were not only to teach
non-native speakers of English but also to help native speakers purify their language use
(Koeneke, 2004). According to Koeneke (2004), Richards simplified the English literature
texts by using the Basic English and established the Orthological Institute in China to develop
English teaching materials and programs. Due to Richards’ promotion, the Basic English was
adopted nationally in 1937 by the Nationalist Ministry of Education and has had great impact
on English language teaching in China since then.
On the other hand, in Japan, Palmer established the Institute for Research in English
Teaching in 1923 (Howatt & Widdowson, 2004). During his teaching and researching life in
Japan, he promoted the Oral Method which was published in 1921 and developed a 3,000
word list designed for middle school students in 1931. After that, he voyaged around the
world and communicated with other researchers. He worked with Hornby and published
Thousand-Word English in 1937. The draft of Thousand-Word English was also the data that
he brought to the Carnegie Conference in 1934 in New York. During the 1920s and the
1930s, Faucett was the scholar who contributed to English teaching in both China and Japan
48
(Smith, 2003). He went to China in 1922 as a missionary but he became interested in English
language teaching as well as materials development. In 1930, he moved to Japan and taught
at Aoyama Gakuin University. After that, he devoted himself to developing word lists for
learners at different levels. Working with Itsu Maki, they published a word list in 1932 and
the list was also one of the reference data for the Carnegie Conference. Based on his teaching
experience in China, he later on developed the Oxford English Course and the supplementary
readers. Moreover, he produced numerous English language teaching materials in Japan and
Taiwan.
With their experiences in English language teaching in EFL countries such as China,
India, and Japan, these vocabulary researchers considered learner proficiency when
developing frequency word lists. Their purposes are common, which was to make English
texts more accessible to EFL learners by using word lists. With the results of vocabulary
projects they had conducted in different counties, they selected the words based on frequency
and range for the draft of the GSL during the two international conferences in 1934 in New
York and in 1935 in London. The interim report on selected vocabulary was published by
Faucett, Thorndike, Palmer, and West in 1936. The publication of the GSL was postponed
until 1953 due to the Second World War. However, the development of word lists and its
applications to language teaching in EFL countries have emphasized the importance of
frequency word lists in vocabulary research.
49
Regarding frequency word lists, West’s (1953) General Service List (GSL) and
Coxhead’s (2000) Academic Word List (AWL) have been considered the most important.
Used extensively in research fields and instruction settings, the GSL and the AWL weigh
heavily in vocabulary studies (Nation, 2008; Nation, 2013; Schmitt, 2010; Zimmerman,
2013). Due to their important roles in vocabulary research, the GSL and the AWL have
received both attention and criticism.
Based on British English, the General Service List contains 2,000 word families
(Brezina & Gablasova, 2015; Nation, 2013; Schmitt, 2010). The texts of the corpus data were
collected from 1935 and the work was completed in 1953. The GSL has been criticized for its
outdated language sample (Brezina & Gablasova, 2015; Nation, 2013; Schmitt, 2010). For
instance, according to Brezina and Gablasova (2015), vocabulary items such as “gay ( which
means happy), cart, shilling, servant, footman, milkmaid, and telegraph” (p.2) are barely used
anymore. Furthermore, some meanings of words have changed over time and the words are
not utilized as in their original contexts. New items such as “television, computer, and
Internet (p.2)” should be added to the lists due to the technological development. Another
criticism is frequency. Although the GSL contains 2,000 word families and it is usually
treated as a frequency word list, the text data were not collected only by frequency (Nation,
2004, 2013; Schmitt, 2010). Howatt (2004) argued that the GSL excludes spoken texts used
in daily life and that the deletion of spoken words makes it difficult to defend its claim for
50
high frequency.
Nevertheless, despite the criticisms, the GSL has been influential for several reasons.
One reason why the GSL still plays a role in studies on vocabulary acquisition is that it was
designed for language education (Tono, 2008). Many graded readers are based on the GSL
(Nation, 2004, 2013). Another reason is that there are no other word lists which “have
equaled the details and usefulness of the GSL” (Schmitt, 2000, p. 134). Moreover, Nation
(2013) commented that because it is difficult to develop a frequency word list which meets
learners’ needs in school settings, the GSL has played an essential role in vocabulary teaching
and learning. Therefore, Schmitt (2010) maintained that if the research purpose is
pedagogical, the GSL is still a valuable source.
Regarding the Academic Word List, Coxhead (2000) collected 414 written academic
texts from four fields: liberal arts, commerce, law, and science. There were 3.5 million words
in total. From this, she created a frequency word list, excluding the words in the GSL. As a
result, there are 570 word families in the AWL and it covers 10% of the academic corpus. It
has been applied to academic vocabulary research as well as teaching materials (Schmitt,
2010). However, Hyland and Tse (2007) claimed that because words have different meaning
and usage among various academic contexts, teachers and learners have to be aware of the
academic vocabulary in their own fields when using the AWL. Due to the characteristics of
academic vocabulary, it is difficult to create a universal academic word list which fits learners
51
from all fields. Therefore, teachers and learners need to identify the key words that are related
to their academic field.
Nation (2004) compared a combined GSL and the AWL with a 3,000 frequency word
list based on the BNC. The results indicated that the BNC 3,000 words and the GSL plus the
AWL as one data set share similar coverage rate when compared with other corpus data.
These results indicated that learners’ academic stage is the key point for teachers to consider
when applying these wordlists to vocabulary learning (Nation, 2004). For instance, non-
academic words from the GSL could be adapted to elementary and junior high school
learners, whereas academic words from the AWL might be arranged for senior high school
and university level learners. Moreover, if a university student who is at the beginning level,
the BNC lists might provide better vocabulary sources because many AWL words occur in
the BNC first 2,000 words. As a result, when teachers, publishers, and educational institutions
apply these wordlists to language teaching and learning, arrangement of vocabulary has to be
made in terms of level, syllabus, and curriculum design (Nation, 2004). Furthermore, with the
implementation of English education in elementary school, Nation (2004) suggested the need
to adapt the frequency word lists when teaching young learners because a frequency word list
such as a BNC 3000 reflects the formality of adult British English language use.
As noted above, the GSL and the AWL are word lists which have been widely used in
research as well as language teaching and learning. As a result of the numerous studies on
52
vocabulary and vocabulary instruction based on the GSL and the AWL, several issues have
been highlighted. The main issue is the modernity of English. It has been almost over 60
years since the GSL was created. Although the AWL is more contemporary, however, it is
based on the GSL. Since the GSL is not completely a frequency word list, Gardner and
Davies (2013) claimed that the AWL does not necessarily reflect the frequency in academic
fields. Consequently, in order to meet learners’ real needs, several new frequency word lists
have been created. These include the New General Service List of English Words (NGSL)
and New Academic Word List (NAWL) by Browne, Culligan, and Phillips (2013), the New
General Service List (new-GSL) by Brezina and Gablasova (2015), and the new Academic
Vocabulary List (AVL) by Gardner and Davies (2013).
These new frequency word lists have been developed for language learning and are
based on modern English corpora. The NGSL and the NAWL are mainly based on the
Cambridge English Corpus (Browne, Culligan, & Phillips, 2013). The NGSL has 2818 words
and the NAWL has 963 words. According to Browne (2013), while the GSL, which contains
3623 lemmas, has 84.24% coverage in the CEC corpus, the NGSL, with 2818 lemmas, has
90.34% coverage in the CEC corpus. This indicates that the NGSL performs more effectively
using fewer words. The AVL has 3,000 words and it is based on the COCA which represents
modern American English. The AVL has a 13.8% of coverage in the COCA academic corpus
and a 13.7% coverage in the BNC academic corpus. On the other hand, the AWL has a 7.2%
53
coverage in the COCA academic corpus and a 6.9% coverage in the BNC academic corpus.
Gardner and Davies (2013) suggested that it might not be appropriate to compare the AWL
with the AVL because these two academic word lists are based on different corpora and
different processes were used. The new AVL is not for beginners but for those who have
already finished learning the general high frequency words and intend to learn English in an
academic field. Brezina and Gablasova (2015) created a new-GSL based on four copora: The
Lancaster-Oslo-Bergen Corpus (LOB), the British National Corpus (BNC), the BE06 Corpus
of British English (BE06), and EnTenTen 12. Three of the corpora are British English and the
EnTenTen 12 is international English because its texts are based on the Internet. The time
period of texts ranges from 1961 to 2012. Among these four corpora, only the BNC includes
spoken texts and the other three corpora contain only written texts. The new-GSL has 2,494
words and its coverage of the four corpora is from 80.1% to 81.7%.
Compared with the GSL and the AWL which are based on word families, the NGSL
and the NAWL (Browne, Culligan, & Phillips, 2013), the new-GSL (Brezina & Gablasova,
2015), and the AVL (Gardner & Davies, 2013) are based on lemmas. Counting words by
using lemma is derived from the concept of learning burden (Nation, 2013). Once learners
acquire the inflectional system, they can apply it to new words and thus reduce the learning
burden. On the other hand, because a word family includes the inflected forms and the related
derived forms, Schmitt (2010) pointed out that knowing one word in a word family does not
54
mean that learners also know or are able to guess the meaning of other related word family
members. Although there are issues of how to deal with reduced forms and the same word
form but with different meanings, the recent frequency word lists tend to count words based
on lemma.
In conclusion, because language is changing constantly, it is difficult to develop a
perfect frequency word list for language learning. Different teachers and learners in various
contexts have their own needs. It is impossible for researchers to create a word list that suits
perfectly every learner. However, due to the development of technology, vocabulary research
is progressing and new lists will continue to be developed (Coxhead, 2016). Each new word
list is based on a different English corpus and has its own features. As a result, studies on
vocabulary in textbooks could utilize these new lists as tools for further analysis.
Corpus analysis of the authorized English language textbooks in Japan and
Taiwan. Corpus analysis has been applied to numerous studies on textbooks. Due to the
important role that textbooks play in school English education, the words presented in
textbooks and the ways they have been presented have a large impact on learners’ vocabulary
acquisition (Ishikawa, 2008). Analyzing textbook corpora provides data for materials
evaluation as well as development (Tono, 2008). Moreover, textbook analysis based on
corpus data is rather objective and it increases the reliability of vocabulary research
55
(Ishikawa, 2008). The following sections summarize the results of studies of corpus analysis
on the authorized English language textbooks from elementary school to senior high school
in Japan and Taiwan.
Corpus analysis of elementary school English language textbooks. In order to
examine whether or not the authorized elementary school English language textbooks in
Taiwan reflect the 1,200 word list introduced in the curriculum guidelines for elementary
school English education, Huang (2008) analyzed 18 volumes (six volumes as one set) of
textbooks by conducting corpus analysis. The three textbook corpora are Kang Hsuan (KH),
Kid Castle (KC), and Nan-I (NI). The word types of each corpus are 671 words in KH, 854
words in KC, and 633 words in NI. Next, Huang counted the word types of the new word
lists at the end of the textbooks. There are 394 words in the KH textbook word list, 566 words
in the KC textbook word list, and 405 words in the NI textbook word list. The differences
between the word types in textbook corpora and the word types in the word lists at the end of
the textbooks indicate that the textbooks use more words than the target words. Huang
explained that it is because many onomatopoetic words in rhymes and songs, characters’
names, and words that are not in the lists are also included in textbook corpora. The coverage
of the 1,200 word list in three textbook corpora is 81.4% for KH, 77% for KC, and 84.6% for
NI. Huang considered that although the textbooks cover the words in the lists to some extent,
words which are beyond the junior high school level are also included in the elementary
56
school textbooks.
Huang (2008) also examined the repetition of words in the three textbook corpora. The
words that occur more than six times are 38.3% in the KH corpus, 28.2% in the KC corpus,
and 27.6% in the NI corpus. On the other hand, words that occur less than six times are
61.7% in the KH corpus, 71.8% in the KC corpus, and 72.4% in the NI corpus. Huang
claimed that insufficient repetition of vocabulary might lead to ineffective learning.
According to Webb (2007), learners have to encounter one word for at least ten times in order
to acquire the word. Based on Webb’s conclusion, it is difficult to justify using six repetitions
as the baseline for judgement on effectiveness of vocabulary acquisition. However, Huang’s
results revealed that the authorized elementary school English language textbooks do not
present the vocabulary sufficiently in terms of repetition.
In another study, Tseng (2008) analyzed the vocabulary size, frequency, and repetition
in four elementary school textbook corpora. The materials were 32 volumes, eight volumes as
one set. The publishers were Kang Hsuan (KH), Kid Castle (KC), Melody (ML), and
Rainbow (RB). The total types of each textbook corpus are 865 words in the KC corpus, 734
words in the KH corpus, 826 words in the ML corpus, and 696 words in the RB corpus.
Tseng noted that there was a evident increase in the number of word types between Book 4
and Book 5. The textbook system in Taiwan uses one volume for one semester so there are
two volumes for one school year. Elementary schools in Taiwan implement English education
57
from Grade 3, hence, Book 4 and Book 5 represent the border between Grade 4 and Grade 5
which means the gap between middle grades and upper grades in elementary school. The
results of the increase in word types indicated that learners in upper grades would learn more
words than those in middle grades. Moreover, Tseng (2008) found that one-third of the words
were at the elementary school level, one-third of the words were at the junior high school
level, and another one-third of the words were beyond the junior high school level. Thus,
two-thirds of the words in the authorized elementary school English textbooks were beyond
the elementary school level. This imbalance of word levels reflected Yang’s (2006) point that
with the increase in the vocabulary size, elementary school learners would have to acquire
from 300 words to 500 or 600 words.
The goals of vocabulary size are 300 words for oral performance and 180 words for
written performance in elementary school and 1,200 words in four skills for the basic level
and 2,000 words for the advanced level. Yang (2006) commented that many parents in
Taiwan think that the gap between elementary school and junior high school is too large so
anxious parents send their children to cram schools. However, the varieties of English
learning resources available to different socioeconomic families result in vicious cycles of the
phenomenon of bimodal distribution (Yang, 2006). The phenomenon of bimodal distribution
refers to the situation that learners’ language performances are distributed into either high or
low in one class due to the socioeconomic status of families (Lin, 2014). This issue has been
58
discussed in the field of early English education (Lin, 2014; Lu, 2013; Yu, 2016; Wu, 2018).
In an EFL learning context, the amount of learning resources that learners could obtain
outside the classroom tends to decide learners’ performances. Children from high
socioeconomic status families usually have more opportunities to go to English cram school,
have English tutors, or study abroad than those from low socioeconomic status families.
Therefore, researchers have pointed out that providing sufficient quantity and quality learning
at school is essential.
By calculating the class time and the amount of vocabulary to be learned, Yang
reported that learners only learn two to four words in one class and this is inefficient. The
lack of vocabulary in elementary school textbooks also widened the gap between elementary
school and junior high school materials. Furthermore, MOE only stated that words presented
in textbooks should be divided into productive and receptive words, but there is no list which
explicitly introduces these two kinds of words. Huang’s (2008) and Tseng’s (2008) results of
the various word types in elementary school textbook corpora indicated that it is the
publishers who select the words in the textbooks. The discrepancies between different
versions of textbooks for elementary school would lead to further differences in vocabulary
acquisition in junior high school. Therefore, Yang (2006) suggested that besides increasing
the amount of vocabulary size in elementary school, a reference word list containing
productive and receptive words for both elementary and junior high school would be needed.
59
Regarding frequency, Tseng (2008) compared the overlapping words between textbook
corpora and the GSL word list. The overlapping rate of the GSL was 74% in the KC corpus,
75.3% in the KH corpus, 76.2% in the ML corpus, 79.3% in the RB corpus. Based on the
comparison between textbook corpora and the GSL, Tseng claimed that due to the lower
coverage rate, some low-frequency words in the textbooks were not appropriate for beginning
learners in elementary school. However, based on the definition of low-frequency words and
the point that the GSL is not completely based on frequency, Tseng’s results need to be
reexamined. Applying a new frequency word list such as the NGSL to frequency analysis
might be one way to conduct further studies. Furthermore, based on Webb’s (2007) baseline
of repetition, Tseng (2008) reported that the words which occur ten times or more than ten
times are only 5.8% in the KC corpus, 6.3% in the KH corpus, 5% in the ML corpus, and
5.4% in the RB corpus. Since most of the words in the textbooks have low occurrence, Tseng
claimed that it is difficult for learners to consolidate vocabulary knowledge.
In sum, there are three features of the results of vocabulary studies in the authorized
elementary school English language textbooks. First, the total word types vary among
different publishers. Although MOE introduced a 2,000-word list in the Grades 1-9 English
Curriculum Guidelines and stated the goals of elementary school and junior high school
respectively, it is the textbook authors who select the words to be included in the textbooks.
The textbook authors usually choose the words by intuition when they construct the written
60
texts (Bennett, 2010; O’Keeffe, McCarthy & Carter, 2007). Hence, there are noticeable
differences in word types among publishers. Second, textbooks reflect MOE’s 2,000 word list
to some extent, however, words that are at the junior high school level and beyond are also
included in the authorized elementary school English language textbooks in Taiwan. This
raises the issue of increasing the attainment goal of vocabulary from 300 to 500 or 600 words
at the elementary school level. Third, the repetition of vocabulary in the authorized
elementary school English textbooks is insufficient for learners to learn effectively. From the
perspective of spiral learning, it is necessary to increase the occurrences of vocabulary in the
textbooks or activities in order to consolidate vocabulary knowledge.
Despite the fact that English education has been introduced in Taiwanese elementary
school since 2001, studies of the authorized elementary school English language textbooks
tend to focus on particular topics such as activities, gender, pronunciation, and songs by
conducting content analysis (Tseng, 2008). Only a few of studies have explored vocabulary in
elementary school English language textbooks. Since vocabulary is one of the essential
elements in language acquisition, more studies which investigate vocabulary in textbooks are
needed.
In Japan, English has been introduced through “foreign language activities” since 2011
(MEXT, 2008a). In contrast to junior and senior high school where English is treated as a
subject, there are no authorized English language textbooks for elementary school. Teaching
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materials published by MEXT for English as foreign language activities such as English Note
1, 2 in 2011 and Hi, friends! 1, 2 in 2012 have been distributed to elementary schools
(Kitayama, 2015). In 2018, new materials designed for English as a subject like Let’s Try! 1,
2 and We can! 1, 2 have been distributed and are utilized in English classes in elementary
schools. Due to the lack of authorized English language textbooks for elementary school in
Japan, only a few studies have investigated vocabulary teaching and learning in elementary
school level based on corpus analysis.
In a study of junior high school teaching materials, Chujo, Nishigaki, and Miyazaki
(2009) compared the vocabulary in English Note 1 and 2, with that in the authorized junior
high school English language textbooks. Because English Note is designed for English as
foreign language activities, the materials mainly consist of illustrations. In order to construct
an English Note corpus, they collected texts from the instruction manual, divided the written
texts into children’s language use and instructor’s language use, and created two word lists: a
children’s word list and an instructor’s word list. The children’s word list contained 386
words and the instructor’s word list had 728 words. The two word lists were compared with
three frequently used junior high school textbooks. There were New Horizon which contains
826 word types and 7,998 tokens, New Crown which has 815 word types and 6,890 tokens
and Sunshine which includes 964 types and 10,800 tokens, and the results of comparison
between elementary school and junior high school corpora indicated that half of the words in
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English Note occur in junior high school textbooks. Since the purposes of foreign language
activities are to become familiar with English sounds and to foster a positive attitude toward
communication, learners do not need to know how to spell or recognize words in reading and
writing. Although there is no explicit instruction of vocabulary, by using English Note in
class, children have opportunities of being exposed to 386 words in elementary school and
encounter half of those words again in junior high school (Chujo, Nishigaki, & Miyazaki,
2009).
In another study, Nishigaki, Chujo, and Kashimura (2007) developed a “karuta” game
using a 500-word list. The 500-word list was based on thirty English picture dictionaries from
the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan as well
as the spoken corpus of children’s English, Child Language Data Exchange System. Due to
the differences in language use between adults and children, they also utilized the BNC to
compare frequency words between children and adults. After selecting 500 daily life
vocabulary for children, they developed a “karuta”, a traditional Japanese card game, for
elementary school learners. Information about the target words such as category, and example
expressions is written on the reading card. Generally, the process is the same as the traditional
“karuta” game. Learners listen to the hints read by teachers or classmates and choose the
corresponding card as quickly as possible. Nishigaki, Chujo, and Kashimura (2007)
suggested that the “karuta” card activities could be adapted to learners at different proficiency
63
levels as well as those at different stages of cognitive development. Moreover, it could be
easily applied to the classroom especially for elementary school teachers who do not have
experience in teaching English. Nishigaki, Chujo, and Kashimura (2007) used the card
activities in four Grade 6 classes in one elementary school in Chiba Prefecture. There were
139 students. After the classes, they asked the students to complete a questionnaire.
According to the results, most of the students could understand what was written on the cards
by listening to the hints. In addition, they responded that the card game was very interesting
and it was fun learning English.
Although there are only a few studies of vocabulary in teaching materials for
elementary school due to the lack of the authorized English language textbooks, there are
studies which develop vocabulary activities for elementary school learners in Japan. With the
distribution of new textbooks for English as a subject, it is essential to analyze vocabulary in
the new materials and discuss vocabulary teaching and learning for elementary school
English in Japan. In the next section, a corpus analysis of the authorized junior and senior
high school English language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan will be reviewed.
Corpus analysis of junior and senior high school English language textbooks. Until
English education was introduced to elementary school in Japan, many studies on corpus
analysis focused on vocabulary in the authorized junior and senior high school English
language textbooks. On the other hand, due to the lack of focus on vocabulary in textbooks,
64
there are only a few corpus studies of junior and senior high school English language
textbooks in Taiwan. Corpus analysis of the authorized junior and senior high school English
language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan can be summarized in the following categories (see
Table 2): (a) vocabulary in junior and senior high school (Hasegawa & Chujo, 2004;
Hasegawa, Chujo, & Nishigaki, 2008), (b) diachronic aspect in vocabulary in senior high
school (Chujo, Hasegawa, & Nishigaki, 2008; Chujo, Nishigaki, Hasegawa, & Ushiyama,
2008), (c) discussion on vocabulary from elementary school to senior high school (Chujo,
Nishigaki, Yoshimori, & Nishioka, 2007; Chujo, Yoshimori, Hasegawa, Nishigaki, &
Yamazaki, 2007), (d) vocabulary in senior high school textbooks and university entrance
examinations (Chujo, 2004; Chujo & Hasegawa, 2004; Kao, 2014; Matsuo, 2000; Tani,
2008), (e) vocabulary in overseas English textbooks (Ishikawa, 2008; Koike, 2008), and (f)
vocabulary instruction and materials based on corpus analysis (Nishigaki, Amano, Yoshimori,
& Chujo, 2011; Nishigaki, Chujo, & Kato, 2008).
Before English was introduced into elementary school, learners in Japan started
learning English in junior high school. In order to investigate how many words learners
learned from the authorized English language textbooks in junior and senior high school prior
to entering university as well as whether or not the authorized textbooks reflected the efficacy
of the Course of Study, Hasegawa and Chujo (2004) analyzed the junior and senior high
school English language textbooks in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. Textbook corpora were
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Table 2
Studies of Junior and Senior High School English Language Textbook Corpus in Japan
Studies
(a) Vocabulary in junior and senior high
school
Hasegawa & Chujo, 2004
Hasegawa, Chujo, & Nishigaki, 2008
(b) Diachronic aspect in vocabulary in
senior high school
Chujo, Hasegawa, & Nishigaki, 2008
Chujo, Nishigaki, Hasegawa, & Ushiyama,
2008
(c) Discussion on vocabulary from
elementary school to senior high
school
Chujo, Nishigaki, Yoshimori, & Nishioka,
2007
Chujo, Yoshimori, Hasegawa, Nishigaki, &
Yamazaki, 2007
(d) Vocabulary in senior high school
textbooks and university entrance
examinations
Chujo, 2004
Chujo & Hasegawa, 2004
Kao, 2014
Matsuo, 2000
Tani, 2008
(e) Vocabulary in overseas English
textbooks
Ishikawa, 2008
Koike, 2008
(f) Vocabulary instruction and materials
based on corpus analysis
Nishigaki, Amano, Yoshimori, & Chujo, 2011
Nishigaki, Chujo, & Kato, 2008
66
constructed based on New Horizon for junior high school textbooks and Unicorn for senior
high school textbooks. They analyzed vocabulary size and repetition. They then compared
textbook corpora with the corpora including both spoken and written English from five
genres: daily life, TOEIC and TOEFL tests, documents about tutorials and brochures for
study abroad, informative materials like news, newspapers, and magazines, and finally
interest areas such as movies and novels. These five genres were chosen because they
represent the language sample that a learner living in a global society might need (Hasegawa
& Chujo, 2004). The overall results showed that the tokens decreased from the 1980s to
2000s while the types increased. This also implied that the repetition of vocabulary
decreased. Especially for senior high school textbooks, the amount of repetition declined
from 15.7 times to 9.1 times. Hasegawa and Chujo (2004) concluded that with more types of
new vocabulary and less repetition in senior high school textbooks, it was difficult for
learners to acquire vocabulary effectively by studying with the textbooks. Moreover, in terms
of the coverage of the corpora based on the identified fields, although the coverage rate
increased slightly over the decades, only daily life English in spoken texts reached a 95%
coverage and novels in written text nearly reached 95%. Thus there is room for improvement
in providing a balanced selection of vocabulary (Hasegawa & Chujo, 2004).
Based on a similar research design, Hasegawa, Chujo, and Nishigaki (2008) compared
the junior and senior high school textbook corpora with a corpora based on practical
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materials. The difference is that they included five series of senior high school textbooks in
the textbook corpora. By adding more senior high school textbook series into the textbook
corpora, they found that when using the same junior high school textbook, different choices
of senior high school textbooks could lead to different vocabulary learning outcomes. The
results demonstrated the connection between junior and senior high school. Furthermore, the
results were also similar to other studies in that the textbook corpora did not cover 95% of the
corpora based on practical materials. It might be difficult to achieve the Course of Study’s
goal of developing learners’ communicative abilities when there is a lack of vocabulary for
daily life in the authorized English language textbooks (Hasegawa, Chujo, & Nishigaki,
2008).
By utilizing larger textbook corpora, Chujo, Hasegawa, and Nishigaki (2008) as well as
Chujo, Nishigaki, Hasegawa, and Uchiyama (2008) analyzed the vocabulary in 40 series
which contained 100 volumes of the authorized senior high school English language
textbooks in 1988 and 35 series which had 95 volumes of those in 2006. The textbook
corpora were compared with a BNC frequency word list developed by Chujo (2004), the
level of academic year in the United States, and the corpora based on practical language use.
From 1988 to 2006, both average types and tokens of the senior high school English
textbooks decreased and the amount of repetition also declined from 11.4 times to 8.7 times,
making consolidation is difficult. Compared with the BNC frequency list, there was a subtle
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increase in the vocabulary level from approximately the 3,000-word level in 1988 to
approximately the 3,500-word level in 2006. In terms of the level of academic year in the
United States, vocabulary in both 1988 and 2006 was approximately at the Grade 4 level on
average. It might not be proper to compare the EFL textbooks with the academic levels in the
United States due to the differences in learning environment between ENL and EFL
countries. The purpose of the study was to locate the level of EFL textbooks. As for the
coverage of practical corpora, the results of low coverage rate were similar to those in
Hasegawa and Chujo (2004) as well as in Hasegawa, Chujo, and Nishigaki (2008).
By analyzing the vocabulary in the authorized senior high school English language
textbooks on a large scale and longitudinally, several issues are identified. Firstly, with less
amount of words and repetition, it is difficult for learners to learn vocabulary effectively in
terms of consolidation. Secondly, due to the imbalanced and insufficient coverage among
various fields, it is hard to cultivate communicative abilities, which is one of the goals listed
in the Course of Study.
Since implementing English education in elementary school in Japan has become a
controversial issue, the amount and the types of words to learn have been discussed. In order
to consider the continuity of vocabulary learning from elementary school to senior high
school, Chujo, Yoshimori, Hasegawa, Nishigaki, and Yamazaki (2007) created a word list
based on 35 series with 95 volumes of the authorized senior high school English language
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textbooks in 2006. They proposed that this base list could be applied to materials
development and suggested that a comparison between textbooks used in different countries
was needed. In addition, Chujo, Nishigaki, Yoshimori, Nishioka (2007) discussed words that
need to be taught at elementary school, junior high school, and senior high school. The
discussion was based on a corpus analysis of five series which included 25 volumes of
teaching materials for elementary school, six series with 18 volumes of the authorized junior
high school English language textbooks, and 16 series which contained 48 volumes of the
authorized senior high school English language textbooks. They excluded the words that
repeatedly occur from elementary school to senior high school and developed a 1,288 basic
word list. They suggested that the basic word list could be applied to materials development
when taking the continuity of vocabulary from elementary school to senior high school into
consideration.
Besides the analysis of vocabulary in junior and senior high school English language
textbooks, comparisons between vocabulary in senior high school textbooks and that in
university entrance examinations have also been conducted. In order to examine the gap in
vocabulary between senior high school textbooks and university entrance examinations,
Matsuo (2000) compared seven series of the authorized senior high school English language
textbooks which contained 21 volumes with the vocabulary in the Center Test from 1991 to
1997 and the entrance examinations of 60 public, national, and private universities. The 60
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universities were divided into three groups by rank: upper, intermediate, and lower level. The
results showed that the coverage of the Center Test corpus did not reach 95%, the coverage of
entrance examinations of national, public, and private university also did not. As the
university ranking rose, the overlapping rate declined. This implied that using only the
authorized English language textbooks was insufficient when prepares learners for the
examinations. High-stake tests such as the university entrance examination have a large
influence on learners’ future, and learners make considerable efforts preparing for the
examinations. Matsuo (2000) suggested that since the purposes of the university entrance
examination were to evaluate whether or not learners had thoroughly studied the senior high
school textbooks and had the abilities to complete further learning in university, the difficulty
of vocabulary in the entrance examinations should be adjusted to more appropriate levels.
Chujo and Hasegawa (2004) examined the vocabulary level of junior and senior high
school textbooks as well as university entrance examinations by utilizing the difficulty levels
of academic year in the United States. Similar to the research design in Chujo, Hasegawa, and
Nishigaki’s (2008) study, they used the academic level as an index to locate the level of EFL
textbooks. They chose one set of the authorized junior and senior high school English
language textbooks. For the corpora of the university entrance examinations, the Center Test
from 1993 to 2002 as well as examinations of nine national universities and 17 private
universities were used to construct the examination corpora. The results showed that the
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readability of junior and senior high school textbooks was between the levels of Grade 8 and
Grade 9 in the United States. On the other hand, the readability of the Center Test was
approximately at the level of Grade 6.2 on average and that of the national and private
university entrance examinations was approximately at the level of Grade 9.5 on average.
Moreover, the coverage of the Center Test was 94.7% over ten years on average and the
coverage of national and private university examinations was 90.9 on average. The results
indicated that through studying English with the authorized junior and senior high school
English language textbooks, the vocabulary in textbooks was sufficient for learners to prepare
for the Center Test, but it might be difficult for learners to prepare for national and private
university entrance examinations (Chujo & Hasegawa, 2004). As suggested by Matsuo
(2000), Chujo and Hasegawa (2004) also proposed that the level of vocabulary in
examinations should be selected based on senior high school textbooks if the purpose of the
university entrance examination was to evaluate whether or not learners had learned during
the three years in senior high school.
In another study, Chujo (2004) examined the vocabulary level of the authorized junior
and senior high school English language textbooks, university entrance examinations such as
the Center Test as well as tests for national and private universities, and several English
proficiency tests like TOEIC, TOEFL, and Eiken. Eiken is an English proficiency test which
is widely used in Japan. According to Chujo (2004), both the authorized junior and senior
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high school English language textbooks and the Center Test had approximately 3,000 words.
The high-level national and private university entrance examinations included vocabulary
from the 3,000 word level to the 6,000 word level. Regarding Eiken, there were
approximately 2,800 to 3,000 words for the 2nd Grade, 5,800 to 6,800 words for the Pre-1st
Grade, and 8,200 words for the 1st Grade. In addition, TOEIC included about 3,800 to 4,100
words and TOEFL contained 5,900 to 6,400 words. It was reported that learners learn about
3,000 words from the textbooks through junior and senior high school. They could also
prepare for the Center Test by studying these textbooks. However, after they graduated from
senior high school, if learners wanted to pass the pre-1st Grade and the 1st Grade of Eiken or
obtain higher scores in TOEIC and TOEFL tests, they had to acquire more words during their
study in university (Chujo, 2004). Tani (2008) also compared the vocabulary in the Center
Test from 2002 to 2007 with the vocabulary in one set of the authorized senior high school
English language textbooks. The vocabulary in textbooks covered 91.2% of the Center Test.
He concluded that vocabulary in the authorized senior high school English textbooks was
appropriate in both size and level when preparing for the Center Test, but it might not be
sufficient for entrance examinations to national or private universities.
In Taiwan, Kao (2014) compared three sets of the authorized senior high school
English language textbooks with the university entrance examinations. Textbook corpora
were constructed from three publishing companies, San Min, Far East, and Lunteng. The
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university entrance examination corpora consisted of examinations from 2001 to 2014. Three
points summarize the results. First, in the 100 most frequent words of the textbook corpus,
67% were function words and 33% were contents words. In the 100 most frequent words of
the university entrance examinations, 60% were function words and 40% were content words.
The distribution of function words and content words in both the textbook and university
entrance examination corpora demonstrated that function words had a crucial role in language
use (Kao, 2014). Although the amount of the function words is smaller than content words in
nature, function words play key roles in both spoken and written texts. Second, the
overlapping rate of the textbook corpora and the university entrance examination corpora was
88.9% on average. Since the textbook corpora did not cover 95% of the university entrance
examination corpora, teachers and learners needed to use supplementary materials in order to
bridge the gap between these two corpora (Kao, 2014). Moreover, the insufficient amount of
vocabulary has become one of the reasons why learners go to cram schools. Third, the results
of comparisons between the textbook corpora and the GSL and the AWL showed that the
textbooks contain 1,915 words of the GSL and 492 words of the AWL. This contrasted with
the university entrance examinations which included 1,510 words of the GSL and 381 words
of the AWL. The textbook coverage was 96% in the GSL and 86% in the AWL. On the other
hand, the university entrance examinations coverage was 76% in the GSL and 67% in the
AWL. These results indicated that the senior high school textbooks contained more of the
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frequently used general and academic words while the university entrance examinations
included general and academic words that were above levels of the frequently used words.
Kao (2014) maintained that learners could be equipped with the general words by studying
the authorized textbooks, but they also needed to study extracurricular English magazines so
as to acquire more words on various topics.
To sum up, there are similarities and differences in the corpus analysis of the junior and
senior high school English language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan. In both countries,
vocabulary in the authorized senior high school English language textbooks provides what
learners need when preparing for university entrance examination to some extent. However,
due to varying difficulty levels of university entrance examinations, supplementary materials
are used in school and learners usually go to cram schools to bridge the gap between the
textbooks and the university entrance examinations. On the other hand, there are differences
in the research designs of corpus analysis in Japan and Taiwan. Because the Course of Study
in Japan is revised every ten years, a diachronic analysis of textbook corpora is utilized for
examining changes of vocabulary in the authorized English language textbooks. In addition,
the corpora also differ. Studies in Japan tend to compare textbook corpora with tailor-made
research corpora while studies in Taiwan tend to conduct comparisons based on existing word
lists. There are many ways to use corpus analysis, each with advantages and disadvantages.
The important point is to clarify the purposes of the study and the reasons for applying
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particular methods to a study.
In Japan and Taiwan, there are many studies on the vocabulary in the authorized
English language textbooks. However, comparisons between textbooks used in different
countries can also provide useful suggestions for materials development (Chujo, 2015;
Ishikawa, 2008; Koike, 2006). Ishikawa (2008) compared four sets of the authorized senior
high school English language textbooks in Japan with similar textbooks in South Korea. The
results indicated that the amount of vocabulary in Japan’s textbooks was rather small. Tono
(2008) compared the vocabulary in the junior and senior high school English language
textbooks in Japan with equivalent textbooks in China, Taiwan, and South Korea. Results
showed that the textbooks for junior high school in the other Asian counties contained more
than two to three times as much vocabulary as that in Japan’s textbooks. There were
approximately 1,000 words in Japan’s junior high school English textbooks while there were
approximately 2,000 to 3,000 words in the textbooks of the other Asian countries.
Furthermore, although Japan’s senior high school textbooks increased the amount of
vocabulary, the level of vocabulary was more difficult than the levels in other countries
(Tono, 2008). With less text in Japan’s textbooks, it is difficult for learners to consolidate new
words. This highlights the need for Japan to revise the authorized English language textbooks
in terms of vocabulary acquisition.
Corpus analysis not only can be utilized to analyze vocabulary in the textbooks but also
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can be applied to vocabulary instruction in the classroom. Based on the results of corpus
analysis of teaching materials in elementary school as well as those in junior and senior high
school, Nishigaki, Chujo, and Kato (2008) created “karuta” card games for senior high school
vocabulary. This is similar to Nishigaki, Chujo, and Kashimura’s (2007) study in which they
developed a “karuta” card game for elementary school vocabulary. They used the “karuta” to
teach ten target vocabulary to 13 senior high school students. They conducted a 40-minute
lesson twice. A pre-test and post-test were used to determine whether or not the students
acquired the target words. The students were asked to complete questionnaires that included
open-ended questions. Although finally there were only 11 participants which makes it
difficult to verify the statistical significance of the data, the results of the pre-and post-tests
showed that 70% of the target words were learned (Nishigaki, Chujo, & Kato, 2008).
Moreover, the students wrote that they thought the “karuta” could be a different way to learn
vocabulary. As suggested in Nishigaki, Chujo, & Kashimura (2007), the “karuta” card game
could be adapted to learners of different ages and with different cognitive abilities. Nishigaki,
Amano, Yoshimori, and Chujo (2011) also applied the results of corpus analysis to
vocabulary learning. They designed a data-driven learning (DDL) class for junior and senior
high school students. They selected 1,228 target words by analyzing vocabulary in the junior
and senior high school English language textbooks in China, Japan, Taiwan, and South
Korea. The DDL was inductive and consisted of warm-up, observation, practice, and use.
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Learners were provided with examples of sentences which contained the target words.
Through observation, learners had to guess how the words were used in texts. Nishigaki,
Amano, Yoshimori, Chujo (2011) conducted three interventions in junior and senior high
schools. The results indicated that students in the junior high school performed better in the
vocabulary tests. They noted that the reason why the senior high school participants did not
improve in the tests was that these students were not motivated to study.
In conclusion, studies on textbook corpus analysis in Taiwan tend to examine
vocabulary at separate learning stages. There is a lack of studies investigating vocabulary in
the authorized English language textbooks from elementary school to senior high school. On
the other hand, there are several studies on vocabulary in the authorized English language
textbooks in Japan. Because English was not a subject in elementary school in Japan,
previous studies mainly explored vocabulary in junior and senior high school English
language textbooks. Furthermore, due to the influence of the university entrance
examinations, both Japan’s and Taiwan’s earlier studies on vocabulary analyzed the
relationship between senior high school English language textbooks and university entrance
examinations. However, with the implementation of English education in elementary school
in Japan, analyzing vocabulary from elementary school to senior high school would provide
stakeholders with a clear picture of vocabulary teaching and learning at each stage. In
addition, a cross-national study would allow for a better understanding of materials
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development.
Learning strategies and materials development. Learning a second or foreign
language has become a universal phenomenon. Studies on second language acquisition show
that learning a foreign language is not as easy as learning one’s native language (Rubin,
1975). It is not always true that every second language learner would finally attain the same
level. There are learners who succeed in second language learning and those who fail.
Regarding this point, Rubin (1975) coined that term “good language learner” and discussed
strategies which would enable good language learners to achieve better learning outcomes
than other learners. Although aptitude, motivation, and opportunity have an important role in
learning, strategies which are teachable (Griffiths, 2003; Oxford, 1989; Rubin, 1975) have
attracted researchers’ and teachers’ attention. Numerous studies on learning strategies have
been conducted. In the following sections, the definitions and categories of learning
strategies, the effectiveness of strategy instruction, and the relation between learning
strategies and materials development will be illustrated.
Definitions and categories of learning strategies. Since the 1970s, studies on learning
strategies have been conducted, however, definitions of learning strategies are still
controversial (Cohen, 2007; Macaro, 2006; Oxford, 2017) because different researchers have
their own interpretation of learning strategies (Cohen, 2011; Gregersen & MacIntyre, 2013;
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Macaro, 2001; O’Malley & Chamot, 1990; Oxford, 1990). As Oxford (2017) has described
researching learning strategies is like an “unpruned garden” (p. 9) where various definitions
exist. Oxford (1990) defined learning strategies as “specific actions taken by the learner to
make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, and more transferrable to
new situations” (p. 8). O'Malley and Chamot (1990) defined learning strategies as “the
special thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn, or retain
new information (p. 1)”. Recently, Cohen (2011) provided a working definition of learning
strategies as “thought and actions, consciously chosen and operationalized by language
learners, to assist them in carrying out a multiplicity of tasks from the very onset of learning
to the most advanced levels of target-language performance” (p. 7). Gregersen and MacIntyre
(2013) maintained that learning strategies are “strategies, either consciously or semi-
consciously chosen by a language learner, operate somewhere on a continuum between being
intentionally deliberate and fully automatic, are purposeful and goal-directed and can be
enhanced through instruction” (pp. 148-149). There are many more varying definitions of
learning strategies. In an attempt to combine all essential factors of learning strategies,
Oxford (2017) provided the following encompassing definition:
L2 learning strategies are complex, dynamic thoughts and actions, selected and used by
learners with some degree of consciousness in specific contexts in order to regulate
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multiple aspects of themselves (such as cognitive, emotional, and social) for the
purposes of accomplishing language tasks, improving language performance or use,
and enhancing long-term proficiency. (p. 48)
Oxford (2017) highlighted other characteristics of learning strategies such as
teachability, flexibility, and creativity of use. Flexibility and creativity of use mean that
learning strategies can be combined in various ways according to different tasks and needs. In
terms of combining of learning strategies, Vandergrift (2003) compared this process to an
orchestra, whereby metacognitive strategies were like the conductor, directing the appropriate
application of cognitive strategies in order to complete the tasks. Macaro (2006) also used the
idea of the orchestration of clusters of strategies, claiming that this process was more
effective than linear strategy use. Adding a contemporary point to strategy combination,
Oxford (2017) suggested that learners should take contexts into consideration when they
actively decide which learning strategies to combine. This orchestration reflects learners’
abilities to identify what they need for the tasks and to apply the learning strategies that best
relate to the specific contexts. This type of selection and analysis is also one of the purposes
of strategy instruction. Details of strategy instruction will be illustrated in the next section.
Considering the variances of the definitions, it is understandable that there has been no
single definition of learning strategies in the past. Learning strategies include so many
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elements that it is difficult to synthesize all of them. However, there are commonalities.
Based on the definitions of learning strategies in previous studies, learning strategies may be
defined as what learners think and do in order to complete language tasks or to achieve the
learning goal. Moreover, learning strategies can be taught explicitly and can be transferred to
various tasks.
Nevertheless, the most controversial point of learning strategies is whether or not they
are utilized consciously or unconsciously (Cohen, 2007). Drawing a clear line between
consciousness and unconsciousness is not easy. The various definitions indicate that learning
strategies are both actions and thoughts. As a result, it is difficult for teachers and researchers
to observe learners’ use of learning strategies (Griffiths, 2003; Oxford, 2017). Sometimes
learners utilize strategies such as looking up a word in a dictionary or taking notes which are
observable, but at other times they employ strategies such as planning the next step or using
background knowledge which teachers and researchers cannot observe. The difficulty of
observation has motivated researchers to develop various ways to assess learning strategies
such as verbal reports, diaries, dialogue journals, and computer tracking (Cohen & Scott,
1996). In addition, according to Gregersen and MacIntyre (2013), learners might consciously
choose when and what kinds of learning strategies to employ at first, but then the process
might become automatic through training and experience. Concerning this point, Oxford
(2017) commented that when learning strategies are used unconsciously, they then become
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habitual.
While many researchers acknowledge the role of learning strategies in language
learning, there are also criticisms of learning strategies (Grenfell & Macaro, 2007). For
example, Dörnyei (2005) rejected the notion of learning strategies due to the lack of a clear
definition. He also criticized the overlap of learning strategy taxonomies, and the design of a
frequently used research instrument, Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL)
(Oxford, 1990). Later, because learning strategies were still attractive to researchers and
teachers, Dörnyei and Ryan (2015) repeated the criticism of learning strategies for similar
reasons. Oxford (2017) has continued to advocate learning strategies. Firstly, through a meta-
analysis of the definitions of learning strategies provided by researchers over the years,
Oxford claimed there was evidence of learning strategies and suggested an encompassing
definition which included all features of learning strategies. Secondly, concerning the
learning strategy taxonomies, Oxford recognized that there were overlapping points among
taxonomies. She explained that it was difficult to completely categorize learning strategies
because of the fluctuation in strategy use. A strategy might function differently when learners
apply it to different tasks and as a result, a strategy could exist in more than one category
(Oxford, 2017). Thirdly, regarding research instrument, in addition to quantitative methods
such as questionnaires, qualitative or mixed-methods research designs which take cultural
and personal contexts into consideration are recommended for future studies on learning
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strategies. In brief, due to the complexity of learning strategies, there is much discussion
among researchers about the nature and types of learning strategies. However, learning
strategies are still acknowledged by many teachers and researchers because they promote
effective language learning (Grenfell & Macaro, 2007).
Differences in definitions have resulted in various taxonomies of learning strategies.
Cohen (2011) pointed out that there are several ways to classify strategies. First, strategies
could be divided by skill areas such as strategies for listening, reading, writing, and speaking.
For example, the use of imagery strategy and take note strategy could be applied to listening
and writing while the use of gesture strategy related to speaking and summarize strategy
related to writing (Oxford, 1990). Second, based on different functions, strategies could be
classified into four categories: metacognitive, cognitive, social, and affective strategies.
According to the classifications of O'Malley and Chamot (1990) and Oxford (1990), the
analyze strategy is a cognitive strategy which enables learners to analyze linguistic elements
during a task. The set goals strategy and plan strategy are examples of metacognitive
strategies which assist learners to control their learning process. The ask question strategy
and cooperate with peers strategy are social strategies that increase the chances of practicing
in the target language. Affective strategies such as the use laughter strategy or make positive
statements strategy can lower learner anxiety. A third approach to classifying strategies is to
acknowledge there are language learning strategies and language use strategies. There are
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strategies which learners utilize for learning linguistic knowledge such as grammar and
vocabulary as well as strategies which learners employ to use language in different situations.
Vocabulary learning strategies are examples for language learning strategies. For instance,
strategies such as guessing from the context, using mental images, and rote repetitions could
assist learners acquire vocabulary. Not only general vocabulary, vocabulary learning
strategies enable learners to effectively acquire low frequency vocabulary as well when they
encounter low frequency words (Nation, 1995; Schmitt, 1997). In contrast, language use
strategies include retrieval strategies, rehearsal strategies, coping strategies, and
communication strategies (Cohen, 2011). Similar to the complexity of defining learning
strategies, the varieties of strategy taxonomies can cause confusion when discussing learning
strategies. However, it is important to categorize learning strategies in order to conduct
research (Oxford, 2017).
Generally, there are four categories which are frequently used in studies on learning
strategies: metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies, social strategies, and affective
strategies (Chamot, 2009; Cohen, 2011; Dörnyei, 2005, Dörnyei & Ryan, 2015; Gregersen &
MacIntyre, 2013; O'Malley & Chamot, 1990; Oxford, 1990). Metacognitive strategies assist
learners to be aware of the learning process through planning, monitoring, evaluating, and
managing their learning. Among the four categories, metacognitive strategies are high-order
strategies as they control learners’ use of language as well as use of strategy (Dörnyei &
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Ryan, 2015; Oxford, 2012, 2017). For instance, learners use metacognitive strategies to plan
the steps for language tasks, prepare the linguistic knowledge they need for the tasks, monitor
their language performance during the tasks, and after the tasks, these strategies can be used
to evaluate the learners’ performances. Metacognitive strategies can also be employed by
learners to examine their strategy use. At the initial stage of a task, learners use the plan
strategy to list the kinds of strategies they need for completing the task. During the task,
learners monitor whether or not the strategies they choose are effective and useful. Upon
completing the task, learners evaluate the strategies and adjust their strategy use for the next
task. In other words, metacognitive strategies enables learners not only to develop language
proficiency but also to use strategies. This indicates that learners are able to control their own
learning and thus become autonomous learners (Chamot, 2009).
Cognitive strategies assist in information processing when learners receive input and
produce output. When learners receive input from materials, in order to transfer the
information to knowledge they can employ cognitive strategies such as the use image
strategy, repeating strategy, and the find/apply patterns strategy can be applied to processing
and consolidating linguistic information. Social strategies such as asking others to clarify
questions and cooperate with peers can be employed to establish interactive communication,
thereby increasing the amount of practice in the L2. Social strategies are important in
communicative language teaching or task-based language teaching because the interaction
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between learners not only facilitates learners’ language proficiency but also provides them
with opportunities to learn from each other. On the one hand, learners can teach others words
or grammar items as well as the background knowledge for a task; on the other hand, through
interaction with peers, they can also share effective strategies thus stimulating the learning
process. Every learner experiences emotional changes when learning a foreign language.
Affective strategies can help learners control emotional situations. For example, when
learners feel anxious, they can talk to themselves to reduce the anxiety.
In brief, due to the dynamic nature and flexibility of learning strategies, it is difficult to
have a single, clear definition of learning strategies. This weakness usually becomes a target
of criticism. However, learning strategies are valued as useful for teachers, learners and
researchers as they are seen to be effective. There are many ways to group learning strategies
according to different purposes. Among the categories of learning strategies, metacognitive
strategies are most essential because these enable learners to become autonomous when
trained to use the plan-monitor-evaluate cycle (Chamot, 2009; Gregersen & MacIntyre, 2013;
Oxford, 2012). The purposes and effectiveness of strategy instruction will be demonstrated in
the following section.
Effectiveness of strategy instruction in various contexts. A common feature of
learning strategies’ definitions is that strategies can be taught (Cohen, 2011; Griffiths, 2003;
Oxford, 1989; Rubin, 1975). Since learning strategies are teachable, strategy instruction has
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been discussed in various contexts. According to Benson (2011), the term “learner training” is
frequently used in European contexts while “strategy training” or “strategy instruction” is
more common in North American context. When researchers began investigating the kinds of
learning strategies that good language learners employ, they found that strategies which are
effective for some learners might not be successfully employed by other learners. The
effectiveness of strategies is influenced by variables such as learners’ proficiency levels,
learning contexts, task difficulty, and individual differences (Benson, 2011). Hence, rather
than teaching some particular effective strategies, teaching learners how to apply various
strategies to different tasks has become the primary goal in learning strategy instruction.
Strategy instruction refers to explicitly teaching learners knowledge of learning strategies and
tasks, ways of applying learning strategies appropriately in order to achieve the learning
goals, and enabling learners to become active and responsible for their own learning (Cohen,
2011; Ellis & Shintani, 2013). Through strategy instruction, learners not only acquire
knowledge of learning strategies but also develop autonomy.
The concept of strategy instruction has altered the roles of teachers and learners in the
classrooms. Traditionally, in a teacher-centered classroom, teachers provide knowledge and
instruction and learners follow the instructions passively. However, this traditional pattern of
classroom management is inappropriate for teachers and learners when implementing strategy
instruction. In a learner-centered strategy instruction classroom, learners are informed that
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they have an active role in learning and they are required to be independent and flexible
(Benson, 2011; Little, 1995). Teachers also change in their roles. They provide learners with
knowledge of learning strategies as well as opportunities to experience and practice using
strategies. In other words, teachers not only lecture about learning strategies, they work
together with learners through the process of strategy training. Moreover, because not all
teachers themselves have experience in strategy instruction, they need to be prepared by
teacher training programs (Little, 1995).
English education is changing and the idea of lifelong learning is promoted in the
curriculum guidelines in Japan and Taiwan. Learners need to be independent and responsible
for their learning. Therefore, the idea of “learning how to learn” is considered as one of the
ways to cultivate autonomous learners (Cohen, 2011) and this can be implemented in the
curriculum guidelines (Benson, 2011). There are several features of being autonomous
learners. These learners are able to detect their weakness and strengths, to direct themselves
through tasks, to develop knowledge and use of learning strategies, to gain task knowledge,
and to have the ability to monitor, evaluate, and transfer strategies to appropriate contexts
(Cohen, 2011). In order to assist learners develop their autonomy, strategy instruction aims at
cultivating learners’ metacognition. Metacognitive knowledge can be divided into three parts:
personal knowledge, task knowledge, and strategy knowledge (Flavell, 1979; Wenden, 1998).
Furthermore, Chamot (2009) stated that metacognition includes declarative knowledge and
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procedural knowledge. According to Chamot (2009), declarative knowledge includes self-
knowledge, world knowledge, task knowledge, and strategy knowledge; in contrast,
procedural knowledge includes the ability to plan, monitor, identify problems, and evaluate.
Firstly, learners have to understand themselves, for example, what kinds of learning strategies
they already know and use when completing tasks. They also have to know about the world
which means learners’ background knowledge and their personal experiences. Task
knowledge refers to the goals, the classification of the task, and the demands of the task
(Wenden, 1995). Strategy knowledge implies that learners need to know various types of
learning strategies and the situations where to apply them. Besides these kinds of declarative
knowledge, learners also have to know when, how, where to use learning strategies and to
evaluate their effectiveness through training and experience. Some pedagogical suggestions
for strategy instruction have been proposed. Wenden (1986a) suggested that activities which
help learners think about their metacognitive skills could lead to increasing control of
learning. By acquiring declarative and procedural knowledge, learners’ metacognition could
be cultivated. Moreover, Wenden (1986b) has developed the criteria for teachers and learners
when implementing strategy instruction with language teaching and learning. Although the
criteria were discussed based on ESL settings, the universality of strategy training could be
applied to various contexts. These criteria include whether or not the teachers explain the
importance of strategy instruction, present knowledge of various learning strategies, have
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experience in strategy training, and evaluate learners’ attitudes toward strategy instruction,
skill acquisition, and task improvement. When deciding to focus on strategy instruction,
issues such as how teachers and learners adjust their roles to this kind of instruction in the
classroom and ways to conduct strategy instruction need to be considered.
As the concept of learning strategies has become popular, many programs promoting
strategy instruction have been developed. Macaro (2001) developed a learning strategies
training circle to help learners become familiar with metacognitive strategies. He
recommended that learners write down the kinds of strategies they use and compare those
with their peers. He emphasized that explicit instruction and the repetition of exposure to
strategies are crucial for training. Oxford (2012) also highlighted the importance of explicit
strategy instruction. Therefore, Rubin, Chamot, Harris, and Anderson (2007) suggested
strategy-based instruction (SBI) for language learning. Integrating both language and learning
strategies, the instruction differed: for young learners and for older learners. Young learners
are those from six to seventeen years old who study in school settings. The researchers
determined that young learners might think strategies are too abstract to understand at the
outset of the instruction. However, teachers could elicit what the young learners know about
strategies as well as identify the kinds of strategies they have already used for different tasks.
This would enable the learners to be aware of their learning processes. Furthermore, the
researchers emphasized the “think-pair-share” (p. 146) in which learners first think about
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strategies by themselves, next they work in pair to discuss ideas, and then finally share the
ideas with the class. This “think-pair-share” approach would not only enable learners to
become aware of their own strategies but also would provide opportunities to learn about
their classmates’ strategy use, thus deepening the learning process. Another proposal is that of
Pinter (2006) who suggested that a “plan-do-review” cycle could be introduced from
elementary school in order to cultivate young learners’ metacognitive abilities. By using
activities which require learners to think about the steps needed to complete a task and to
evaluate performance, learners would have opportunities to be engaged in strategy training.
Another example is that of Chamot (2009) who proposed the Cognitive Academic language
Learning Approach (CALLA) which integrates learning strategies with academic content.
When applied to second language acquisition, learning strategies could be taught and learned
by doing tasks and simultaneously learners could develop their language proficiency.
Besides introducing learning strategies to learners and providing them with occasions
for practice, learning how to combine a cluster of strategies is also an essential part of
strategy instruction. Macaro (2006) maintained that learners’ use of a series of learning
strategies did not necessarily lead to successful learning. The orchestration of learning
strategies which refers to high levels of metacognition could illustrate learners’ control of
performance in various tasks. Chamot (2009) also suggested that it is better to combine
various strategies according to different tasks. In order to become competent to orchestrate
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learning strategies, learners have to acquire metacognitive knowledge which includes
awareness of person, task, and strategy. With strategy instruction and training, learners
become autonomous which means that they have the ability to react to the tasks and make
judgements on what kinds of strategies to use. Furthermore, autonomous learners have the
ability to direct their own learning through life without teachers’ assistance (Cohen, 2011).
As illustrated in the previous sections, one of the goals of English education in both
Japan and Taiwan is to cultivate autonomous learners. Strategy instruction could be applied to
the classroom in order to achieve this goal. The CAN-DO Lists in Japan and the Competence
Indicators in Taiwan are the means to implement strategy instruction. CAN-DO Lists and the
Competence Indicators are can-do descriptors which list the attainment goals in reception,
production and interaction skills. Strategies play important roles in achieving these can-do
descriptors because they are the bridges which between learners’ competence and
communicative activities (Council of Europe, 2001). Can-do descriptors indicate the goals of
communicative activities. Learners evaluate their competence by checking what they can and
cannot do. Oxford (2017) comments that can-do statements and strategies support learners to
go through the process of self-regulation. For instance, metacognitive strategies guide
learners to control their learning processes as well as strategy use. In addition, cognitive
strategies, social strategies, and affective strategies support learners to complete
communicative activities.
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In Japan, together with the changes in the Course of Study, CAN-DO lists are designed
for setting learning goals and doing assessment (MEXT, 2011). CAN-DO lists could be
applied to not only setting the goals of the academic year but also setting the goals of each
lesson. These lists could also be applied to lesson design. Using CAN-DO lists includes the
process of goal setting and evaluation and this reflects the use of metacognitive strategies,
thereby enabling learners to control their own learning (Ozeki, 2013). Moreover, due to the
need for various means of assessments, CAN-DO lists could be combined with the use of
different forms of assessment that assess different language skills (Ozeki, 2018).
On the other hand, the Competence Indicators in Taiwan’s curriculum guidelines were
developed based on CEFR (Cheung, 2012). The Competence Indicators have been the basis
for teachers and learners at school to assess the goals of English classes (Wu, 2012). Learners
from elementary school to university level are required to reach certain levels corresponding
to CEFR levels. However, Cheung (2012) claimed that there are mismatches between ideal
and real contexts for young learners. Cheung indicated that although the can-do statements of
A1/A2 state describe that learners are able to watch English TV news channels, young
learners at A1/A2 levels in Taiwan do not have much experience in watching such news
programs because the activity is far beyond children’s mental ability. Therefore, when
implementing the can-do statements especially with young learners, levels of cognitive
development should be considered.
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Learning strategies and teaching materials around the world. In order to conduct
strategy instruction, materials are important for both teachers and learners. However, Wenden
(2002) commented that there is a lack of materials and activities for strategy instruction and
this might make it difficult for teachers to conduct strategy training. Gregersen and MacIntyre
(2013) pointed out that embedding learning strategies in daily class materials and tasks would
be effective for teachers when conducting strategy instruction in class. According to Cohen
(2011), there could be two main ways to introduce learning strategies into the classroom. The
first would be to include learning strategies explicitly in the textbook and the second one
would be to introduce learning strategies implicitly in the tasks or activities in the textbooks.
There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. For example, since strategy
instruction is recommended to be conducted explicitly, presenting strategies explicitly in the
materials could reinforce the effect of raising awareness. Furthermore, learners might not be
aware of learning strategies if they were implicitly included in the textbooks. Cohen (2011)
noted that learners who are familiar with strategy knowledge may recognize learning
strategies which are implicitly included whereas learners who know little about strategies
might not identify learning strategies in the textbooks. Moreover, teachers have to possess
sufficient knowledge of learning strategies in order to adapt the content in the textbooks to
learners’ situations (Cohen, 2011).
With less focus on materials for learning strategies, there are only a few studies on
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learning strategies and teaching materials (Hajer, Meestringa, Park, & Oxford, 1996; Kuzuya,
2014; Sinclair & Ellis, 1992). Sinclair and Ellis (1992) analyzed eight EFL coursebooks to
examine how learning strategies were introduced in those materials. The criteria included
explicitness, variety, accessibility, self-assessment and monitoring, as well as the combination
of metacognitive and cognitive strategies. The results indicated that although the coursebooks
attempted to introduce learning strategies, the explicitness of learning process was
insufficient. Hajer, Meestringa, Park, and Oxford (1996) analyzed the learning strategies
included in second and foreign language textbooks in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom,
and the United States based on Oxford’s (1990) strategy taxonomies. The results showed that
cognitive strategies were the most frequently used strategies in the textbooks and
metacognitive strategies were the next. The researchers commented that the textbooks in
various countries include different strategies and the strategy use in the textbooks was
influenced by the objectives of national curriculum guidelines. Moreover, although learning
strategies could be applied to all four language skills, strategy use in textbooks emphasized
receptive skills, especially reading (Hajer, Meestringa, Park, & Oxford, 1996). The results
also indicated that the metacognitive strategies which support learners to self-evaluate were
limited. They concluded that materials development based on learning strategies is important
in order to cultivate autonomous learners.
In a recent study in Japan, Kuzuya (2014) analyzed six authorized senior high school
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English textbooks based on Chamot’s (2009) learning strategy categories. The results of the
textbook analysis showed that the use sound strategy and the find/apply patterns strategy
were the frequently used strategies and there was a lack of metacognitive strategies. Although
the authorized textbooks were intended to achieve the goals of the curriculum guidelines, the
lack of metacognitive strategies meant senior high school English teachers have to develop
activities in the textbooks by themselves in order to realize the objectives of the Course of
Study.
There are only a few studies on the relation between learning strategies and materials.
In order to examine to what extent that strategy instruction is integrated in the textbooks in
Japan and Taiwan, further studies analyzing learning strategies in textbooks are needed.
Moreover, by analyzing textbooks from elementary school to senior high school, the
continuity of strategy instruction could be clarified.
Applications to the present study
As a result of major changes in the curriculum guidelines in Japan, materials
development is essential. Materials are important for both teachers and learners because
teachers prepare classes based on the textbooks and learners study with textbooks at school
and at home. Moreover, as vocabulary and learning strategies are important elements in
language learning, these play key roles in achieving the goals of the curriculum guidelines in
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Japan and Taiwan. The present study aims at collecting data for materials development of the
authorized English language textbooks for elementary school, junior high school, and senior
high school in Japan through conducting a cross-national analysis of textbooks in Japan and
Taiwan. The study focuses on examining vocabulary in the authorized English language
textbooks, identifying learning strategies in the textbook activities, and investigating the
continuity of materials development from elementary school to senior high school. In order to
achieve these purposes, a corpus analysis of vocabulary in the textbooks and an analysis of
strategies in the activities based on Chamot’s (2009) strategy taxonomy are conducted. In
addition, through the textbook analysis, the efficacy of the curriculum guidelines in Japan and
Taiwan can be clarified.
There are three aspects that this study investigated.
1. Does the vocabulary in the authorized English language textbooks from elementary
school to senior high school in Japan and Taiwan reflect the goals of the curriculum
guidelines?
2. Do the activities in the authorized English language textbooks from elementary
school to senior high school include learning strategies that conform to the
objectives of the curriculum guidelines?
3. Do the authorized English language textbooks support learners to achieve the goals
of English education from elementary school to senior high school in Japan and
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Taiwan?
The significance of this study is that it examines two important elements of textbook
contents: vocabulary in the textbooks and learning strategies in the activities. The analysis of
vocabulary and learning strategies in the authorized English language textbooks can indicate
whether or not the textbooks support teachers and learners to achieve the goals of English
education. Furthermore, this study investigates the authorized English language textbooks not
only from a cross-national perspective but also in terms of the continuity between each stage,
from elementary school to senior high school. Therefore, the development of materials could
be facilitated by the horizontal and vertical approaches.
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CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
In this chapter, research questions, materials for data analysis, the procedures for data
collection, and data analysis will be illustrated. The purposes of this study are to investigate
the vocabulary and the learning strategies in the authorized English language textbooks from
elementary school to senior high school in Japan and Taiwan as well as to examine whether
or not the authorized textbooks reflect the objectives of the Course of Study in Japan and the
curriculum guidelines such as Grades 1-9 English Curriculum Guidelines and General Senior
High School English Curriculum Guidelines in Taiwan. In order to accomplish the purposes,
there are six research questions.
Research questions
1. How many words are introduced in the authorized English language textbooks from
elementary school to senior high school in Japan and Taiwan?
2. What are the differences in high-frequency words in the authorized English language
textbooks between Japan and Taiwan from elementary school to senior high school?
3. What are the differences in overlapping rate between the textbook corpora in Japan and
Taiwan as well as the NGSL and the NAWL?
4. What are the differences in learning strategies in the authorized English language
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textbooks in Japan and Taiwan from elementary school to senior high school?
5. Do the learning strategies in the activities of the authorized English language textbooks
conform to the objectives of the Course of Study in Japan and the curriculum guidelines
such as the Grades 1-9 English Curriculum Guidelines and General Senior High School
English Curriculum Guidelines in Taiwan?
6. What kinds of suggestions on vocabulary and learning strategies for the authorized
English language textbooks from elementary school to senior high school could be made?
Materials
The materials utilized for textbooks analysis are the authorized English language
textbooks from elementary school to senior high school in Japan and Taiwan. There are 22
textbooks in total for Japan and 60 textbooks in total for Taiwan. The title of textbooks and
publishers in Japan and Taiwan are listed in Table 3.
In Japan, English is currently taught as a subject in junior and senior high school and is
introduced as foreign language activities from Grade 3 in elementary school. The authorized
English language textbooks for junior and senior high school are published by various
publishers. Three series of frequently used junior and senior high school English textbooks
were chosen for textbook analysis in this study. There are New Horizon by Tokyo Shoseki,
New Crown by Sanseido, and Sunshine by Kairyudo for junior high school textbooks (The
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Table 3
The authorized English language textbooks used for analysis in Japan and Taiwan
Japan Volumes Publishers Taiwan Publishers Volumes
Elementary school Let’s Try! 2 MEXT Hello! Kids Kang Hsuan 8
We Can! 2 MEXT Dino on the Go! Han Lin 8
Story.com Hess 8
Junior high school New Horizon 3 Tokyo Shoseki English Joysound 6
New Crown 3 Sanseido English Kang Hsuan 6
Sunshine 3 Kairyudo English Nan i 6
Senior high school Crown 3 Sanseido English Far East 6
All Aboard! 3 Tokyo Shoseki English Lung Teng 6
Grove 3 Buneido English San Min 6
Total 22 60
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Nekki, 2015). For senior high school, according to Tokyo Metropolitan Office of Education,
Curriculum and Guidance Division’s (2014) report on adoption rate, three series which are
frequently used from the first to the third year in senior high school were selected for analysis.
There are two subjects for high school English classes: English Communication and English
Expression. Textbooks for English Communication were selected. They are Crown by
Sanseido, All Aboard! by Tokyo Shoseki, and Grove by Buneido. Although the adoption rate
of senior high school textbooks varies from prefecture to prefecture, the selection of these
three series could demonstrate data of textbooks designed for different levels. As for
elementary school, because English is not currently introduced as a subject, there are no
authorized English language textbooks for elementary school. The teaching materials
distributed by MEXT, Let’s Try! for Grades 3 and 4 as well as We Can! for Grades 5 and 6
were used for the textbook analysis.
On the other hand, in Taiwan, English is taught as a subject nationwide from Grade 3
in elementary school to senior high school. Three series of frequently used authorized English
language textbooks were chosen for analysis (Kao, 2014; Tseng, 2008). Regarding the
textbooks for elementary school English classes, on the one hand, English is introduced as a
subject from Grade 3 in elementary school across the country; on the other hand, some cities
such as Taipei and Hsinchu start English classes from Grade 1 in elementary school.
Therefore, there are numerous authorized English language textbooks developed for each
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need. The adoption rate of textbooks also varies among cities and areas. The authorized
English language textbooks which are designed for nationwide implementation from Grade 3
and the ones which were available for the author at the time of textbook collection were
collected. For elementary school, Hello! Kids by Kang Hsuan, Dino on the Go! by Han Lin,
and Story. com by Hess were used for analysis. Junior high school textbooks published by
Joysound, Kang Hsuan, and Nan-I and senior high school textbooks published by Far East,
Lung Teng, and San Min were utilized for the textbook analysis. In Taiwan, each semester
has one volume of a textbook so there are two volumes for one academic year. On the other
hand, teachers and learners use one volume for one academic year in Japan. This is the reason
why there are differences in the number of textbooks between Japan and Taiwan.
Data collection
In order to investigate which vocabulary is introduced in the textbooks and what types
of learning strategies are included in the activities, two kinds of data collection were adopted.
The first, textbook corpus construction, collected data about vocabulary in the authorized
English language textbooks. The second, learning strategies identification, identified learning
strategies occurring in the textbooks. The procedures of the two kinds of data collection are
demonstrated as follows:
Firstly, to construct a textbook corpus, an operational definition was used in this study
because it is important to decide the parts to be included in a textbook corpus when
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conducting a corpus analysis. In this study, the operational definition of textbook corpus was
to include the main reading text of each lesson from elementary school to senior high school
textbooks. For junior and senior high school, the texts of activities in each lesson as well as
the appendixes to the textbooks such as word lists and grammar explanations were not
included in the textbook corpus. For elementary school, in Taiwan, because the main reading
text is introduced in a dialogue, the length of the reading text in each lesson is short. In order
to reflect the vocabulary selection in the elementary school English language textbooks, the
words and sentences used in the activities in each lesson were included in the textbook corpus.
The appendixes such as word lists and activity worksheets were not included in the textbook
corpus. In Japan, because English teaching in elementary school mainly focuses on listening
and speaking, there was only a limited amount of English texts in Let’s Try! and We Can!. In
order to reflect the vocabulary that learners are exposed to, the texts of the listening scripts in
the teacher’s books were included in the textbook corpus. Based on this operational definition,
the texts were typed or scanned and converted into text files by Optical Character
Recognition software program. The files were named by the volumes of the textbooks and
were edited by text editor software program. The code of text files were converted into
UTF-8 in order to fit the software format for corpus analysis.
Table 4 shows the number of lessons from Grade 3 to Grade 12. In this study, from the
perspective of continuity, the academic year of junior high school is marked as Grade 7 to
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Table 4
Number of lessons by academic year from elementary school to senior high school
Japan Taiwan
Elementary school Let’ Try! We Can! Dino on the Go! Hello! kids Story.com
Grade 3 9 8 10 10
Grade 4 9 8 10 10
Grade 5 9 8 10 10
Grade 6 9 8 9 9
Junior high school New Crown New Horizon Sunshine Joysound Kang Hsuan Nan – I
Grade 7 9 11 11 17 17 17
Grade 8 8 7 12 18 18 18
Grade 9 7 6 9 15 15 15
Senior high school All Aboard! Crown Grove Far East Lung Teng San Min
Grade 10 12 10 10 24 24 24
Grade 11 11 10 10 24 24 24
Grade 12 7 10 26 20 20 20
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Grade 9 and the academic year of senior high school is marked as Grade 10 to Grade 12.
Regarding the number of lessons in the authorized English language textbooks, in Taiwan, the
numbers of lessons in junior and senior high school are the same among the different
publishers which indicates consistency. For elementary school, Hello! Kids and Story.com
consist of the same number of lessons while Dino on the Go! has a different arrangement of
lessons. On the other hand, in Japan, except for MEXT’s publications Let’s Try and We Can
which contain the same number of lessons in each volume, the authorized English language
textbooks for junior and senior high school published by various publishers show a variety of
lesson arrangement. When English becomes a subject in elementary school in 2020, how
publishers will arrange the lessons in the authorized elementary school English language
textbooks would need to be addressed. For junior and senior high school, the number of
lessons were the same among different textbook series in Taiwan whereas those differed
among textbook series in Japan.
Secondly, learning strategies which occur in the activities were identified based on
Chamot’s (2009) strategy taxonomy. Through the CALLA framework, learners not only
acquire English language but are also trained to use learning strategies. Therefore, CALLA
was used in this study because it is task-based which complies with the teaching approaches
advocated in Japan and Taiwan. Chamot (2009) divided learning strategies into two
categories: metacognitive strategies and task-based strategies. Under the task-based strategies,
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she further created four sub-categories: use what you know strategies, use your senses
strategies, use your organizational skills strategies, and use a variety of resources strategies.
Based on Chamot’s categorization, there are three categories of learning strategies in this
study: metacognitive strategies, task-based strategies, and social/affective strategies. Table 5
lists the categories and the descriptions of learning strategies which were utilized for analysis
in this study. The cooperate strategy and self-talk strategy were included in the
social/affective category because the cooperate strategy deals with interaction with others
which implies a social element. The self-talk strategy focuses on the control of emotions
which infers an affective aspect.
The activities in each lesson were analyzed based on the strategy taxonomy. According
to the descriptions of the instructions for each activity, learning strategies which learners
might employ to complete the task were identified. For example, there is a warm-up activity
in which learners talk about some famous singers and the experiences of going to a concert
and then share their ideas with their classmates. In this activity, the use background
knowledge strategy, personalize strategy, and cooperate strategy were identified. Because it is
possible that a cluster of learning strategies is employed during the activities (Cohen, 2007;
Oxford, 2017), more than one learning strategy could be identified in one activity based on
the task. Furthermore, strategy identification also reflects the concept of task knowledge
which includes the purpose of the task and the demand of the task. Strategies which are
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Table 5
Categories and Description of Learning Strategies
Strategy Description
Metacognitive strategies
Plan/organize Set goals or plan how to accomplish the task.
Monitor Check the progress on the task or check comprehension and
production when you use language.
Evaluate Assess how well you have performed or how well you have
used learning strategies.
Manage your own
learning
Arrange conditions that help you learn or focus your attention
on the task.
Task-based strategies
Use what you know
Use background
knowledge
Think about and use what you already know to help you do the
task.
Make inferences Use context to figure out meaning or read between lines and
listen to chunks of language printed lines.
Make predictions Anticipate information to come or make logical guess about
what will happen in a written or oral text.
Personalize Relate your life experiences, beliefs, and feelings to the task.
Transfer/use cognates
Substitute/paraphrase
Use your senses
Use images
Use sounds
Use your kinesthetic sense
Use your organizational
skills
Find/apply patterns
Classify/sequence
Use selective attention
Take notes
Apply your linguistic knowledge of your native language to the
target language or recognize cognates.
Use synonym or descriptive phrase for unknown words or
expressions.
Use or create an actual or mental image to understand
information; use or draw a picture or diagram.
Say or read aloud a word, sentence to help your understanding;
sound out or vocalize.
Act out a role or use real objects to help you remember words.
Apply or recognize grammar rules.
Categorize words or ideas according to attributes.
Focus on specific information, structures, key words, phrases,
or ideas.
Write down important words and ideas while listening or
reading or list ideas or words to include in speaking or writing.
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Use graphic organizers
Summarize
Access information
sources
Social/affective strategies
Cooperate
Self-talk
Use or create visual representations of important concepts.
Create a mental, oral, or written summary of information.
Use the dictionary, the Internet, and other reference materials.
Work with others to complete tasks, build confidence or give
and receive feedback.
Reduce your anxiety by reminding yourself of your progress
and goal.
Note. This table is based on Chamot (2009).
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needed in order to complete the task were identified. In the following paragraphs, examples
of learning strategies in the activities are introduced.
Firstly, there are four metacognitive strategies: plan/organize strategy, monitor strategy,
evaluate strategy, and manage your own learning strategy. An activity which shows the steps
to complete the task was identified as the plan/organize strategy. Self-evaluation or peer
evaluation was recognized as the evaluate strategy. Secondly, for use what you know
strategies, activities which require learners’ background knowledge and personal experiences
were identified as the use background knowledge strategy and personalize strategy. The make
inferences strategy appeared in reading or listening comprehension activities which require
learners to guess the meaning of vocabulary in reading or listening passages or to infer the
implication of passages by reading between the lines or listening to chunks of language
printed lines. Thirdly, when there is a picture or an image used for memorizing new
vocabulary or getting necessary information for the tasks, the use images strategy was
identified. Reading aloud activity and phonics activity which require learners to sound out
were recognized as the use sound strategy. Role-play and using real objects to remember new
vocabulary were identified as the use your kinesthetic sense strategy. Fourthly, the find/apply
patterns strategy appeared in grammar or writing activities. Listening activity contained the
use selective attention strategy because learners have to focus on specific information they
need for comprehension. The access information sources strategy was identified when the
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activity asks learners to look up words in the dictionary and search for information in the
Internet. Lastly, for social/affective strategies, pair work or group work was recognized as the
cooperate strategy because learners have to work with others in order to complete the task. In
addition, peer evaluation was also identified as cooperate strategy. The self-talk strategy was
difficult to identify in the textbook activities because it might not be easy to include this
internal emotional process in classroom activities.
Data analysis
Data analysis was also divided into two parts. The first part was corpus analysis and the
second part was analysis of learning strategies in the activities. For the corpus analysis, two
free software programs, AntConc and AntWordProfiler, developed by Anthony (2014, 2018)
were utilized in this study. AntConc (Anthony, 2018) is a software program which supports
various types of text analysis such as concordance, clusters, collocates, word list and keyword
list. AntWordProfiler (Anthony, 2014) is a software program that profiles the vocabulary level
and the complexity of texts. Firstly, AntConc was utilized to analyze the token, type, and
lemma in each textbook text file as well as to generate the word lists of the textbook corpus.
After importing the text files, tokens and types of vocabulary were analyzed using AntConc.
Next, Someya’s (1998) lemma list was loaded to lemmatize the words. The number of
lemmas in each textbook corpus was then analyzed. Word lists based on lemma were
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generated and the results were exported to Text files for further analysis. Based on the word
lists generated by AntConc, the repetition of vocabulary as well as the frequency words used
in each academic year were analyzed. Furthermore, in order to examine the lexical variety
(Ishikawa, 2008), the type/token ratio (TTR) was analyzed by Excel. Lexical variety refers to
the ratio of types to tokens. The higher the TTR is, the more the amount of different
vocabulary occur in a text. However, due to the limitation of the use of the words, there is a
tendency to use the same words in a particular text. As a result, the longer the text is, the
lower the TTR will be. Therefore, it is essential to adjust the TTR when comparing corpora in
different sizes. There are two frequently used indexes for adjusted TTR: Guiraud’s R-value
and Herdan’s C-value (Ishikawa, 2008, 2012). These two indexes were calculated to adjust
the differences in the size of the textbook corpora when comparing lexical variety between
different corpora. The Guiraud index takes a square root of the number of tokens and the
Herdan index takes a logarithm of the number of tokens so the differences in the size of the
textbook corpora could be adjusted (Grieve, 2007; Van Hort & Vermeer, 2007).
In the second stage, AntWordProfiler was applied to compare the vocabulary levels
between the textbook corpus and the frequency word lists such as the NGSL and the NAWL.
AntWordProfiler contains the 2,000 frequency word list (GSL) and the 570 academic word
list (AWL) in its default setting. It also provides a function to install additional word lists for
various research designs. In order to compare the overlapping rate between the textbook
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corpus and the NGSL and the NAWL, the base word lists of NGSL and NAWL were
downloaded from Browne, Culligan, and Phillips’ (2013) website. The NGSL base word list
consists of three levels which represent the 1,000 level, 2,000 level, and 3,000 level. The
AWL base word list consists of 960 academic words and the levels are above the 3,000 NGSL
words. After loading the textbook text files and installing the NGSL and the NAWL base
word lists, the overlapping rate was analyzed and the results were exported to Text files for
analyzing the lexical difficulty. Moreover, in order to verify the relation between textbook
corpus and the reference word list announced by MOE in Taiwan, AntWordProfiler was
applied to compare the overlapping rate between the Grades 1-9 Reference Word List and the
College Entrance Examination (CEEC) Word List. For elementary and junior high school, the
base word lists were divided into two files according to the 1,200 word list and the 2,000
word list announced by the MOE. For senior high school, the base word lists were divided
into six files on the basis of the six levels stated by CEEC. Following the same procedure, the
overlapping rates between textbook corpus and the reference word lists were analyzed after
loading the base word lists. The results were exported to Text files for analyzing the efficacy
of the reference word lists in Taiwan.
Regarding the analysis of learning strategies, after identifying the kinds of learning
strategies included in the activities, the data was sorted by strategy taxonomy and by
academic year. A comparison between Japan and Taiwan based on each strategy category and
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the changes in strategy use in different academic years was made. Four trained raters
analyzed the textbooks based on the strategy taxonomy using the same procedure. Each rater
analyzed different textbooks. The author discussed differences in results with the raters and
the interrater reliability was 0.85.
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CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS
Vocabulary in the textbooks and learning strategies in the textbook activities were
investigated through corpus analysis and learning strategy identification. The authorized
English language textbooks from elementary school to senior high school in Japan and
Taiwan were analyzed. This chapter reports the results of the corpus analysis of vocabulary in
the textbooks as well as the learning strategy use in the textbook activities.
Corpus analysis of the authorized English language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan
Lexical variety, lexical frequency, and lexical difficulty of vocabulary in the authorized
English language textbooks from elementary school to senior high school in Japan and
Taiwan were analyzed by conducting corpus analysis. In this section, firstly, lexical variety
will be illustrated in terms of tokens and lemmas. Secondly, lexical frequency will be
demonstrated by comparing the word lists generated from textbook corpus between Japan and
Taiwan. Thirdly, lexical difficulty will be clarified through examining the differences in the
overlapping rate between the textbook corpora and the NGSL and the NAWL. Furthermore,
the overlapping rate between the textbook corpora in Taiwan and the reference word lists
announced by the MOE will be used for demonstrating the efficacy of the reference word
lists.
116
Tokens and lemmas in Japan and Taiwan. Tokens and lemmas in the authorized
English language textbooks from elementary school to senior high school were analyzed by
AntConc. According to Nation (2013), tokens are also known as running words which means
counting every word that occurs in a text in contrast to types where the same word which
repeatedly occurs in the text is not counted. A lemma includes the headword and its inflected
forms and reduced forms (Nation, 2013, p. 10). In this study, tokens in the textbook corpora
refer to the total number of words used in the main reading texts in the authorized English
language textbooks. As explained in the data collection section, for elementary school
textbooks in Japan, listening scripts in teacher’s books of Let’s Try and We Can were also
included in the elementary school textbook corpus. Figures 1, 2, and 3 show the tokens in the
authorized English language textbooks from elementary school to senior high school in Japan
and Taiwan. In Figure 1, there were wide differences in the amount of tokens between the
elementary school English language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan. On the one hand, there
were 2,026 tokens in Let’s Try and We Can which are the materials designed for elementary
school learners from Grade 3 to Grade 6. On the other hand, Taiwan’s elementary school
English language textbooks had more than six to almost ten times as in many tokens as
Japan’s textbooks. There were 14,179 tokens in Dino on the Go, 20,231 tokens in Hello!
Kids, and 13,802 tokens in Story.com. There are several reasons for the large differences in
tokens between Japan’s and Taiwan’s textbook corpora. First of all, there was no main
117
Figure 1. Tokens in elementary school English language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
reading text for each lesson in both Let’s Try and We Can. The only reading texts were the
two stories in Lesson 9 of Let’s Try 1 and 2 as well as the short readings at the end of each
lesson in We Can 1 and 2. Moreover, there were only a few sentences and words written in
English in the activities of Let’s Try and We Can. Most of the expressions in the activities
were written in Japanese. On the other hand, the main reading text was included in each
lesson of Taiwan’s authorized elementary school English language textbooks. Furthermore,
because the activities in Taiwan’s textbooks contained example sentences for grammar
practice, sentences for phonic practice, and song lyrics written in English, there were more
2,026
18,757
14,179
20,231
13,802
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
Elementary School Textbooks
Token
s
JP Let's Try & We Can
JP Let's Try & We Can plus Teacher's Book
TW Dino on the Go
TW Hello Kids
TW Story.com
118
tokens in Taiwan’s elementary school textbook corpus than those in Japan’s. However, there
were 18,757 tokens in Japan’s elementary school textbook corpus when the teacher’s books
were included and the gap between Japan and Taiwan was narrowed. Because learners at
elementary school are not required to read and write using the alphabet, there is only a
limited amount of words written in the student book. Listening and speaking are emphasized
at elementary school; so the words used in the listening activities could reflect the vocabulary
which learners are exposed to in the classroom. The results indicated that learners in Japan
and Taiwan acquire different forms of vocabulary, that is, written forms in Taiwan’s
textbooks and spoken forms in Japan’s textbooks. It is difficult for learners in Japan to
acquire vocabulary for reading and writing by using the current materials. When English is
taught as a subject in Japan’s elementary school, including and increasing the written forms
of vocabulary in the authorized textbooks are essential in order to develop learners’ ability to
read, write, listen, and speak.
In addition, among Taiwan’s elementary school textbooks, Hello! Kids outnumbered
Dino on the Go and Story.com in terms of the total number of tokens. This is because Hello!
Kids contained role-play activities which had scripts and reading comprehension activities
consisting of reading passages. The differences in each lesson component and the different
contents of activities in each textbook volume lead to large gaps among tokens in the
elementary school English textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
119
Figure 2. Tokens in junior high school English language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
Figure 2 presents the tokens in junior high school English language textbooks in Japan
and Taiwan. In Taiwan, there were more than two times as many tokens as those in Japan.
There were 7,112 tokens in New Crown, 7,242 tokens in New Horizon, and 6,210 tokens in
Sunshine whereas there were 13,720 tokens in Joysound, 13,404 tokens in Kang Hsuan, and
11,999 tokens in Nan-I. The differences in lessons and volumes of textbooks might explain
the contrasts between Japan and Taiwan. This indicated that learners in Japan and Taiwan
would have difference in the amount of vocabulary input. There were slight differences in
tokens among publishers in both countries.
7,112 7,242
6,210
13,720 13,404
11,999
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
Junior High School Textbooks
Token
s
JP New Crown JP New Horizon JP Sunshine
TW Joysound TW Kang Hsuan TW Nan-I
120
Figure 3. Tokens in senior high school English language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
The results of tokens in senior high school English language textbooks are shown in
Figure 3. On average, Taiwan’s textbooks had more tokens than Japan’s textbooks. In
Taiwan, there were 33,714 tokens in Far East, 34,217 tokens in Lung Teng, and 39,555
tokens in San Min. Far East and Lung Teng had a similar number of tokens while San Min
had more tokens than the other two publishers. Because the number of lessons were the same
among the different publishers in Taiwan, the results indicated that San Min included longer
reading texts in each lesson. In contrast, in Japan, there were enormous differences among
9,243
26,603
16,512
33,714 34,217
39,555
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
35,000
40,000
45,000
Senior High School Textbooks
Token
s
JP All Aboard JP Crown JP Grove
TW Far East TW Lung Teng TW San Min
121
publishers: 26,603 tokens in Crown, 16, 512 tokens in Grove, and 9,243 tokens in All Aboard.
Because Crown and All Aboard had a similar number of lessons, the results indicated that
Crown included longer reading passages in each lesson than All Aboard did. There was an
obvious gap in the number of tokens between Japan and Taiwan from elementary school to
senior high school. Since Crown contained more tokens than the other series, the gap between
Japan and Taiwan narrowed in the senior high school textbooks. However, there was a large
variation in the total amount of vocabulary input that learners received from the authorized
English textbooks in each country. In addition, the varieties of vocabulary selection in junior
and senior high school textbooks among publishers in Japan revealed a problem of the
efficacy of the Course of Study. Although the Course of Study declared the amount of words
that would be learned at each stage, the selection of words in the authorized English language
textbooks varied among the different publishers. When the authorized English language
textbooks for elementary school in Japan are published in the near future, it is likely that
there would be variation of vocabulary selection among the publishers.
Figures 4, 5, and 6 present the lemmas in the authorized English language textbooks
from elementary school to senior high school between Japan and Taiwan. While tokens
indicate the amount of input that learners receive from the textbooks, lemmas refer to the
vocabulary size that learners might acquire in the textbooks. Due to the differences in tokens
between Japan and Taiwan, the distributions of lemmas were similar to those of tokens. From
122
Figure 4. Lemmas in elementary school English language textbooks Japan and Taiwan.
elementary school to senior high school, Taiwan’s textbooks introduced more than two to
three times as many words as Japan’s textbooks did. Moreover, the differences among
publishers were more evident in Japan than the ones in Taiwan.
In elementary school, there were 570 lemmas in Let’s Try and We Can and 1,376
lemmas in Let’s Try and We Can plus teacher’s book in Japan (see Figure 4). The vocabulary
size in Let’s try and We Can was close to the attainment goals, 600 to 700 words, that the
Course of Study set for introducing English as a subject to elementary school. When the
listening scripts of teacher’s books were added, the amount of vocabulary doubled and was
similar to Taiwan’s Story.com and more than that in Dino on the Go and Hello Kids.
570
1,376
928
1,118
1,364
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
Elementary School Textbooks
Lem
mas
JP Let's Try & We Can
JP Let's Try & We Can plus Teacher's books
TW Dino on the Go
TW Hello Kids
TW Story.com
123
Figure 5. Lemmas in junior high school English language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
On the other hand, the Grades 1-9 English Curriculum Guidelines state that the attainment
goals of vocabulary learning in elementary school are 180 words for written performance and
300 words for oral performance. The lemmas in Taiwan’s elementary school textbooks were
928 lemma words in Dino on the Go, 1,118 lemma words in Hello! Kids, and 1,364 lemma
words in Story.com. It is said that the publishers select words to be included in the textbooks
from the 2,000 word list in the curriculum guidelines announced by MOE. The results
indicated that the elementary school English textbooks in Taiwan contained words beyond the
stated level and that words for junior high school level were also included.
Next, the goal that MEXT sets for junior high school in Japan is 1,200 words in the
current Course of Study and 1,600 to 1,800 words in the revised one. There were 1,112
1,112 1,1421,035
1,4451,506 1,457
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
Junior High School Textbooks
Lem
mas
JP New Crown JP New Horizon
JP Sunshine TW Joysound
TW Kang Hsuan TW Nan-I
124
lemma words in New Crown, 1,142 lemma words in New Horizon, and 1,035 lemma words in
Sunshine (see Figure 5). The three publishers introduced a similar amount of words and the
results showed that the words introduced in the authorized English language textbooks for
junior high school were close to the current goal of vocabulary size but did not reach the goal
of vocabulary size as stated in the revised Course of Study. There was a slight difference in
the words between Japan and Taiwan. In Taiwan, the number of lemmas was 1,445 lemma
words in Joysound, 1,506 lemma words in Kang Hsuan, and 1,457 lemma words in Nan-I.
The goal of vocabulary size stated in the Grades 1-9 English Curriculum Guidelines is 1,200
words for basic level and 2,000 words for advanced level. It could be concluded from the
results that the authorized English language textbooks for junior high school in Taiwan
introduced sufficient number of words to help learners reach the basic level of 1,200 words.
The supplementary materials might be added in order to reach the advanced level.
Figure 6 displays the results of lemmas in senior high school English language
textbooks in Japan and Taiwan. The gap in the lemmas between two countries was noticed.
On the one hand, there were 1,484 lemma words in All Aboard, 2,749 lemma words in
Crown, and 2,466 lemma words in Grove. The goal of vocabulary size set by the current
Course of Study is 1,800 words and it was increased to 2,500 words in the revised Course of
Study. The results indicate that Crown and Grove introduced sufficient words to reach the
goals of vocabulary size in both the current and revised Course of Study. However, All
125
Figure 6. Lemmas in senior high school English language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
Aboard only introduced a small amount of words and this would not be adequate for learners
to accomplish the goal of vocabulary size set for senior high school learners. On the other
hand, the goal of vocabulary size for senior high school learners in Taiwan is 4,500 basic
words and 7,000 advanced words. As shown in Figure 6, the lemmas in Taiwan’s senior high
school textbooks were 3,956 lemma words in Far East, 4,055 lemma words in Lung Teng,
and 4,354 lemma words in San Min. All three series of textbooks did not reach the 4,500
basic words nor the 7,000 advanced words. The results indicated that using only the
authorized English language textbooks for senior high school, it might be difficult for
learners to acquire the vocabulary size that the curriculum guidelines have stated.
To sum up, there were obvious differences in the number of tokens and lemmas in the
1,484
2,7492,466
3,956 4,0554,354
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
4,000
4,500
5,000
Senior High School Textbooks
Lem
mas
JP All Aboard JP Crown
JP Grove TW Far East
TW Lung Teng TW San Min
126
authorized English language textbooks from elementary school to senior high school in Japan
and Taiwan. Furthermore, differences existed not only between the two countries but also
among the various publishers. Language policy might have influenced the variations in the
vocabulary size. For instance, the curriculum guidelines in Taiwan not only set the number of
words to be learned at each stage but also provide word lists for the publishers to select the
words to be included in the textbooks. This leads to slight differences in the vocabulary size
of Taiwan’s junior and senior high school textbooks. With elementary school textbooks, the
differences in vocabulary size among publishers are due to the arrangement of activities
which contain role-play scripts and passages for reading comprehension. Regarding the
situation in Japan, the Course of Study only states the specific vocabulary size as attainment
goals and there are no word lists as references for publishers to select words in the authorized
English language textbooks. This results in the wide variation of vocabulary size among
different publishers in Japan. According to the JACET Committee of Basic Words Revision’s
report (2016), the reason MEXT did not provide a reference word list is that it tends to give
the publishers flexibility in selecting words. However, the flexibility leads to wide-ranging
differences in vocabulary size among textbooks in Japan. For learners who use different
textbook series, it is important to assure that they can acquire the same amount of words.
Since the role of the authorized English language textbooks is to support learners to achieve
the goals of the Course of Study, adjusting the vocabulary size of textbooks is necessary in
127
the light of continuity from elementary school to senior high school.
Lexical variety of vocabulary in Japan and Taiwan. Based on the information of
tokens and types, the lexical variety of the authorized English language textbooks was
analyzed. TTR, the type/token ratio, refers to lexical variety and indicates the amount of
different types of words used in a text (Akano, Hori, & Tono, 2014; Ishikawa, 2008, 2012). It
is said that the higher the TTR is, the more varied the text would be. It also means that a text
with higher lexical variety would include different types of vocabulary while a text with
lower lexical diversity would use the same words repeatedly. Table 6 shows the TTR, R-
value, and C-value of textbook corpora, which were discussed in the methodology, from
elementary school to senior high school in Japan and Taiwan. The R-value (the Guiraud
index) and C-value (the Herdan index) are the indices of adjustment in different corpus sizes
(Ishikawa, 2012). If only the raw TTR is calculated, the interpretation of the results would be
as follows: the elementary school materials such as Let’s Try and We Can had the highest
lexical density as 30.7% among all the textbooks from elementary school to senior high
school. To some extent, it is true that elementary school textbooks in Japan contained more
types of vocabulary in the small amount of tokens. Almost one third of the tokens were new
words for learners. However, because there were large differences in the total amount of
tokens between elementary school textbooks and senior high school textbooks, an adjusted
128
Table 6
Lexical Variety of Vocabulary in the Authorized English Language Textbooks from
Elementary School to Senior High School in Japan and Taiwan
Type Token TTR R C
JP
Elementary Let's Try & We Can 622 2,026 30.7% 13.82 0.844903
Let’s Try & We Can
plus teacher’s book 1,578 18,757 8.41% 11.52 0.748417
TW
Elementary Dino on the Go! 1,068 14,179 7.53% 8.97 0.729487
Hello! Kids 1,307 20,231 6.46% 9.19 0.723703
Story.com 1,576 13,802 11.42% 13.41 0.772367
JP Junior
High New Crown 1,367 7,112 19.22% 16.21 0.814064
New Horizon 1,393 7,242 19.24% 16.37 0.814525
Sunshine 1,231 6,210 19.82% 15.62 0.814707
TW Junior
High Joysound 1,832 13,720 13.35% 15.64 0.78865
Kang Hsuan 1,920 13,404 14.32% 16.58 0.795521
Nan-I 1,825 11,999 15.21% 16.66 0.799497
JP Senior
High All Aboard! 1,803 9,243 19.51% 18.75 0.821016
Crown 3,628 26,603 13.64% 22.24 0.804457
Grove 3,126 16,512 18.93% 24.33 0.828628
TW Senior
High Far East 5,141 33,714 15.25% 28.00 0.819612
Lung Teng 5,324 34,217 15.56% 28.78 0.8218
San Min 5,707 39,555 14.43% 28.70 0.817108
Note. TTR = Type/Token (%); R = The Guiraud Index; C = The Herdan Index.
129
TTR was also analyzed. For elementary school, the raw TTR was 30.7% for Let’s Try and We
Can, 8.41% for Let’s Try and We Can plus teacher’s book, 7.53% for Dino on the Go, 6.46%
for Hello! Kids, and 11.42% for Story.com. The R-value was 13.82 for Let’s Try and We Can,
11.52 for Let’s Try and We Can plus teacher’s book, 8.97 for Dino on the Go, 9.19 for Hello!
Kids, and 13.41 for Story.com. The R-value of Japan’s elementary school textbooks was
13.82 which was the highest among the elementary school textbooks and this result indicated
that more different words were used in the texts than the ones in Taiwan’s textbooks.
Story.com in Taiwan shared the similar trait of lexical variety with Japan’s textbooks.
Moreover, the results showed that the lexical variety increased from elementary school
to senior high school (see Table 6). This means that the variety of topics introduced in the
textbooks increased through the academic years. However, differences between Japan and
Taiwan and among different publishers were found. Figures 7, 8, and 9 illustrate the lexical
variety of vocabulary from elementary school to senior high school. As shown in Figure 7,
Let’s Try and We Can in Japan and Story.com in Taiwan had more lexical diversity than Dino
on the Go and Hello! Kids in Taiwan. When the numbers of tokens between Let’s Try and We
Can in Japan and Story.com in Taiwan were compared, the results indicated that Japan’s
elementary school textbooks introduced many new words in a small amount of tokens (see
Table 6). This might result in increasing the learning burden for elementary school students.
In addition, the lexical variety of Let’s Try and We Can in Japan and Story.com in Taiwan was
130
Figure 7. Lexical variety of the authorized elementary school English language textbooks in
Japan and Taiwan.
closer to those in junior high school textbooks (see Table 6).
Furthermore, the gap in lexical variety between Japan and Taiwan widened in senior
high school textbooks (see Table 5). The R-value of junior high school textbooks was 16.21
for New Crown, 16.37 for New Horizon, and 15.62 for Sunshine in Japan while it was 15.64
for Joysound, 16.58 for Kang Hsuan, and 16.66 for Nan-I in Taiwan. Among the three
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Elementary School Textbooks
The
Guir
aud I
ndex
JP Let's Try & We Can
JP Let's Try & We Can plus Teacher book
TW Dino on the Go
TW Hello Kids
TW Story.com
131
Figure 8. Lexical variety of the authorized junior high school English language textbooks in
Japan and Taiwan.
Figure 9. Lexical variety of the authorized senior high school English language textbooks in
Japan and Taiwan.
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Junior High School Textbooks
The
Guir
aud I
ndex
JP New Crown JP New Horizon JP Sunshine
TW Joysound TW Kang Hsuan TW Nan-I
02468
101214161820222426283032
Senior High School Textbooks
The
Guir
aud I
ndex
JP All Aboard JP Crown JP Grove
TW Far East TW Lung Teng TW San Min
132
publishers, Sunshine in Japan and Joysound in Taiwan had lower lexical variety than the other
publishers in both countries (see Figure 8). These results indicated that both junior high
school textbooks in Japan and Taiwan were similar in terms of lexical variety of vocabulary.
Nevertheless, the R-value of senior high school textbooks is 18.75 for All Aboard, 22.24 for
Crown, and 24.33 for Grove in Japan while it was 28 for Far East, 28.78 for Lung Teng, and
28.7 for San Min in Taiwan. This illustrates that the lexical variety of vocabulary in Taiwan’s
senior high school increased more steeply than that of Japan’s senior high school textbooks.
This sharp increase in lexical diversity widened the gap in the varieties of vocabulary
between Japan and Taiwan. In addition, as shown in Figure 9, senior high school textbooks in
Taiwan had a similar score for lexical variety whereas the lexical variety of vocabulary in the
textbooks in Japan differed.
Frequency words in the authorized English language textbooks from elementary
school to senior high school in Japan and Taiwan. Lexical frequency of vocabulary was
demonstrated by calculating the repetition rates of words in the authorized English language
textbooks. The results are presented in the form of the comparison between Japan and Taiwan
at the different academic stages. Figure 10 shows the results of the repetition rates of
vocabulary in the authorized elementary school English language textbooks in Japan and
Taiwan. There were evident differences between the countries and among the publishers.
133
Figure 10. Repetition rates of vocabulary in the authorized elementary school English language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
6%
49%
45%
JP Let's Try and We Can
More than 10 times
2~9 times
Only one time
22%
44%
34%
JP Let's Try & We Can Plus
Teacher Book
More than 10 times
2~9 times
Only one time
30%
50%
20%
TW Dino on the Go
More than 10 times
2~9 times
Only one time
33%
45%
22%
TW Hello! Kids
More than 10 times
2~9 times
Only one time
19%
41%
40%
TW Story.com
More than 10 times
2~9 times
Only one time
134
Figure 11. Repetition rates of vocabulary in the authorized junior high school English language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
11%
47%
42%
JP New Crown
More than 10 times
2~9 times
Only one time
17%
51%
32%
TW Joysound
More than 10 times
2~9 times
Only one time
11%
48%
41%
JP New Horizon
More than 10 times
2~9 times
Only one time
11%
46%
43%
JP Sunshine
More than 10 times
2~9 times
Only one time
16%
50%
34%
TW Kang Hsuan
More than 10 times
2~9 times
Only one time
15%
49%
36%
TW Nan-I
More than 10 times
2~9 times
Only one time
135
Figure 12. Repetition rates of vocabulary in the authorized senior high school English language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
12%
45%
43%
JP All Aboard
More than 10 times
2~9 times
Only one time
16%
45%
39%
JP Crown
More than 10 times
2~9 times
Only one time
11%
43%
46%
JP Grove
More than 10 times
2~9 times
Only one time
13%
44%
43%
TW Lung Teng
More than 10 times
2~9 times
Only one time
13%
43%
44%
TW San Min
More than 10 times
2~9 times
Only one time
13%
42%
45%
TW Far East
More than 10 times
2~9 times
Only one time
136
In Taiwan, 30% of vocabulary in Dino on the Go, 33% of vocabulary in Hello! Kids, and
19% of vocabulary in Story.com recurred more than ten times. Half of the words in Dino on
the Go, 45% of the words in Hello! Kids, and 41% of the words in Story.com occurred two to
nine times. Regarding the words which only appeared one time, there were 20% of those in
Dino on the Go, 22% of those in Hello! Kids, and 40% of those in Story.com. Dino on the Go
and Hello! Kids shared a similar pattern of the word repetitions while Story.com had a
different way of introducing vocabulary. On the other hand, in Japan, only 6% of the words
recurred more than ten times, 49% of the words occurred two to nine times, and 45% of the
words appeared only once. Due to the small amount of texts in Let’s Try and We Can, it was
difficult to present the words repeatedly. When the listening scripts of the teacher’s books
were included, 22% of the words recurred more than ten times, 44% of the words occurred
two to nine times, and 34% of the words appeared only once. These results indicated that
young learners in Japan did not encounter the vocabulary in its written form but mainly in the
spoken form. From the viewpoint of vocabulary retrieval, elementary school English
language textbooks in Taiwan provided more opportunities for learners to encounter the
words in the texts than the textbooks in Japan did. It might be difficult for learners in Japan to
acquire the vocabulary by using those materials.
As shown in Figure 11, the authorized English language textbooks for junior high
school in both countries had the similar patterns of vocabulary repetition with slight
137
differences in the words which occurred more than ten times and those appeared only once.
Approximately half of the words occurred two to nine times in the three textbook series in
both countries. Regarding the words which recurred more than ten times, there were 17% of
those in Joysound, 16% in Kang Hsuan, and 15% in Nan-I while there were 11% of those in
the three textbook series in Japan. 42% of the words in New Crown, 41% of the words in New
Horizon, and 43% of the words in Sunshine appeared only once while 32% of those words in
Joysound, 34% in Kang Hsuan, and 36% in Nan-I . The results showed that Taiwan’s junior
high school English textbooks contained a slightly more words which recurred more than ten
times and slightly fewer words which appeared only once than Japan’s junior high school
textbooks did. Moreover, the repetitions of vocabulary in the junior high school English
textbooks were insufficient in both countries. These results indicated that it might be difficult
for learners to consolidate the vocabulary by using those textbooks.
Regarding the repetition rates of the authorized senior high school English language
textbooks, the results were similar to the patterns of junior high school textbooks and there
were no apparent differences between Japan and Taiwan. In Taiwan, 13% of the words
recurred more than ten times in the three textbook series. The percentages of the words which
occurred two to nine times were 42% in Far East, 44% in Lung Teng, and 43% in San Min.
The percentages of the words which appeared only once were 45% in Far East, 43% in Lung
Teng, and 44% in San Min. On the other hand, in Japan, 12% of the words in All Aboard,
138
16% of the words in Crown, and 11% of the words in Grove recurred more than ten times.
Crown had a slightly larger proportion of the ten-time repetition rate than the other two
textbook series. The percentages of the words occurring two to nine times were similar
among the three series, 45% in All Aboard and Crown, and 43% in Grove. As for the words
which appeared only once, there were 43% of those in All Aboard, 39% of those in Crown,
and 46% of those in Grove. The results indicated that the senior high school textbooks in
Japan and Taiwan did not provide sufficient opportunities to encounter the same vocabulary
in order to facilitate vocabulary learning.
Lexical difficulty of vocabulary from elementary school to senior high school in
Japan and Taiwan. In order to investigate the lexical difficulty of the authorized English
language textbooks from elementary school to senior high school between Japan and Taiwan,
the overlapping rate between textbook corpora and the new frequency word lists such as the
NGSL and the NAWL was analyzed by using AntWordProfiler. The NGSL has three levels of
difficulty: the first 1,000 level baseword, the second 1,000 level baseword, and the third
1,000 level baseword. Coverage refers to “the percentage of tokens in a text which are
accounted for in particular word lists” (Nation, 2004, p.7). The token coverage of the NGSL
was also divided into three parts by level. The coverage of each level including words that
did not overlap reach a total of 100 percent. The NAWL has its own baseword list that is
139
beyond the 3,000 word level so the NAWL coverage is separated from that of the NGSL. The
results of both token coverage rate and cumulative coverage rate of the NGSL and the NAWL
are shown in Tables 7, 8, and 9.
As shown in Table 7, the coverage of the first 1,000 NGSL words was 61.56% in Let’s
Try and We Can, 74.53% in Dino on the Go, 75.47% in Hello! Kids, and 75.87% in
Story.com. Moreover, the cumulative coverage of the NGSL was 73.81% for Let’s Try and We
Can, 83.64% for Dino on the Go, and 84.55% for Hello! Kids, and 85.08% for Story.com.
The results indicated that Let’s Try and We Can included the least amount of core general
words among the elementary school textbooks in Japan and Taiwan. However, when the
teacher’s book of Let’s Try and We Can were included, the coverage rate of the first 1,000
NGSL words increased to 75% and the cumulative coverage of the NGSL was 83.4%. The
results of the NGSL coverage in Let’s Try and We Can plus teacher’s books were similar to
the coverage in Taiwan’s elementary school English language textbooks. This indicated that
although Let’s Try and We Can did not cover sufficient amount of the high frequency
vocabulary, the listening scripts in the teacher’s book supplemented the vocabulary, thus the
coverage of the NGSL increased and reached the same level with Taiwan’s elementary school
textbooks.
In addition, there was a tendency that junior high school textbooks in both Japan and
Taiwan had higher coverage rate of the NGSL word list (see Table 8). As for the first 1,000
140
Table 7
Overlapping Rate between the Authorized Elementary School English Language Textbooks in Japan and Taiwan and the NGSL as well as the
NAWL
Japan Japan Taiwan Taiwan Taiwan
Let’s Try! & We Can!
Let’s Try! & We Can!
plus teacher’s book Dino on the Go! Hello! Kids Story.com
Token Cum. Token Cum. Token Cum. Token Cum. Token Cum.
1st NGSL baseword 61.56 61.56 75 75 74.53 74.53 75.47 75.47 75.87 75.87
2nd NGSL baseword 8.15 69.71 5.66 80.66 6.57 81.1 6.78 82.25 6.51 82.38
3rd NGSL baseword 4.1 73.81 2.74 83.4 2.54 83.64 2.3 84.55 2.7 85.08
Not overlapped 26.19 100 16.59 99.99 16.37 100.01 15.45 100 14.92 100
NAWL baseword 1.09 0.56 0.63 0.68 1.02
Note. Token = Token % , Cum. = Cumulative token %.
141
Table 8
Overlapping Rate between the Authorized Junior High School English Language Textbooks in Japan and Taiwan and the NGSL as well as the
NAWL
Japan Japan Japan Taiwan Taiwan Taiwan
New Crown New Horizon Sunshine Joysound Kang Hsuan Nan-I
Token Cum. Token Cum. Token Cum. Token Cum. Token Cum. Token Cum.
1st NGSL baseword 84.03 84.03 82.6 82.6 82.6 82.6 82.9 82.9 83.26 83.26 82.45 82.45
2nd NGSL baseword 4.97 89 4.85 87.45 4.37 86.97 5.58 88.48 5.28 88.54 5.43 87.88
3rd NGSL baseword 1.48 90.48 1.88 89.33 1.84 88.81 1.9 90.38 2.04 90.58 1.7 89.58
Not overlapped 9.52 100 10.68 100.01 11.2 100.01 9.62 100 9.42 100 10.42 100
NAWL baseword 0.6 0.7 0.45 0.45 0.68 0.48
Note. Token = Token % , Cum. = Cumulative token %.
142
Table 9
Overlapping Rate between the Authorized Senior High School English Language Textbooks in Japan and Taiwan and the NGSL as well as the
NAWL
Japan Japan Japan Taiwan Taiwan Taiwan
All Aboard Crown Grove Far East Lung Teng San Min
Token Cum. Token Cum. Token Cum. Token Cum. Token Cum. Token Cum.
1st NGSL baseword 80.16 80.16 83.01 83.01 80.42 80.42 79.07 79.07 79.07 79.07 79.24 79.24
2nd NGSL baseword 6.06 86.22 5.41 88.42 6.79 87.21 6.69 85.76 6.61 85.68 6.59 85.83
3rd NGSL baseword 2.01 88.23 1.87 90.29 2.82 90.03 2.82 88.58 3.07 88.75 3.23 89.06
Not overlapped 11.77 100 9.72 100.01 9.97 100 11.42 100 11.25 100 10.95 100.01
NAWL baseword 0.83 1.05 0.8 1.11 0.99 1.1
Note. Token = Token % , Cum. = Cumulative token %.
143
level words, the coverage rate between Japan and Taiwan was 84.03% in New Crown, 82.6.%
in New Horizon, 82.6 in Sunshine, 82.9% in Joysound, 83.26% in Kang Hsuan, and 82.45%
in Nan-I. The results indicated that the authorized English language textbooks for junior high
school in both Japan and Taiwan contained more high frequency words than the elementary
school English language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan did. The cumulative coverage rate
also revealed that most of the junior high school textbooks in Japan and Taiwan covered more
frequently used words by the rate of 90.48% in New Crown, 89.33% in New Horizon, 88.81%
in Sunshine, 90.38% in Joysound, 90.58% in Kang Hsuan, 89.58% in Nan-I. These results
indicated that junior high school textbooks in both countries covered the high frequency
words in the NGSL.
For senior high school, while the coverage of the first 1,000 words was to 80.16% in
All Aboard, 83.01% in Crown, and 80.42% in Grove for Japan’s senior high school textbooks,
the coverage of the first 1,000 words was 79.07% in Far East, 79.07% in Lung Teng, 79.24%
in San Min for Taiwan’s senior high school textbooks (see Table 9). This indicates that both
Japan’s and Taiwan’ senior high school textbooks contained fewer basic words than junior
high school textbooks did. Moreover, the coverage of the second 1,000 words was 6.06% in
All Aboard, 5.41% in Crown, and 6.79% in 80.42% for Japan and it was 6.69% in Far East,
6.61% in Lung Teng, 6.59% in San Min for Taiwan. Regarding the coverage of the third 1,000
words, Taiwan’s senior high school textbooks had slightly higher rate which was 2.82% in
144
Far East, 3.07% in Lung Teng, 3.23% in San Min. The results showed that the lexical
development from lower level to higher level was demonstrated in junior and senior high
school textbooks in both countries. Moreover, the reading texts in Taiwan’s senior high
school textbooks were adapted from authentic English materials and this led to higher rates of
the third 1,000 words.
In sum, from elementary to senior high school, the coverage of the first 1,000 NGSL
words as well as the cumulative coverage of the NGSL in elementary school textbooks were
the lowest whereas the coverage of the first 1,000 NGSL words in junior and senior high
school textbooks were approximately 80% and the cumulative coverage of the NGSL were
approximately 90%. Moreover, the percentages of the words which did not overlap with the
NGSL in elementary school textbooks were the highest. These results indicated that the high
frequency words for language learning might not be covered appropriately in elementary
school English language textbooks whereas the authorized English language textbooks for
junior and senior high school covered the high frequency words to certain degree.
Figures 13, 14, and 15 present the visualized lexical difficulty of vocabulary in the
authorized English textbooks at different stages. Among the three stages, elementary school
textbooks in both Japan and Taiwan contained the fewest basic words and the cumulative
coverage was the lowest. This indicates that the lexical difficulty of vocabulary in elementary
school textbooks in both Japan and Taiwan is higher than the one in junior and senior high
145
Figure 13. Ratio of vocabulary level in the elementary school English language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
85
90
JP Let's Try & We
Can
JP Let's Try & We
Can Plus Teacher
Book
TW Dino on the Go TW Hello Kids TW Story.com
Bas
eword
s
1st NGSL Baseword 2nd NGSL Baseword 3rd NGSL Baseword NAWL Baseword
146
Figure 14. Ratio of vocabulary level in the junior high school English language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
78
80
82
84
86
88
90
92
JP New Crown JP New Horizon JP Sunshine TW Joysound TW Kang Hsuan TW Nan-I
Bas
eword
s
1st NGSL Baseword 2nd NGSL Baseword 3rd NGSL Baseword NAWL Baseword
147
Figure 15. Ratio of vocabulary level in the senior high school English language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
72
74
76
78
80
82
84
86
88
90
92
94
JP All Aboard JP Crown JP Grove TW Far East TW Lung Teng TW San Min
Bas
eword
s
1st NGSL Baseword 2nd NGSL Baseword 3rd NGSL Baseword NAWL Baseword
148
school. Moreover, Let’s Try and We can in Japan contained 1.09% of the NAWL words and
Story.com contained 1.02% of the NAWL words which were beyond the 3,000 word level. In
Japan, the coverage of the NAWL was 0.6% for New Crown, 0.7% for New Horizon, 0.45%
for Sunshine, and 0.45% for Joysound, 0.68% for Kang Hsuan, and 0.48% for Nan-I in
Taiwan. These results showed that materials used more academic words in elementary school
in both Japan and Taiwan than the ones in junior high school. In addition, the percentages of
the words which are not included the NGSL were 26.19% in Let’ Try and We Can, 16.59% in
Let’s Try and We Can plus teacher’s book, 16.37% in Dino on the Go, 15.45% in Hello Kids,
and 14.92% in Story.com. There are several reasons for this. Statistically, because the
elementary school textbook corpora were the smallest among the three academic stages, the
text size led to lower coverage rate of the word lists. In addition to this, firstly, although there
was only a small amount of tokens in Let’s Try and We Can, there were words for the
Olympic Games which are not frequently used in daily life. This might because Let’s Try and
We Can selected words based on topics. This results in the low coverage rate of the general
words between the NGSL word list and the elementary school textbooks for Japan. Second,
in Taiwan’s elementary school textbooks, there were a large number of pronunciation
activities which contained many difficult and not frequently used words in order to practice
the vowels and the consonants. On average, these words raised the difficulty of elementary
school textbooks. Regarding junior and senior high school, because there were only the main
149
reading texts included in the textbook corpora, the textbooks reflected higher coverage of the
high frequency words than elementary school textbooks did.
Furthermore, the vocabulary level in junior and senior high school textbooks
demonstrated the development order of vocabulary between Japan and Taiwan. The difficulty
of vocabulary level increased from junior high school to senior high school in the two
countries. The percentages of the NAWL coverage increased to 0.83% in All Aboard, 1.05%
in Crown, 0.8% in Grove in Japan, and 1.11% for Far East, 0.99% in Lung Teng, and 1.1% in
San-Min. These results showed that textbooks in both countries considered the difficulty of
vocabulary level when the words were selected for the textbook reading texts.
The efficacy of the reference word lists. In addition, the overlapping rates between
Taiwan’s textbook corpora and the reference word lists declared by MOE and CEEC were
analyzed in order to verify the efficacy of the reference word lists in Taiwan. Table 10
presents the results of the overlapping rate between the authorized elementary and junior high
school English language textbooks and the Grades 1-9 English Curriculum Guidelines
Reference Word List in Taiwan. The 1,200 words are the goals of the basic level and the
2,000 words are set for the advanced level when learners graduate from junior high school.
The coverage of the 1,200 words was 86.01% in Dino on the Go, 84.04% in Hello! Kids,
83.94% in Story.com, 83.7% in Joysound, 82.39% in Kang Hsuan, and 81.75% in Nan-I. The
150
Table 10
Overlapping Rate between the Authorized Elementary and Junior High School English Language Textbooks and the Grades 1-9 English
Curriculum Guidelines Reference Word Lists in Taiwan
Dino on the Go Hello! Kids Story.com Joysound Kang Hsuan Nan-I
Token Cum. Token Cum. Token Cum. Token Cum. Token Cum. Token Cum.
1,200 baseword 86.01 86.01 84.04 84.04 83.94 83.94 83.7 83.7 82.39 82.39 81.75 81.75
2,000 baseword 1.71 87.72 1.89 85.93 1.5 85.44 1.27 84.97 1.86 84.25 2.08 83.83
Not overlapped 12.29 100.01 14.07 100 14.56 100 15.03 100 15.75 100 16.18 100.01
Note. Token = Token % , Cum. = Cumulative token %.
151
Table 11
Overlapping Rate between the Authorized Senior High School English Language Textbooks and the CEEC Reference Word Lists in Taiwan
Far East Lung Teng San Min
Token Cum. Token Cum. Token Cum.
1st level baseword 66.83 66.83 65.17 65.17 65.12 65.12
2nd level baseword 5.8 72.63 5.61 70.78 5.83 70.95
3rd level baseword 2.78 75.41 2.95 73.73 2.94 73.89
4th level baseword 1.74 77.15 2.19 75.92 2.19 76.08
5th level baseword 0.76 77.91 0.94 76.86 0.94 77.02
6th level baseword 0.47 78.38 0.53 77.39 0.58 77.6
Not overlapped 21.62 100 22.62 100.01 22.41 100.01
Note. Token = Token % , Cum. = Cumulative token %.
152
cumulative coverage of the word list was 87.72% in Dino on the Go, 85.93% in Hello! Kids,
85.44% in Story.com, 84.97% in Joysound, 84.25% in Kang Hsuan, and 83.83% in Nan-I.
The results of high coverage rate indicated that the elementary and junior high school
textbooks in Taiwan selected words from the reference word list. However, it also showed
that the level of vocabulary in the elementary school textbooks was beyond the level of the
junior high school. Table 11 shows the overlapping rate between the authorized senior high
school English language textbooks and the CEEC reference word lists. In general, the
coverage of the CEEC word lists was close to 80% but was not reached in the three textbook
series. The cumulative coverage of the word lists was 78.38% in Far East, 77.39% in Lung
Teng, and 77.6% in San Min. The three textbook series contained 66.83% of the first level
words in Far East, 65.17% of those in Lung Teng, and 65.12% of those in San Min. The
higher the vocabulary level was, the lower the coverage of the word list became. The slight
variations in coverage among the three textbook series indicated that the publishers selected
words from the reference word lists.
In short, the first part of this chapter presented the results of vocabulary in the
authorized English language textbooks from elementary school to senior high school in terms
of lexical variety, lexical frequency, and lexical difficulty. The results of learning strategies
will be described in the following sections.
153
Learning strategies in the authorized English language textbooks
In order to investigate how many learning strategies and what kinds of learning
strategies are included in the authorized English language textbooks, the activities in the
textbooks were analyzed based on Chamot’s (2009) learning strategy taxonomy. 22
authorized English language textbooks from elementary school to senior high school in Japan
and 60 authorized English language textbooks from elementary school to senior high school
in Taiwan were utilized for the analysis. In this section, firstly, the results of the analysis of
learning strategies by each category from elementary school to senior high school are
illustrated. Secondly, the changes in strategy use from elementary school to senior high
school are also demonstrated.
Strategy use in elementary school in Japan and Taiwan. Regarding learning
strategies in elementary school, 4 volumes of teaching materials distributed by MEXT in
Japan and 24 volumes of the authorized English language textbooks published by three
different publishers were analyzed and compared. The overview of learning strategies in 28
textbooks in Japan and Taiwan is summarized in Table 12. Because the differences in the
quantities of learning strategies between Japan and Taiwan were large, a two-sample Z-test
was applied to verify the significance of the proportions of each strategy category between
the two countries. Except for the use organizational skills strategies, other strategies such as
metacognitive strategies, use what you know strategies, use your senses strategies, and
154
Table 12
Summary of Learning Strategies in 28 Authorized Elementary School English Language
Textbooks in Japan and Taiwan and Results of Two-Sample Z-test
Strategy Japan % Taiwan % z p
Metacognitive 2 0.4 227 8.9 -6.64 3.17E-11***
Use what you know 75 14.8 43 1.7 14 0***
Use your senses 224 44.2 1,537 60.2 -6.65 2.99E-11***
Use organizational skills 104 20.5 473 18.5 1.05 0.29
Social/affective 102 20.1 275 10.8 5.86 4.74E-09***
Total 507 100 2,555 100.1
Note. ***p < .001, two-tailed.
social/affective strategies were statistically significant. Among the five categories, use your
senses strategies were 44.2% in Japan and 60.2% in Taiwan, thus demonstrating that these
were the most frequently used ones in both Japan and Taiwan. However, the gap between
each category in Japan’s elementary school textbooks was narrower than the one in Taiwan’s
elementary school textbooks. On the one hand, use organizational skills strategies were
20.5% in Japan and 18.5% in Taiwan, whereas social/affective strategies were 20.1% in Japan
and 10.8% in Taiwan. The results showed that more than half of the activities in Taiwan’s
elementary school textbooks consisted of use your senses strategies such as the use sounds
strategy and the use images strategy. In addition, while Japan’s elementary school textbooks
included 14.8% of use what you know strategies like the use background knowledge strategy
and personalize strategy, only 1.7% of these strategies were used in Taiwan’s elementary
school textbooks. Furthermore, there was a clear difference in the use of
155
Table 13
Metacognitive Strategies in the Authorized Elementary School English Language Textbooks
in Japan by Academic Year
Academic
Year Plan/organize
Monitor/Identify
problems Evaluate
Manage your
own learning
Grade 3 0 0 0 0
Grade 4 0 0 0 0
Grade 5 1 0 1 0
Grade 6 0 0 0 0
metacognitive strategies between Japan and Taiwan. In Taiwan, 8.9% of metacognitive
strategies were used in contrast to 0.4% usage in Japan. The results of the distribution of each
strategy category will be presented in detail in the following paragraphs.
As for the metacognitive strategies, there was only one instance each of plan/organize
strategy and one evaluate strategy identified in Let’s Try and We Can in Japan (see Table 13).
The examples of the use of plan/organize strategy and evaluate strategy were identified in
Unit 5 and 9 of We Can 1. In Unit 5, there was an interview activity which requires learners
to think about what their teacher can do, draw a picture of their teacher, write their teacher’s
name in alphabetic order, and use the picture cards of activities to conduct an interview with
their teacher. In order to complete this activity, learners need to follow the instructions step
by step so the plan/organize strategy was identified. In Unit 9, there was a presentation
activity in which learners give a presentation about their hero. After listening to the
classmates’ presentation, learners are required to write the good points of their classmates’
presentations down in the blank. This peer-evaluation accounted for the evaluate strategy
156
identification.
On the other hand, in Taiwan’s elementary school textbooks, metacognitive strategies
such as the evaluate strategy were identified. Figure 16 demonstrates the distribution of this
strategy among three series of elementary school textbooks in Taiwan. The differences in the
number of evaluate strategy among publishers were noticeable. While there were self-
evaluation and peer-evaluation activities at the end of each lesson in Hello! Kids, there was
only one self-evaluation activity at the end of each volume of Story.com. In Hello! Kids, there
was an self-evaluation activity which requires learners to check whether or not they can say
or read the target words or phrases at the end of each lesson. Moreover, a peer-evaluation
which needs learners to ask their classmates to check their performance and put their
signatures to it was also included in the lessons. These activities lead to the increasing results
of the use of evaluate strategy in Hello! Kids. On the other hand, Story.com did not include
evaluation activities in each lesson. There was a self-check list based on can-do statements at
the end of each volume. The use of evaluate strategy in Dino on the Go was inconsistent.
There were self-evaluation activities at the end of each lesson in Grades 3 and 4, but these
abruptly decreased in Grade 5 but were reintroduced somewhat in Grade 6. In Dino on the
Go, there were self-check lists at the end of each volume of textbooks for Grade 6. The
results indicated that there is an inconsistency on the use of evaluate strategy among
academic years and there is a tendency to decrease the use from the middle grades to upper
157
Figure 16. Evaluate strategy in the authorized elementary school English language textbooks
in Taiwan by academic year.
grades.
Figure 17 displays the use what you know strategies in the authorized elementary
school English language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan. The use background knowledge
strategy, make inferences strategy, and personalize strategy were identified in Japan’s
elementary school textbooks while there were only a few instances of the make inferences
strategy and personalize strategy in Taiwan’s elementary school textbooks. In Japan’s
textbooks, there were activities which required learners to use knowledge of foreign culture
and the world as well as their personal experiences to complete a task. On the other hand,
Taiwan’s textbooks contained activities which related to personal experiences as well as a
few short reading comprehension activities which required learners to make inferences in
terms of use what you know strategies. The variations in activities influenced the use of
14 12
1
8
3942
61
42
2 2 2 2
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6
The
use
of
stra
tegie
s
Dino on the Go Hello! Kids Story.com
158
Figure 17. Use what you know strategies in the authorized elementary school English
language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
different use what you know strategies in Japan and Taiwan.
Both Japan’s and Taiwan’s textbooks included many examples of use your senses
strategies such as the use sounds strategy and use images (see Figure 18). The gap in the use
sounds strategy between Japan and Taiwan was very wide. This was because there were
activities such as chants, songs, and pronunciation practice for phonics in each lesson in
Taiwan’s elementary school English textbooks. On the other hand, although there were chants
and songs in Japan’s elementary school English textbooks, there were no pronunciation
activities for practicing phonics. In addition, since the number of lessons as well as volumes
of textbooks differed in Japan and Taiwan, the usage of the use sounds strategy varied greatly.
50
0
7
18
25
0
0
0
14
0
0
0
1
0
3
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Personalize
Make predictions
Make inferences
Use background
knowledge
The use of strategies
TW Story.com TW Hello Kids
TW Dino on the Go JP Let's Try & We Can
159
Figure 18. Use your senses strategies in the authorized elementary school English language
textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
Moreover, in Taiwan, the usage of the use images strategy differed among the series.
Generally speaking, in Taiwan, the strategy was utilized for learners to learn new vocabulary
and to get necessary information in listening and grammar activities. The reason why
Story.com contained more instances of the use images strategy than other textbooks was that
it embedded pictures in phonics activities in addition to vocabulary activities and listening
activities. The results showed that Story.com included more images in activities than Hello!
Kids and Dino on the Go. On the other hand, the activities which contained the use images
strategy in Japan’s elementary school textbooks were listening activities and activities based
on watching a video. The video activities reflect the promotion of introducing Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) skills in Japanese classrooms (MEXT, 2014).
173
49
2
166
283
0
243 250
1
299 295
00
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
Use images Use sounds Use your kinesthetic
sense
The
use
of
stra
tegie
s
JP Let's Try & We Can TW Dino on the Go TW Hello Kids TW Story.com
160
Figure 19. Use organizational skills strategies in the authorized elementary school English
language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
Regarding the use your kinesthetic sense strategy, there were only two examples of it in Let’s
Try and one in Hello! Kids. In Let’s Try Unit 2, there were activities which use gestures to
introduce greetings and phrases such as hello, good, I don’t know, and come here. Using
gestures might assist young learners in understanding and building the connections between
words and meanings. In the review lesson in Hello! Kids 2, there was an activity requiring
learners to touch facial parts such as nose so the use your kinesthetic sense strategy was
identified. Vocabulary related to facial or body parts could be taught by gestures to young
learners.
Regarding use organizational skills strategies, Figure 19 shows two frequently used
strategies, the find/apply patterns strategy and use selective attention strategy, in Japan’s and
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6
The
use
of
stra
tegie
s JP Find/apply patterns
JP Use selective attention
TW Find/apply patterns
TW Use selective
attention
161
Taiwan’s elementary school English textbooks. Japan included fewer instances of the
find/apply patterns strategy and use selective attention strategy in elementary school English
textbooks than Taiwan’s textbooks did. As for the find/apply patterns strategy, it was usually
identified in grammar activities and the activities which provided the examples of dialogues
for learners to follow when doing pair-work. However, in Japan, it was only recognized in the
pair-work activities because there were no grammar activities in the textbooks. On the other
hand, Taiwan’s textbooks had both kinds of activities which used the find/apply strategy.
Moreover, use of the find/apply strategy increased in Grades 5 and 6 in Taiwan’s textbooks
because the textbooks started to emphasize grammar. There were grammar activities in each
lesson in the textbooks for Grades 5 and 6. As for the use selective attention strategy, both
Japan and Taiwan showed an increase from Grades 3 to 6. This indicated that the proportion
of listening activities was enlarged as the learners matured. Figure 20 displays the use of the
cooperate strategy by academic year in Japan and Taiwan. There was a tendency that pair-
work and group-work activities decreased from the middle grades to upper grades in Taiwan
while those increased in Japan. This might be influenced by the connection with junior high
school. A detailed analysis of the results of connections between each stage of school
education will be illustrated in the later section of the continuity from elementary school to
senior high school. In the following section, the results of learning strategies in 27 authorized
English language textbooks for junior high school in Japan and Taiwan will be demonstrated.
162
Figure 20. Cooperate strategy in the authorized elementary school English language
textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
Strategy use in junior high school in Japan and Taiwan.
Table 14 summarizes the results of learning strategy identification in the textbooks in
Japan and Taiwan as well as the results of a two sample Z-test. The proportions of all five
strategy taxonomies between Japan and Taiwan were statistically significant. The
compositions of learning strategy use in Japan and Taiwan differed greatly. In Taiwan, use
your senses strategies were 48.88% and use organizational skills strategies were 40.92% of
the total strategy use, followed by 8.19% of use what you know strategies and 2.01% of
social/affective strategies. On the other hand, in Japan, the most frequently used strategies
were use organizational skills strategies which were 44.27% of the total strategy use,
followed by 26.52% of use your senses strategies, 13.07% of use what you know strategies,
11.56% of social/affective strategies, and 4.59% of metacognitive strategies. The most
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6
The
use
of
stra
tegie
s
Japan
Taiwan
163
Table 14
Summary of Learning Strategies in 27 Authorized Junior High School English Language
Textbooks in Japan and Taiwan and Results of Two-Sample Z-Test
Note. **p < .01, ***p < .001, two-tailed.
distinctive differences between Japan and Taiwan were the use of metacognitive strategies,
social/affective strategies, and use your senses strategies. Figure 21 shows the number of
metacognitive strategies in junior high school English language textbooks in Japan and
Taiwan. There were no metacognitive strategies in Taiwan’s textbooks while Japan’s
textbooks contained some examples of the plan/organize strategy and evaluate strategy. The
plan/organize strategy was identified in the project activities which learners follow steps to
brainstorm, search for information, write a draft, practice, and give a presentation in front of
the class. As for the evaluate strategy, in addition to the peer and self-evaluation after the
presentation activities, there were can-do statements at the beginning of each lesson which
assist learners to check their learning. However, according to these results, it could be said
that it is impossible to cultivate learners’ autonomy by using the authorized English language
Strategy Japan % Taiwan % z p
Metacognitive 143 4.59 0 0 12.69 0***
Use what you know 407 13.07 281 8.19 6.42 1.4E-10***
Use your senses 826 26.52 1,676 48.88 -18.59 0***
Use organizational skills 1,379 44.27 1,403 40.92 2.74 .006**
Social/affective 360 11.56 69 2.01 15.58 0***
Total 3,115 100.01 4,388 100
164
Figure 21. Metacognitive strategies in the authorized junior high school English language
textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
textbooks in Taiwan. In Japan, with only the plan/organize strategy and evaluate strategy, it
would be difficult for learners to complete the cycle of plan, monitor, evaluate as well as to
control their own learning process.
Regarding the use what you know strategies in the authorized English language
textbooks in Japan and Taiwan, Figure 22 indicates that Japan’s textbooks contained more
activities which require learners to share their personal experiences while Taiwan’s textbooks
included more reading comprehension activities which needed learners to read between the
lines in order to answer the questions. Both countries included activities which require
learners to use their knowledge of the real world in junior high school English textbooks.
There were no examples of the transfer/use cognates strategy and substitute/paraphrase
strategy identified in both countries’ junior high school English language textbooks. As
59
0
83
10 0 0 00
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Plan/organize Monitor/identify
problems
Evaluate Manage your
own learning
The
use
of
stra
tegie
s
Japan Taiwan
165
Figure 22. Use what you know strategies in the authorized junior high school English
language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
Figure 23. Use your senses strategies in the authorized junior high school English language
textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
0
1
281
12
33
80
0
0
112
0
87
82
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Substitute/paraphrase
Transfer/use Cognates
Personalize
Make predictions
Make inferences
Use background knowledge
The use of strategies
Taiwan Japan
378 409
39
928
732
160
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summarized in the overview of learning strategies in junior high school textbooks in Japan
and Taiwan, Taiwan’s textbooks contained more use your senses strategies such as the use
sounds strategy and use images strategy than were in Japan’s textbooks. However, among the
three use your senses strategies, Japan’s textbooks included more use your kinesthetic sense
strategy than Taiwan’s did (see Figure 23). This indicated that there were more role-play
activities in junior high school textbooks for Japan than those for Taiwan.
Concerning use organizational skills strategies, junior high school English language
textbooks in Japan had more varieties of strategies than those in Taiwan (see Figure 24).
Among the sub-categories, both Japan’s and Taiwan’s textbooks included many uses of the
find/apply patterns strategy and use selective attention strategy. However, Taiwan’s textbooks
had more listening activities which employed the use selective attention strategy while
Japan’s textbooks had more grammar activities as well as example patterns for learners to
follow. In addition, greater use of the take notes strategy, use graphic organizers strategy,
summarize strategy, and access information sources strategy in Japan’s junior high school
textbooks indicated that Japan’s textbooks had a variety of activities such as presentations
which directed learners to practice different organizational skills. Lastly, the results of use of
the cooperate strategy in the authorized junior high school English language textbooks in
Japan and Taiwan are displayed in Figure 25. There are two points to consider: The first one
is that there were more pair work and group work activities in Japan’s textbooks than in
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Figure 24. Use organizational skills strategies in the authorized junior high school English
language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
Figure 25. Cooperate strategy in the authorized junior high school English language textbook
in Japan and Taiwan.
Taiwan’s. The second point is that there was a tendency to decrease pair work and group
work activities from Grades 7 to 9 in both Japan’s and Taiwan’s textbooks. The changes of
the use of cooperate strategy by academic year will be presented in the section of continuity.
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Strategy use in senior high school in Japan and Taiwan. An overview of learning
strategies in the authorized senior high school English language textbooks and the results of
the two-sample Z-test are summarized in Table 15. Except for the proportion of
metacognitive strategies, the differences in the proportions of use what you know strategies,
use your senses strategies, use organizational skills strategies, and social/affective strategies
were statistically significant. The distribution of each strategy taxonomy in the textbooks
differed between Japan and Taiwan. In Japan, more than half of the activities contained use
organizational skills strategies which accounted for 51.1%, followed by 23.2% of use your
senses strategies, 18.9% of use what you know strategies, 5.4% of social/affective strategies,
and 1.4% of metacognitive strategies. On the other hand, in Taiwan, use organizational skills
strategies accounted for 42.43% and use what you know strategies was 40.52%. Both
categories covered two-thirds of the learning strategies in the textbooks. Proportions for the
other categories were 8.14% for social/affective strategies, 7.93% for use your senses
strategies, and 0.98% of metacognitive strategies. Japan’s and Taiwan’s textbooks had
different arrangements for task-based strategies, however, the small amount of metacognitive
strategies and social/affective strategies was common in both countries’ senior high school
English language textbooks. Due to the neglect of metacognitive strategies, there were only a
few examples of the plan/organize strategy, evaluate strategy, and manage your own learning
strategy (see Figure 26). The results of metacognitive strategies were similar to the ones in
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Table 15
Summary of Learning Strategies in 27 Authorized Senior High School English Language
Textbooks in Japan and Taiwan and Results of Two-Sample Z-Test
Strategy Japan % Taiwan % z p
Metacognitive 31 1.4 43 0.98 1.66 .096
Use what you know 405 18.9 1,778 40.52 -17.43 0***
Use your senses 499 23.2 348 7.93 17.31 0***
Use organizational skills 1,097 51.1 1,862 42.43 6.61 3.94E-11***
Social/affective 115 5.4 357 8.14 -4.08 4.56E-05***
Total 2,147 100 4,388 100
Note. ***p < .001, two-tailed.
junior high school textbooks. Among the four metacognitive strategies, only the
plan/organize strategy and evaluate strategy were included in the activities. With the lack of a
complete cycle of plan, monitor, and evaluate as well as strategies to manage the learning
process, it is difficult for learners in Japan and Taiwan to cultivate their metacognitive
abilities.
Because of greater use of use what you know strategies in Taiwan’s textbooks, there
were more examples of the use background knowledge strategy, make inferences strategy,
and personalize strategy in the activities in the textbooks for senior high school in Taiwan
(see Figure 27). For instance, activities which aimed at encouraging learners’ critical thinking
required learners to apply both background knowledge of various topics and personal
experiences to support their argument while the tasks were introduced. This kind of activity
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Figure 26. Metacognitive strategies in the authorized senior high school English language
textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
was included in each lesson in Taiwan’s senior high school textbooks. Moreover, not only in
the reading comprehension activities but also in the activities which asked learners to guess
the meaning of vocabulary by reading between the lines, the make inferences strategy was
identified. As for use your senses strategies (see Figure 28), both Japan and Taiwan included
the use images strategy in the activities where learners had to use pictures as clues to retrieve
prior knowledge to associate language expressions with various topics. On the other hand,
there were differences in the number of the instances of the use sound strategy between Japan
and Taiwan. While the use sounds strategy was included in Japan’s textbooks in the read
aloud activities, it was employed in Taiwan’s textbooks in the singing songs activities. In
addition, the use your kinesthetic sense strategy was identified in role-play activities in
Taiwan’s senior high school textbooks.
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Figure 27. Use what you know strategies in the authorized senior high school English
language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
Figure 28 Use your senses strategies in the authorized senior high school English language
textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
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Figure 29. Use organizational skills strategies in the authorized senior high school English
language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan.
Figure 30. Cooperate strategy in the authorized senior high school English language textbook
in Japan and Taiwan.
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Figure 29 shows the use organizational skills strategies in the authorized senior high
school English language textbooks in Japan and Taiwan. The find/apply patterns strategy and
use selective attention strategy were the frequently used in Japan’s and Taiwan’s textbooks.
Furthermore, there was a variety of use organizational skills strategies in both countries. The
summarize strategy was identified in the activities where learners had to summarize the ideas
of the main reading text in each lesson. There were writing activities in Taiwan’s textbooks
which required learners to employ the take notes strategy. The access information sources
strategy was recognized in both Japan’s and Taiwan’s textbooks as preparation for
presentation activities. Lastly, the use of the cooperate strategy is shown in Figure 30. The
increasing use of this strategy in Grade 11 and the decreasing use in Grade 12 in Japan were
similar to the pattern in Taiwan. Especially in Japan, the decline in the use of pair work and
group work activities was relatively sharper than the one in Taiwan.
Strategy use from elementary school to senior high school in Japan and Taiwan. In
the previous sections, strategy use at each stage of school education from elementary school
to senior high school was illustrated. In this section, the continuity of learning strategies in
the authorized English language textbooks will be clarified.
The overall changes in each strategy from elementary school to senior high school
were as follows: First, metacognitive strategies were insufficient in the authorized English
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language textbooks from elementary school to senior high school. Although some examples
of the plan/organize strategy and evaluate strategy were identified at each stage, from the
perspective of cultivating learner autonomy, the limited use of metacognitive strategies was a
crucial issue to materials development in both Japan and Taiwan. Secondly, regarding the
task-based strategies, use what you know strategies and use organizational skills strategies
increased from elementary school to senior high school while use your senses strategies
decreased in both Japan and Taiwan. Thirdly, the use of social/affective strategies from
elementary school to senior high school was inconsistent.
Figure 31 presents the differences in the use of the cooperate strategy in Japan and
Taiwan from elementary school to senior high school. The curves showed that Japan and
Taiwan included the pair word and group work activities at each academic stage differently.
On the one hand, in Taiwan, there were many pair work and group work activities in
elementary school textbooks, but the number decreased in junior high school textbooks from
Grades 7 to 9; however, usage increased in senior high school from Grades 10 to 11 but
slightly decreased in Grade 12. The increase of the use of use organizational skills strategy
such as the find/apply patterns strategy and the use selective attention strategy could account
for the decrease of the use of the cooperate strategy from Grade 3 to Grade 9. This might
because that Taiwan’s textbooks included more grammar, listening and reading
comprehension activities in junior high school, within the limited space for contents in each
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Figure 31. Differences in cooperate strategy between Japan and Taiwan from elementary
school to senior high school.
lesson, the pair work and group work activities which contained the cooperate strategy were
excluded. However, these activities were introduced again in senior high school textbooks.
Although the use organizational skills strategies and the use what you know strategies were
the two mainly used categories in senior high school textbooks, because the amount of the
use your senses strategies decreased, there might be space for pair work and group work
activities. Moreover, according to the General Senior High School English Curriculum
Guidelines, one of the objectives of senior high school English is to cultivate learners’ critical
thinking. Discussion activities which require learners to discuss various topics and exchange
ideas with their classmates were introduced in senior high school. As a result, the cooperate
strategy was identified and the amount of the use increased. On the other hand, in Japan, the
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number of pair work and group work activities increased steadily in elementary school from
Grades 3 to 6. There was a sharp increase in junior high school from Grades 7 to 8, but there
was a decrease from Grade 9 and this continued in senior high school from Grades 10 to 12.
The increase of the use of cooperate strategy from elementary school to junior high school
could be explained by considering the textbook volumes in these two academic stages.
However, because senior and junior high school used the same number of the textbook
volumes and the distribution of the social/affective strategies in senior high school was less
than that in junior high school, the decrease in the use of cooperate strategy in senior high
school textbooks might reflect the issue such as a lack of interactive activities. Despite the
Course of Study stating that interactive activities should be introduced in classroom, there
were only a few pair work and group work activities in the textbooks. More than half of the
activities contained the use organizational skills strategies such as the find/apply patterns
strategy and the use selective attention strategy. These strategies were identified in the
grammar, listening, and reading comprehension activities.
Figures 32 and 33 depict the changes in use of metacognitive strategies such as the
plan/organize strategy and evaluate strategy from elementary school to senior high school in
Japan and Taiwan. As for the use of the plan/organize strategy, in Taiwan, it was not until
senior high school that this strategy was identified. It is because that there were no
presentation activities which require learners to prepare for the final presentation by
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Figure 32. Differences in plan/organize strategy between Japan and Taiwan from elementary
school to senior high school.
Figure 33. Differences in evaluate strategy between Japan and Taiwan from elementary
school to senior high school.
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Figure 34. Differences in find/apply patterns strategy between Japan and Taiwan from
elementary school to senior high school.
following steps in elementary and junior high school. In Japan, it was mainly identified in
junior high school but its usage decreased in senior high school. Regarding the evaluate
strategy, in Taiwan, self-evaluation and peer-evaluation were used in elementary school, but
this was not evident in junior high school. Although the strategy was used again in senior
high school, the amount of evaluation activities was small. On the other hand, in Japan, the
evaluate strategy was only identified in junior high school. As stated in the previous section,
it might be essential for learners to acquire metacognitive strategies from elementary school
in order to develop the learner autonomy. Moreover, maintaining the use of the metacognitive
strategies in junior and senior high school could reinforce the development of autonomy.
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Another point regarding the changes in the amount of strategy use was apparent with
the find/apply strategy. There was an overall tendency towards increased use from elementary
school to senior high school in both Japan and Taiwan (see Figure 34). Nevertheless, in
Japan, at the third year of each stage, Grade 9 of junior high school and Grade 12 of senior
high school, a decline in the use of the find/apply patterns strategy was identified. On the
other hand, in Taiwan, the use of the find/apply patterns strategy increased steadily from
elementary school to senior high school. However, it started to decrease from Grade 11 and
Grade 12. The decrease at Grade 9 and 12 in both countries might be considered as the
influence of entrance examinations to senior high school and university. Further discussions
of the results will be described in the next chapter.
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CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION
Based on the results of corpus analysis and learning strategy identification, this chapter
discusses the vocabulary and the learning strategies which were included in the authorized
English language textbooks from elementary school to senior high school.
This study investigated the vocabulary and the learning strategies in the authorized
English language textbooks from the perspective of continuity from elementary school to
senior high school and examined the efficacy of the Course of Study in Japan as well as the
curriculum guidelines such as Grades 1-9 English Curriculum Guidelines and General Senior
High School English Curriculum Guidelines in Taiwan. Six research questions were designed
to answer the following questions:
1. How many words are introduced in the authorized English language textbooks from
elementary school to senior high school in Japan and Taiwan?
2. What are the differences in high-frequency words in the authorized English language
textbooks between Japan and Taiwan from elementary school to senior high school?
3. What are the differences in overlapping rate between the textbook corpora in Japan and
Taiwan as well as the NGSL and the NAWL?
4. What are the differences in learning strategies in the authorized English language
textbooks in Japan and Taiwan from elementary school to senior high school?
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5. Do the learning strategies in the activities of the authorized English language textbooks
conform to the objectives of the Course of Study in Japan and the curriculum guidelines
such as the Grades 1-9 English Curriculum Guidelines and General Senior High School
English Curriculum Guidelines in Taiwan?
6. What kinds of suggestions on vocabulary and learning strategies for the authorized
English language textbooks from elementary school to senior high school could be made?
In order to answer to these research questions, the discussion based on the results of
analysis will be divided into three sections. First, the differences in the continuity of materials
development from elementary school to senior high school between Japan and Taiwan will be
addressed. Second, the differences in vocabulary and strategy use in the authorized English
language textbooks caused by language policy and curriculum guidelines will be explained.
Third, the washback effect of the entrance examinations of senior high school and university
in both Japan and Taiwan will be described.
Continuity: From elementary to senior high school
In this section, how vocabulary and learning strategies were introduced in the
authorized English language textbooks will be discussed based on the continuity of materials
development. Firstly, according to the results of learning strategy identification, the activities
in the textbooks evolved from cognitively-undemanding to cognitively-demanding
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(Cummins, 2008; Robinson, 2003) as the academic year moves from elementary school to
senior high school. Table 16 presents the rank order of the use of strategy taxonomy from
elementary school to senior high school in Japan and Taiwan. Regarding the use your senses
strategies and use organizational skills strategies, approximately half of the activities in the
elementary school textbooks in both countries contained the use your senses strategies
whereas approximately half of the activities in the senior high school textbooks included the
use organizational skills strategies. Junior high school is the transitional stage in which
Taiwan’s textbooks contained a similar amount of two strategy taxonomies while Japan’s
textbooks included more the use organizational skills strategies than the use your senses
strategies. In elementary school, most of the activities required learners to use images,
sounds, and their kinesthetic senses to complete the task. For instance, learners use pictures
and real objects to discover the new words, and focus on the sounds to practice
pronunciation. Young learners mainly rely on their senses to learn when they are exposed to
language. On the other hand, most of the activities in senior high school textbooks required
learners to apply patterns and focus on particular information to process understanding of
listening passages, thus indicating that adolescent learners have reached more mature
cognitive development to complete the tasks. Moreover, the increase in the use of the
summarize strategy in senior high school textbooks also indicated that further cognition
process is needed for the activities. These changes in the use of strategies from elementary
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Table 16
Rank order of the use of strategy taxonomy from elementary school to senior high school in
Japan and Taiwan
Japan % Taiwan %
Elementary
1 Use your senses 44.2 Use your senses 60.2
2 Use organizational skills 20.5 Use organizational skills 18.5
3 Social / affective 20.1 Social / affective 10.8
4 Use what you know 14.8 Metacognitive 8.9
5 Metacognitive 0.4 Use what you know 1.7
Junior high
1 Use organizational skills 44.27 Use your senses 48.88
2 Use your senses 26.52 Use organizational skills 40.92
3 Use what you know 13.07 Use what you know 8.19
4 Social / affective 11.56 Social / affective 2.01
5 Metacognitive 4.59 Metacognitive 0
Senior high
1 Use organizational skills 51.1 Use organizational skills 42.43
2 Use your senses 23.2 Use what you know 40.52
3 Use what you know 18.9 Social / affective 8.14
4 Social / affective 5.4 Use your senses 7.93
5 Metacognitive 1.4 Metacognitive 0.98
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school to senior high school echo to the ideas of Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills
(BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) (Cummins, 1999, 2008). The
concept of BICS and CALP was proposed by Cummins in 1979. It refers to the range of
cognitive demands and contextual support that the language tasks or activities encompass
(Cummins, 2008). According to this distinction, activities which belong to BICS are
conversational, context-embedded, and cognitively undemanding whereas CALP activities
are academic, context-reduced, and cognitively demanding.
The textbooks for elementary school contained the cooperate strategy more
frequently than those for junior and senior high school in both countries. This focus on
interactive activities pointed out the importance to consider young learners’ social
development (Butler, Kang, Kim, & Liu, 2018; Muranoi, 2018). Interactive activities provide
learners with chances of communicating with other. It also needs learners to help each other
during the activities. For young learners at elementary school, because they are at different
stages of development, Muranoi (2018) maintained that when incorporating the interactive
activities such as pair work or group work in classrooms, teachers need to scaffold learners in
order to bridge the gap. From the viewpoint of BICS and CALP, although the textbooks
reflected the patterns of cognitive development, the use sounds strategy identified in the read
aloud activities in Japan’s senior high school textbooks needs to be arranged in order to fit the
cognitive development. Matsui (2016) maintained that teachers have to add production and
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communication elements to those read aloud activities so as to improve the quality of
learning. The activities in elementary school textbooks supported learners to develop the
basic communication skills and those in senior high school textbooks assisted learners to
cultivate academic language abilities. Therefore, learners’ cognition development could be
fostered through various uses of strategies at different academic stages.
Secondly, the results of activity analysis showed that there was a lack of metacognitive
strategies in the authorized textbooks. Among the five categories, metacognitive strategies
were the least used ones from elementary school to senior high school in both countries
except Taiwan’s elementary school textbooks. Since metacognitive strategies play essential
roles in developing learner autonomy (Benson, 2011; Cohen, 2011; Oxford, 2017; Pinter,
2006), to ensure sufficient use of metacognitive is important in terms of materials
development. Metacognitive strategies are regarded as the executor of learning strategies
(Oxford, 2012, 2017). When metacognitive strategies are functioning, the process of
planning, doing, monitoring, and evaluating could assist learners not only to improve their
language use but also strategy use. The lack of metacognitive strategies might have impact on
the development of learner autonomy.
Moreover, there was not only a lack of metacognitive strategies but also a lack of the
varieties of those strategies. As stated in the results of textbook analysis, among the
metacognitive strategies, only the evaluate strategy and the plan/organize strategy were
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identified, and these results further indicated that the cycle of “plan-do-review” (Pinter, 2006)
could not be completed without the monitor strategy and the manage your own learning
strategy. It might not be easy to include the monitor strategy and the manage your own
learning strategy in the activities because, unlike the plan/organize strategy and the evaluate
strategy which are used before and after the tasks, the monitor strategy and the manage your
own learning strategy are used during the task. In order to complete the cycle, instructions
such as underline the unknown words while reading, take notes about the unclear messages
while listening, and write down the words that learners cannot come up with while writing or
speaking could guide learners to be aware of their comprehension and production when they
use language. In this way, learners could learn how to monitor their learning process as well
as their language performance. As for the manage your own learning strategy, explicit
instructions such as to set the timer while doing language activities and to analyze whether or
not the learning environment leads to effective learning could support learners to arrange
their learning conditions. Through adding some steps to language activities, the cycle of
“plan-do-review” could be completed and learner autonomy could be fostered. In addition,
according to Pinter (2006), young learners can become autonomous by doing tasks which
contain metacognitive strategies. Therefore, it is essential to introduce those activities in
elementary school English language textbooks.
The results of vocabulary in the textbooks will be discussed in terms of lexical
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development. The vocabulary size in the textbooks increased steadily from elementary school
to senior high school. However, the repetition rates of the words that reoccurred more than
ten times decreased on the contrary and half of the vocabulary in the textbooks were the
words which occurred from two to nine times. This indicated that the reading texts introduced
new words in each lesson, and this might be the reason that why reoccurrence rates of the
words were low and the percentages of the words which occur only once were high in the
textbook corpora in Japan and Taiwan. Howatt (1978) explained that the difference in
vocabulary between learning and teaching, on the one hand, vocabulary learning is spiral in
order to acquire various aspects of vocabulary knowledge; on the other hand, vocabulary
teaching is linear because materials introduce new vocabulary items and teachers have to
proceed with the new words in each lesson. With only the encounters in the reading texts, it is
insufficient for learners to acquire the words. Therefore, how to acquire and teach vocabulary
effectively has been discussed by researchers for decades (Cohen & Aphek, 1981; Mishan &
Timmis, 2015; O’Malley et al., 1985; Schmitt, 1997; Sokmen, 1997).
When the concept of learning strategies has been introduced to language acquisition,
“many studies dealt indirectly with strategies specifically applicable to vocabulary learning”
(Schmitt, 1997, p. 200). Moreover, O’Malley et al. (1985) pointed out that “Training research
on learning strategies with second languages has been limited almost exclusively to cognitive
applications with vocabulary tasks” (p. 561). As a result, what kinds of strategies could assist
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learners to acquire vocabulary effectively have been researched. Schmitt (1997) listed the
taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) and it could be divided into two
taxonomies: strategies to discover new vocabulary and strategies to consolidate vocabulary
knowledge. They are determination strategies, social strategies, memory strategies, cognitive
strategies, and metacognitive strategies. These VLSs are similar to the general learning
strategies and activities based on the VLS have been developed. Cohen and Aphek (1981)
stated that learners at different proficiency levels could use different types of VLS. For
instance, shallower activities which contain less contents which might distract them are
appropriate for beginning learners whereas deeper activities which require learners to work
with the context are effective for intermediate or advanced learners (Cohen and Aphek,
1981). In addition, Sokmen (1997) stated that including personalization and image element
could assist learners’ retention. Mishan and Timmis (2015) recommended that guessing from
the context, using flash cards or a dictionary, and applying word parts to vocabulary learning
could be implemented in materials to facilitate vocabulary acquisition. These VLSs echo the
learning strategy category (Chamot, 2009) used in this study. For instance, the make
inference strategy needs learners to guess the meaning of the words from the context while
reading. The use background knowledge strategy and the personalize strategy require learners
to apply the words which relate to the specific topics. The access information sources strategy
asks learners to look the words up in the dictionary. Learners employ the use image strategy
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to discover new words and apply the use sounds strategy to rote repetition. These strategies
present the connection between VLS and the learning strategies used in textbook activities.
Differences caused by language policy and curriculum guidelines
In this section, the efficacy of the curriculum guidelines in Japan and Taiwan will be
discussed based on the vocabulary and the learning strategies. Firstly, regarding the
vocabulary size, Taiwan’s textbooks contained more words than Japan’s textbooks did at each
academic stage. For elementary school textbooks in Taiwan, there were more words selected
in the textbooks than the target numbers that the curriculum guidelines set. MOE (2008a)
stated that learners need to acquire 180 written words and 300 spoken words at elementary
school and 1,200 words for basic level at junior high school. Comparing these goals with the
results of vocabulary analysis, the lemmas in Taiwan’s elementary school textbooks, 928
lemma words in Dino on the Go, 1,118 lemma words in Hello! Kids, and 1,364 lemma words
in Story.com, were far beyond the goals set by the curriculum guidelines. The results are
similar to the ones in Huang’s (2008) and Tseng’s (2008) studies. Previous studies showed
that some of the words in elementary school textbooks are beyond its level and some are even
beyond the junior high school level. Moreover, the gap in vocabulary size between
elementary and junior high school has also been discussed. Due to the obvious gap between
the authorized textbooks and the curriculum guidelines, Yang (2006) suggested that the
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number of the target words should be increased to 600 to 700 words for elementary school
from a pedagogical perspective. If the changes are made, the gap in vocabulary size between
elementary school and junior high school could be narrowed and the learning burden could
also be reduced.
On the other hand, in Japan, the differences in the amount of vocabulary between
Let’s Try and We Can and the listening scripts in the teacher’s books indicated that learners in
elementary school mainly receive input of vocabulary in the spoken form rather than the
written form. During the transitional phase of teaching English as a subject at elementary
school in Japan, the English lessons basically focus on listening and speaking. However,
when English becomes a subject, reading and writing will be included in lessons. Vocabulary
in the written form is necessary for learners to acquire vocabulary knowledge in different
aspects. Therefore, the authorized English textbooks for elementary school should present the
words in the written form in order to provide better quality of vocabulary learning. Regarding
junior high school, the number of words introduced in Japan’s textbooks was close to the
1,200-word goal set by MEXT. However, the revision of the Course of Study stated that
learners at junior high school should acquire 1,600 to 1,800 words. This indicated that more
words should be included to meet the revised goals when the textbooks are revised in the
future.
As for the vocabulary size in senior high school textbooks, in Taiwan, the textbooks
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did not provide learners with sufficient number of words to meet the 4,500-word goal for
basic level as well as the 7,000-word goal for advanced level. The results are similar to Kao’s
(2014) study. It is reported that the insufficiency of vocabulary could explain why most senior
high school students go to the cram school. In order to prepare themselves for the university
entrance examinations, learners need additional materials to acquire more words. On the
other hand, in Japan, the vocabulary size varied in different senior high school textbook
series. The results indicated that the vocabulary presented in the textbooks were influenced
by the difficulty levels and this implies the washback effect of university entrance
examination. The discussion about the washback effect of university entrance examination
will be illustrated in next section.
Secondly, the relation between the curriculum guidelines and the authorized textbooks
will be discussed in terms of the repetitions of vocabulary. As explained in the previous
section, one of the reasons why there were limited repetitions of vocabulary in the textbooks
was the linear characteristic of introducing new words in each lesson. In junior and senior
high school textbook corpora, only the main reading texts in the lessons were included so the
repetition rates were low. Comparing the repetition rates in junior and senior high school
textbooks with the ones in elementary school, the higher rates in elementary school textbooks
indicated that the activities could provide more encounters with vocabulary for learners to
consolidate vocabulary knowledge. In addition to this, how extensive reading is interwoven
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in the curriculum guidelines could also explain the results of the repetition. Because the
limited repetitions of the words in the reading texts, the Course of Study in Japan and the
curriculum guidelines in Taiwan stated that extensive reading could support learners to
increase the exposure to vocabulary (MEXT, 2010; MOE, 2008a, 2008b). Using the
supplementary reading materials outside the classroom could overcome the limitation of the
authorized textbooks in terms of repetition.
Another point relates to the efficacy of the curriculum guidelines is the reference word
lists provided by MOE and CEEC in Taiwan. The reference word lists led to the differences
in vocabulary selection in the textbooks between Japan and Taiwan. The results of the tokens
and lemmas in the textbooks showed that Taiwan’s textbooks contained a similar amount of
words at each stage while Japan’s textbooks had a variation in vocabulary size among
different textbook series. The amount of words in Japan’s junior and senior high school
textbooks was influenced by proficiency levels whereas with the amount of words in
Taiwan’s junior and senior high school textbooks there were no evident differences among
different textbook series. Moreover, the overlapping rates between Taiwan’s textbooks and
the reference word lists indicated that the textbooks select vocabulary based on the word lists.
In Taiwan, since the “one-principle-multiple-textbook policy” (Cheung, 2012) has been
adopted, there are various publishers publishing English language textbooks. In order to
minimize the differences between different textbook series, the reference word lists play
193
important roles in vocabulary selection.
Thirdly, in terms of the insufficiency of metacognitive strategies and the presentation
of vocabulary at each level, the introduction of the Can-Do lists could play a role in bridging
the gap between the authorized textbooks and the curriculum guidelines. The Can-Do lists
need vocabulary as linguistic materials to create substantial contents for instruction (Tono,
2017). Furthermore, using the Can-Do lists requires learners to apply the metacognitive
strategies to complete the “plan-do-review” cycle. Hence, the Can-Do lists help learners not
only improve language proficiency but also foster learner autonomy. Japan introduced the
Can-Do lists to English education at each academic stage to set and evaluate the attainment
goals of English language learning. It is based on the concept of lifelong learning which has
been promoted in both Japan’s Course of Study and Taiwan’s curriculum guidelines.
According to the Council of Europe (2001), learner’s role as a social agent forms the goals of
language learning. Strategies are crucial to this point because “the agent’s use of strategies
linked to their competences and how they perceive or imagine the situation to be and on the
other, the task or tasks to be accomplished in a specific context under particular conditions”
(p. 15). By employing strategies, learners could function effectively in various contexts. In
other words, learners become autonomous and keep learning through their lifetime.
As stated in previous sections, metacognitive strategies are crucial to fostering learner
autonomy. However, the results showed that there is a lack of metacognitive strategies in the
194
authorized English language textbooks from elementary to senior high school. In addition to
adapting the activities, introducing the Can-Do lists is one of the ways to achieve the goals of
cultivating learner autonomy. Teachers and learners not only can plan the learning goals for
lessons and academic years but also can evaluate the learning outcome as well as
performance by using the Can-Do lists (Ozeki, 2013). In fact, the numbers of senior high
schools which are using Can-Do lists have increased from 69.6% in 2015, 88.1% in 2016, to
94.5% in 2017 since the suggestions about introducing Can-Do lists into the classroom were
made (MEXT, 2016; MEXT, 2017, MEXT, 2018). However, most of the senior high schools
have created their own Can-Do lists, but the lists are not being applied to classroom activities
(Hayase, 2017). The Can-Do descriptors are provided for reception, interaction, and
production which can be applied to develop learners’ language abilities in five skills: reading,
listening, speaking production, speaking interaction, and writing. In order to make a full use
of the Can-Do lists, self-evaluation or peer-evaluation after activities helps learners see what
they can do as well as what they cannot do among the five skills. Besides evaluating the
language use, learners can also assess their learning process like how did they participate in
class (Ozeki, 2018). This evaluation process can help learners become aware of their own
learning and leads to self-regulation. However, it is time-consuming for teachers to prepare
these evaluation materials. If the authorized English language textbooks could provide
several basic patterns of evaluation based on Can-Do lists, teachers could use them and adapt
195
them to fit their learners’ needs.
Washback effect of entrance examinations
The third part of the discussion will focus on the washback effect of entrance
examinations to senior high school and university on the vocabulary and learning strategies in
the authorized English language textbooks. In the consequences of assessment, washback
effect is defined as “the effects of an assessment on learning and instruction in an educational
system” (Bachman & Palmer, 2010, p.109). Stakeholders such as teachers, test takers,
educational system, and society are all influenced by the advantageous and disadvantageous
effects that testing has on teaching and learning (Hughes, 2003). In order to obtain high
scores, learners spend considerable time and effort preparing for the entrance examinations to
senior high school and university and teachers teach in the ways to help learners obtain high
scores. Sometimes teachers have to teach in the ways that are different to their own beliefs
and perceptions on the particular teaching methods, materials, and activities in order to assist
learners to pass the examinations (Bachman & Palmer, 2010). The washback effect usually
happens when the assessments are high-stake. In Japan and Taiwan, entrance examinations to
university are very high-stake because the results of the examinations will be used to make
major decisions about learners’ future. As Bachman and Palmer (2010) stated that:
196
“High-stake nationwide public examinations are used for selecting and placing
individuals into higher levels of the school system or into universities, teaching may be
focused on the syllabus of the test for several years before the actual examination, and the
specific techniques for responding to examination tasks may be practiced in class” (p. 106)
Under this circumstance, it is predictable that the teaching materials are influenced by
the washback effect in Japan and Taiwan. In Japan, there are two types of university entrance
examinations: the Center Test, and the entrance examinations provided by each university
divided by the rankings of proficiency levels. For the Center Test, learners take the test on the
same dates and the questions of the subjects are also the same. On the other hand, for the
entrance examinations provided by each university, the subjects, the ways of testing are
various and are decided by university. The latter type of entrance examination can also be
divided according to the academic level of universities. In Taiwan, there are also two types of
university entrance examinations: the General Scholastic Ability Test (GSAT), and the
Advanced Subjects Test (AST). Although the academic level is different between them, the
two tests are held under the same condition. Learners take the tests on the same day and the
questions of the subjects are all the same. This could explain why the vocabulary in Taiwan’s
textbooks was similar among different textbook series whereas the vocabulary in Japan’s
textbooks were varied between different proficiency levels. As reported in previous studies,
197
the vocabulary in the authorized textbooks for senior high school in Japan were sufficient to
prepare for the Center Test but not for the entrance examinations provided by university,
especially for higher-ranking universities (Chujo & Hasegawa, 2004; Matsuo, 2000; Tani,
2008). Furthermore, in Japan, the English proficiency tests such as TOEIC, TOEFL, IELTS,
TEAP, and Eiken will be utilized for university entrance examinations since 2020. It is
essential to develop materials which could support learners to build vocabulary they need for
preparation for these tests.
Not only vocabulary but also learning strategies were influenced by the washback
effect, especially the use of strategies in senior high school textbooks. The results of strategy
identification of senior high school showed that both Japan and Taiwan put more emphasis on
grammar and reading than other skills in the textbook. Although the curriculum guidelines
stated that all the four skills should be developed, reading has always been highlighted in
textbooks and in classrooms because of the washback effect of university entrance
examinations (O’ki, 2015; Ota, 2017). In senior high school textbooks, the number of the use
of the make inferences strategy in reading comprehension activities as well as the find/apply
patterns strategy in grammar activities increased. Furthermore, the use of the cooperate
strategy in interactive activities in the third year of senior high school decreased. Taiwan’s
senior high school textbooks included the find/apply patterns strategy to teach writing
template for the university entrance examination. These results indicated that the textbooks
198
for senior high school received more impact from the washback effect than from the
curriculum guidelines. In order to have better materials development, a change in the
university entrance examinations is necessary. Bachman and Palmer (2010) maintained that
“If the content of the assessment is aligned with the goals and objectives of instruction and
with instructional activities, then teaching to the test may become an aspect of positive
impact on instruction.” In Japan, MEXT (2013) declared that use of the external English tests
which assess the four skills will be introduced to university entrance examination in 2020.
With this change in the university entrance examination, positive washback effect might lead
to changes in the vocabulary and the activities in the authorized senior high school English
textbooks.
To sum up, the results of the vocabulary and the learning strategies in the authorized
English language textbooks were discussed from the perspective of continuity from
elementary school to senior high school. It indicated that the efficacy of the curriculum
guidelines was also one influential factor in materials development. However, when it comes
to senior high school, the washback effect of the university entrance examinations seems to
be more powerful than the curriculum guidelines. Therefore, changes in university entrance
examinations are expected to connect the textbooks, curriculum guidelines, and entrance
examinations.
199
CHAPTER SIX
CONCLUSION
This study analyzed the vocabulary and the learning strategies in the authorized
English language textbooks from elementary school to senior high school in Japan and
Taiwan. Through the comparative analysis, the understanding of the current English language
teaching materials in both countries was deepened and the suggestions on materials
development based on the continuity in Japan could be made. Firstly, this chapter summarizes
the major findings of this study and describes the implications for materials development.
Secondly, the limitations in the present study and the suggestions for future studies will be
explained.
Summary of findings
Regarding the vocabulary in the textbooks, Taiwan’s textbooks contained more tokens
and lemmas than Japan’s textbooks did from elementary school to senior high school. In
Japan, although Let’s Try and We Can had only a limited amount of vocabulary, when the
listening scripts in the teacher’s books were added, the amount of vocabulary in Japan’s
elementary school textbooks was similar to the amount of words in Taiwan’s textbooks. This
indicated that young learners in Japan are exposed to the words in the spoken form rather
than the written form. In Taiwan, the textbooks for elementary school presented more words
200
than the amount set by the curriculum guidelines. Moreover, as for senior high school, there
were no evident differences in vocabulary size among different textbook series in Taiwan
whereas the variations of vocabulary size among textbook series were obvious in Japan. As
for the repetition rate, Taiwan’s elementary school textbooks contained more words which
reoccurred more than ten times than Japan’s textbooks did. However, for junior and senior
high school, the repetitions of vocabulary were insufficient in both countries. This indicated
that new words were introduced in each lesson and reflected the linear characteristics of
vocabulary teaching. The results of lexical difficulty showed that both Japan’s and Taiwan’s
junior and senior high school textbooks covered a certain amount of the high frequency
vocabulary. The level of vocabulary in Taiwan’s senior high school textbooks was higher than
in Japan’s textbooks due to the adaptation of authentic materials.
Regarding the learning strategies in the textbooks, firstly, except for the elementary
school English textbooks in Taiwan, Japan’s elementary school textbook as well as junior and
senior high school textbooks in both countries did not contain sufficient use of metacognitive
strategies. This indicated that it is difficult to cultivate learner autonomy by using those
textbooks. Secondly, the results of the use of the task-based strategies from elementary school
to senior high school showed that the activities evolved from cognitively-undemanding to
cognitively-demanding. This reflected learners’ cognitive development at different academic
stages. Thirdly, the results of the find/apply patterns strategy indicated that the activities in
201
senior high school textbooks were influenced by the washback effect of university entrance
examinations.
Implications for materials development
In order to synchronize the changes in the Course of Study with materials development
and to reduce the washback effect of university entrance examinations, pedagogical
implications could be made based on the results. First, in terms of vocabulary, reference word
lists developed by educational institutions are essential in Japan. The variations of vocabulary
were evident among different textbook series. In order to ensure the quality of vocabulary
learning and teaching, a reference word list could support the textbook publishers to select
words, and thus could reduce the variations among different series.
Second, for elementary school, to include sufficient vocabulary in written forms is
crucial to materials development in Japan. The current teaching materials only presented a
small amount of words in written form. Most of the words that learners are exposed to were
in spoken form. When English is introduced as a subject in elementary school in Japan,
reading and writing are implemented and the written forms of vocabulary are necessary. As
for the learning strategies, due to the lack of the metacognitive strategies, arrangements of
activities which contain the plan/organize strategy, the monitor strategy, the evaluate strategy,
and the manage your own learning strategy are needed. Moreover, interactive activities which
202
contain the cooperate strategy are also essential in order to cultivate the communicative
abilities. However, it takes considerable time for the publishers and the educational
institutions to revise and examine textbooks. Due to the cycle of textbook examination,
reflecting the changes in the curriculum guidelines on the authorized English language
textbooks is an urgent issue.
Limitation and suggestions for further studies
The research design of the textbook analysis was quantitative and it provides the
understanding of the current authorized English language textbooks. However, in reality, the
authorized textbooks are not always implemented by teachers and learners in the ways they
are set. Without the qualitative data, textbook analysis does not necessarily reflect the real
situation in the classrooms. A qualitative or mixed-methods research design to thicken the
investigation on materials development is crucial, and observation on the classroom activities
as well as interviews with teachers and learners could be conducted in further studies.
This study included only the reading texts of the lessons in the junior and senior high
school textbook corpus data. In order to obtain more information about vocabulary in the
textbooks, adding the words used in the activities and analyzing the differences between
receptive and productive vocabulary could provide critical understanding of vocabulary
teaching and learning in the school context.
203
Finally, the objectives of the curriculum guidelines are designed to develop the
language skills, the learner autonomy, and the intercultural understanding. This study only
investigated the linguistic and the cognitive-developmental aspects. Further studies on how
foreign cultures are introduced in the textbooks could be conducted by content analysis. In
this way, whether or not the authorized textbooks develop intercultural understanding could
be clarified.
204
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