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.

1

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

2

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

3

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

4

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)

5

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

6

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.

7

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

8

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,

9

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

10

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

11

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

12

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

13

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

14

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

15

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

16

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

17

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

18

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, &

19

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

20

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

21

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,

22

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

61

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

62

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

65

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

67

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

68

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

69

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

70

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

71

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

72

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

73

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

74

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

75

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

76

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.

77

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

78

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;

79

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

80

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

81

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

82

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

83

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

84

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 &

85

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

86

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

87

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

88

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

89

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

90

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

91

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

92

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.

93

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.

94

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

95

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

96

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

97

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

98

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.

99

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

100

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

101

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

102

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

103

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

104

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

105

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

106

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,

107

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

108

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.

109

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).

110

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

111

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

112

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

113

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

114

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.

115

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

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

Use images Use sounds Use your kinesthetic

sense

The

use

of

stra

tegie

s

Japan Taiwan

166

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

167

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.

22

55

12

112

601

0

577

8

3

4

4

965

0

419

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200

Access information sources

Summarize

Use graphic organizers

Take notes

Use selective attention

Classify/sequence

Find/apply patterns

The use of strategies

Taiwan Japan

134126

100

36

19 140

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Grade 7 Grade 8 Grade 9

The

use

of

stra

tegie

s

Japan

Taiwan

168

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

169

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

170

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.

30

0 0 1

29

0

14

00

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Plan/organize Monitor/identify

problems

Evaluate Manage your

own learning

The

use

of

stra

tegie

s

Japan Taiwan

171

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.

0

0

155

0

148

102

0

0

673

17

575

513

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

Substitute/paraphrase

Transfer/use cognates

Personalize

Make predictions

Make inferences

Use background knowledge

The use of strategies

Taiwan Japan

208

289

2

278

12

58

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Use images Use sounds Use your kinesthetic

sense

The

use

of

stra

tegie

s

Japan Taiwan

172

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.

21

98

9

8

472

0

489

37

127

10

62

647

4

975

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200

Access information sources

Summarize

Use graphic organizers

Take notes

Use selective attention

Classify/sequence

Find/apply patterns

The use of strategies

Taiwan Japan

4553

17

100

132125

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Grade 10 Grade 11 Grade 12

The

use

of

stra

tegie

s

Japan

Taiwan

173

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

174

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

175

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

17 19

34 32

134126

100

4553

17

101

75

50 49

36

1914

100

132125

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Grade

3

Grade

4

Grade

5

Grade

6

Grade

7

Grade

8

Grade

9

Grade

10

Grade

11

Grade

12

The

use

of

stra

tegie

s

Japan

Taiwan

176

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

177

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.

0 01

0

15

24

20

10

12

8

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

7

18

4

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Grade

3

Grade

4

Grade

5

Grade

6

Grade

7

Grade

8

Grade

9

Grade

10

Grade

11

Grade

12

The

use

of

stra

tegie

s

Japan

Taiwan

0 0 1 0

31

26 26

0 0 0

55 56

64

52

0 0 0 0

86

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Grade

3

Grade

4

Grade

5

Grade

6

Grade

7

Grade

8

Grade

9

Grade

10

Grade

11

Grade

12

The

use

of

stra

tegie

s

Japan

Taiwan

178

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.

0 0 2 7

232220

125

213237

3912 15

34 37

135 141 143

368

335

272

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

Grade

3

Grade

4

Grade

5

Grade

6

Grade

7

Grade

8

Grade

9

Grade

10

Grade

11

Grade

12

The

use

of

stra

tegie

s

Japan

Taiwan

179

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.

180

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?

181

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

182

(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

183

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

184

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

185

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

186

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

187

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

188

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

189

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

190

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

191

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

192

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

References

Akano, I., Hori, M., & Tono, Y. (2014). Eigo kyōshi no tame no kōpasu katsuyō gaido [A

practical guide to using corpora in English language teaching]. Tokyo, Japan:

Taishukan Shoten.

Anderson, P. A., Hecht, M. L., Hoobler, G. D., & Smallwood, M. (2002). Nonverbal

communication across cultures. In W. B. Gudykunst, & B. Mody. (Eds.), Handbook of

international and intercultural communication (pp. 89-106). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Publications.

Anderson, R. C., & Freebody, P. (1981). Vocabulary knowledge. In J. T. Guthrie. (Ed.),

Comprehension and teaching: Research Reviews (pp. 77-117). Newark, DE:

International Reading Association.

Anthony, L. (2018). AntConc (Version 3.5.7) [Computer Software]. Tokyo, Japan: Waseda

University. Available from http://www.laurenceanthony.net/software

Anthony, L. (2014). AntWordProfiler (Version 1.4.0) [Computer Software]. Tokyo, Japan:

Waseda University. Available from http://www.laurenceanthony.net/software

Bachman, L., & Palmer, A. (2010). Language assessment in practice: Developing language

assessments and justifying their use in the real world. Oxford, England: Oxford

University Press.

Bennett, G. R. (2010). Using corpora in the language learning classroom: Corpus linguistics

205

for teachers. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Benson, P. (2011). Teaching and researching autonomy. Harlow, England: Pearson

Education.

Brezina, V., & Gablasova, D. (2015). Is there a core general vocabulary? Introducing the New

General Service List. Applied Linguistics, 36(1), 1-22.

Bright, J. A., & McGregor, G. P. (1977). Teaching English as a second language. London,

England: Longman.

Brown, P., & Levinson, S. (1978). Universals in language usage: Politeness phenomena. In E.

N. Goody (Ed.), Questions and politeness: Strategies in social interaction (pp. 56-289).

Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Browne, C. (2013). The New General Service List: Celebrating 60 years of vocabulary

learning. The Language Teacher, 37(4), 13-16.

Browne, C., Culligan, B., & Phillips, J. (2013). The New Academic Word List. Retrieved from

http://www.newgeneralservicelist.org

Browne, C., Culligan, B., & Phillips, J. (2013). The New General Service List. Retrieved

from http://www.newgeneralservicelist.org

Bruner, J. S. (1960). The process of education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Butler, Y. G. (2009). Issues in the assessment and evaluation of English language education at

the elementary school level: Implications for policies in South Korea, Taiwan, and

206

Japan. The Journal of Asia TEFL, 6(2), 1-31.

Butler, Y. G. (2015). English language education among young learners in East Asia: A

review of current research (2004–2014). Language Teaching, 48(3), 303-342.

doi:10.1017/S0261444815000105

Butler, Y. G., Kang, K. I., Kim, H., & Liu, Y. (2018). ‘Task’ appearing in primary school

textbooks. ELT Journal, 72(3), 285-295.

Cambridge ESOL. (2011). Using the CEFR: Principles of good practice. Cambridge,

England: Cambridge ESOL. Retrieved from http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images

/126011-using-cefr-principles-of-good-practice.pdf

Chamot, A. U. (2009). The CALLA handbook: Implementing the cognitive academic

language learning approach. New York, NY: Pearson Education.

Cheung, H. (2012). Academic perspectives from Taiwan. In M. Byram & L. Parmenter

(Eds.), The Common European Framework of Reference: The globalization of

language education policy (pp. 224-230). Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters.

Ching, L. T. S. (2001). Becoming" Japanese": Colonial Taiwan and the politics of identity

formation. London, England: University of California Press.

Chujo, K. (2004). Measuring vocabulary levels of English textbooks and tests using a BNC

lemmatised high frequency word list. Language and Computers, 51(1), 231-249.

Chujo, K. (2015). Eigo kyōkasho kōpasu no kōchiku to riyō: Senkō kenkyū no gaikan

207

[Construction and use of English textbook corpus: Overview of previous research].

English Corpus Studies, 22, 77-85.

Chujo, K., & Hasegawa, S. (2004). Goi no kabā-ritsu to rīdabiriti kara mita daigaku eigo

nyūshimondai no gaido [Assessing Japanese college entrance examinations using JSH

text coverage and readability indices]. Nihon University College of Industrial

Technology Research Report B, 37, 45-55.

Chujo, K., Hasegawa, S., & Nishigaki, C. (2008). 1980 nendai to 2000 nendai no koutou

gakkou eigo kyoukasho goi [An analysis of senior high school English textbook

vocabulary in the 1980s and 2000s]. Journal of the College of Industrial Technology

Nihon University B, 41, 57-90.

Chujo, K., Nishigaki, C., Hasegawa, S., & Utiyama, M. (2008). Yutori kyōiku jidai no kōkō

kyōkasho goi o kangaeru - 1980-nendai to 2000-nendai no kōkō eigo kyōkasho goi no

hikaku bunseki kara no kōsatsu – [High school textbook vocabulary in the "more

relaxed education" era: A comparative analysis of high school English textbook

vocabulary from the 1980s to the 2000s]. English Corpus Studies, 15, 57-79.

Chujo, K., Nishigaki, C., & Miyazaki, K. (2009). Shōgakkō 5 6-nensei `eigo nōto' no goi

ichiran [Vocabulary list of the 5th and 6th grades English Note]. Journal of the College

of Industrial Technology Nihon University, 42, 99-115.

Chujo, K., Nishigaki, C., Yoshimori, T., & Nishioka, N. (2007). Sho-chū-kō ikkan-gata eigo

208

goi shirabasu kaihatsu no tame no kiso kenkyū [Towards compiling a national syllabus

for Japanese English vocabulary]. LET Journal, 44, 23-42.

Chujo, K., Yoshimori, T., Hasegawa, S., Nishigaki, C., & Yamazaki, A. (2007). Kōtō gakkō

eigo kyōkasho no goi [The vocabulary of selected high school English textbooks].

Nihon University College of Industrial Technology Research Report B, 40, 71-92.

Coady, J., & Huckin, T. (1997). Second language vocabulary acquisition: A rationale for

pedagogy. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Cohen, A.D. (2007). Coming to terms with language learner strategies: Survey the experts. In

A.D. Cohen & E. Macaro (Eds.), Language learner strategies: Thirty years of research

and practice (pp. 29-45). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Cohen, A. D. (2011). Strategies in learning and using a second language. Harlow, England:

Pearson Education.

Cohen, A. D., & Aphek, E. (1981). Easifying second language learning. Studies in Second

Language Acquisition, 3(2), 221-236.

Cohen, A.D., & Scott, K. (1996). A synthesis of approaches to assessing language learning

strategies. In R. L. Oxford (Ed.), Language learning strategies around the world:

Cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 89-106). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii, Second

Language Teaching & Curriculum Center.

College Entrance Examination Center (CEEC). (2002). “Dàkǎo zhōngxīn gāozhōng yīngwén

209

cānkǎo cíhuì biǎo” biānxiū yánjiū jì huà bàogào (dì èr qí) [English reference word list

for College Entrance Examinations: Research report on compilation (Second phase)].

Retrieved from http://www.ceec.edu.tw/Research/paper_doc/ce37/ce37.htm

Council of Europe. (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for languages:

Learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Coxhead, A. (2000). A new academic word list, TESOL Quarterly, 34(2), 213-238.

Coxhead, A. (2016). Reflecting on Coxhead (2000), “A new academic word list”, TESOL

Quarterly, 50(1), 181-185.

Crawford, J. (2002). The role of materials in the language classroom: Finding the balance. In

J.C. Richards & W. A. Renandya (Eds), Methodology in language teaching: An

anthology of current practice. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Cummins, J. (1999). BICS and CALP: Clarifying the distinction. Washington, DC: Opinion

Papers. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 438 551)

Cummins, J. (2008). BICS and CALP: Empirical and theoretical status of the distinction. In

Encyclopedia of language and education (pp. 487-499). Boston, MA: Springer.

Day, R. R., & Bamford, J. (1998). Extensive reading in the second language classroom.

Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second

language acquisition. New York, NY: Routledge.

210

Dörnyei, Z., & Ryan, S. (2015). The psychology of the language learner revisited. New York,

NY: Routledge.

Ellis, R., & Shintani, N. (2013). Exploring language pedagogy through second language

acquisition research. New York, NY: Routledge.

Enever, J. (2015). The advantages and disadvantages of English as a foreign language with

young learners. In J. Bland (Ed.), Teaching English to young learners: Critical issues

in language teaching with 3-12 year olds (pp. 13-29). New York, NY: Bloomsbury

Publishing.

Erikawa, H., Saito, Y., Torikai, K., & Otsu, Y. (2014). Gakkō eigo kyōiku wa nan'notame

[Why teach English at school?]. Tokyo, Japan: Hituzi Syobo.

Educational Testing Service (ETS). (2008). Test and score data summary for TOEFL internet-

based and paper-based tests. Retrieved from https://www.ets.org/Media

/Research/pdf/71943_web.pdf

Educational Testing Service (ETS). (2017). Test and score data summary for TOEFL iBT

tests. Retrieved from http://www.ets.org/s/toefl/pdf/94227_unlweb.pdf

Flavell, J. H. (1979). Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive–

developmental inquiry. American Psychologist, 34(10), 906-911.

Folse, K. S. (2004). Vocabulary myths. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Folse, K. (2011). Applying L2 lexical research findings in ESL teaching. TESOL Quarterly,

211

45(2), 362-369.

Fwu, B. J., & Wang, H. H. (2002). The social status of teachers in Taiwan. Comparative

Education, 38(2), 211-224.

Gardner, D., & Davies, M. (2013). A new academic vocabulary list. Applied Linguistics,

35(3), 305-327.

Gilner, L. (2011). A Primer on the General Service List. Reading in a Foreign Language,

23(1), 65-83.

Goffman, E. (1999). On face-work: An analysis of ritual elements in social interaction. In A.

Jaworski & N. Coupland (Eds.), The discourse reader (pp. 306-320). New York, NY:

Routledge. (Excerpted from On face-work: An analysis of ritual elements in social

interaction. Psychiatry, 18, 213-231.)

Goulden, R., Nation, P., & Read, J. (1990). How large can a receptive vocabulary be? Applied

Linguistics, 11(4), 341-363.

Gregersen, T., & MacIntyre, P. D. (2013). Capitalizing on language learners' individuality:

From premise to practice (Vol. 72). Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters.

Grenfell, M., & Macaro, E. (2007). Claims and critiques. In A.D. Cohen & E. Macaro (Eds.),

Language learner strategies: Thirty years of research and practice (pp. 9-28). Oxford,

England: Oxford University Press.

Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In P. Cole & J. L. Morgan (Eds.). Syntax and

212

semantics: Speech acts (pp. 41-58). New York, NY: Academic Press.

Grieve, J. (2007). Quantitative authorship attribution: An evaluation of techniques. Literary

and Linguistic Computing, 22(3), 251-270.

Griffiths, C. (2003). Patterns of language learning strategy use. System, 31(3), 367-383.

Hajer, M., Meestringa, T., Park, Y. Y., & Oxford, R. L. (1996). How print materials provide

strategy instruction. In R. L. Oxford (Ed.), Language learning strategies around the

world: Cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 119-140). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii,

Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center.

Hall, E. T. (1976). Beyond culture. New York, NY: Anchor Press, Doubleday.

Hasegawa, S., & Chujo, K. (2004). Gakushū shidō yōryō no kaitei ni tomonau gakkō eigo

kyōkasho goi no jidai-teki henka: 1980-Nendai kara genzaimade [Chronological

change of vocabulary in English textbooks based on the revision of Course of Study:

From the 1980's to the present]. Language Education and Technology, 41, 141-155.

Hasegawa, S., Chujo, K., & Nishigaki, C. (2008). Chūkou eigo kentei kyoukasho goi no

jitsuyousei no kenshou [Examining the utility of authorized junior and senior high

school English textbook vocabulary]. Nihon University College of Industrial

Technology Research Report B, 41, 49-56.

Hayase, H. (2017). Jiki gakushū shidō yōryō ga mezasu eigo kyōiku no tenbō to kadai.

[Prospects and problems of the new Course of Study for English education]. Journal of

213

Graduate School of Teacher Education, Saga University, 1, 115-126.

Higuchi, T., Kagata, T., Izumi, E., & Kinugasa, T. (2017). Shōgakkō eigo kyōiku-hō nyūmon

[An introduction to English education in elementary school]. Tokyo, Japan:

Kenkyusha.

Hofstede, G., & Bond, M. H. (1988). The Confucius connection: From cultural roots to

economic growth. Organizational Dynamics, 16(4), 5-21.

Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and

organizations across nations. London, England: Sage Publications.

Hofstede, G., & Hofstede, G. J. (2005). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind.

New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Howatt, A. (1978). The background to course design. In J. P. B. Allen & S. Pit Corder. (Eds.),

Techniques in applied linguistics. Vol. 3 (pp. 1-23). Oxford, England: Oxford

University Press.

Howatt, A. P. R., & Widdowson, H.G. (2004). A history of English language teaching (2nd

ed.). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Huang, Y. C. (2008). Corpus analysis of vocabulary in English textbooks for elementary

schools. (Unpublished master’s thesis). Graduate School of Children English

Education, National Taipei University of Education, Taiwan.

Hunston, S. (2002). Corpora in applied linguistics. Cambridge, England: Cambridge

214

University Press.

Hyland, K., & Tse, P. (2007). Is there an “academic vocabulary”? TESOL Quarterly, 41(2),

235-253.

Ishikawa, S. (2008). Eigo kōpasu to gengo kyouiku: dēta to shite no tekusuto [English corpus

and language education: Text as data]. Tokyo, Japan: Taishukan Shoten.

Ishikawa, S. (2012). Bēshikkukōpasu gengo-gaku [A basic guide to corpus linguistics].

Tokyo, Japan: Hituzi Shobo.

JACET Committee of Basic Words Revision. (2016). Daigaku eigo kyōiku gakkai kihon-go

risuto shin JACET 8000 [The new JACET list of 8000 basic words]. Tokyo, Japan:

Kirihara Shoten.

Japan External Trade Organization. (2017). Jetoro sekai bōeki tōshi hōkoku [JETRO world

trade and investment report]. Retrieved from: https://www.jetro.go.jp/world/gtir/

2017.html#shiryo

Kachru, B. B. (2005). Asian English: Beyond the cannon. Hong Kong: Hong Kong

University Press.

Kagata, T. (2017). Shidō-sha no yakuwari, shishitsu to kenshū yori yoi shidō-sha o mezashite

[Teachers’ roles, qualities and training: Aiming for better teachers]. In T. Higuchi, T.

Kagata, E. Izumi, & T. Kinugasa (Eds.), Shōgakkō eigo kyōiku-hō nyūmon [An

introduction to English education in elementary school]. Tokyo, Japan: Kenkyusha.

215

Kao, Y. C. (2014). A corpus analysis of word frequency lists and lexical coverage for senior

high school English textbooks and the reading comprehension tests of JCEE.

(Unpublished master’s thesis). Department of Applied Foreign Languages, National

Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan.

Kawahara, T. (ed.) (2008). Shōgakusei ni eigo o oshieru to wa? Ajia to Nihon no kyōiku

genba kara [What is the meaning of teaching English to elementary school children?].

Tokyo, Japan: Mekong Publishing.

Kennedy, G. (1998). An introduction to corpus linguistics. New York, NY: Routledge.

Kitayama, N. (2015). Shōgakkō gaikokugokatsudō' no goi to hyōgen ni tsuite: “Hi, furenzu!

1, 2” No bunseki kara [An analysis of vocabulary and sentence patterns of elementary

school English textbooks, “Hi, friends! 1, 2”], Bulletin of Yonezawa Women’s Junior

College, 51, 5-27.

Koike, I. (Ed.) (2006). Dainigengoshūtoku kenkyū o kiban to suru ko-chū-kō-dai no renkei o

hakaru eigo kyōiku no sendō-teki kiso kenkyū [Pioneering basic research using second

language acquisition research to ensure coherent, linked English education from

elementary school through junior high and senior high school to university]. (Grant-in-

Aid for Scientific Research 2004-2007: Scientific Research A. An unpublished report.)

Meikai University.

Koeneke, R. (2004). Empires of the mind: I. A. Richards and Basic English in China, 1929-

216

1979. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.

Krashen, S. (1989). We acquire vocabulary and spelling by reading: Additional evidence for

the input hypothesis. The Modern Language Journal, 73(4), 440-464.

Kuzuya, J. (2014). Teaching learning strategies to foster students’ ‘Zest for Life’ in the

Japanese English teaching context. (Unpublished master’s thesis). Graduate School of

Global Japanese Studies, Meiji University, Japan.

Lewis, M. (1997). Pedagogical implications of the lexical approach. In J. Coady & T. Huckin

(Eds.), Second language vocabulary acquisition: A rationale for pedagogy (pp. 255-

270). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Lin, Y.L. (2014). Guó xiǎo yīngyǔ xuéxí shuāng fēng xiànxiàng zhī xuéshēng cì wénhuà fēnxī

[An analysis of elementary school students’ subculture under the bimodal distribution

in English learning]. (Unpublished master’s thesis). Graduate Institute of Professional

Developmental for Educators, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan.

Little, D. (1995). Learning as dialogue: The dependence of learner autonomy on teacher

autonomy. System, 23(2), 175-181.

Lu, Y. S. (2013). Yīngyǔ jiàoyù qǐbù zǎo guózhōngxuéshēng xué dé hǎo yǐ táiwān zhōng xué

yīngyǔ jiàoshī zhī guāndiǎn kàn yīngyǔ xiàng xià yánshēn [When to start teaching

English in school in Taiwan? Perspectives from Taiwanese junior high school English

teachers]. (Unpublished master’s thesis). Graduate School of Foreign Languages and

217

Applied Linguistics, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan.

Macaro, E. (2001). Learning strategies in foreign and second language classrooms. London.

England: Continuum.

Macaro, E. (2006). Strategies for language learning and for language use: Revising the

theoretical framework. The Modern Language Journal, 90(3), 320-337.

Masuhara, H. (2011). What do teachers really want from coursebooks? In B. Tomlinson (Ed.),

Materials development in language teaching (pp. 236-266). Cambridge, England:

Cambridge University Press.

Matsui, T. (2016). Riron wo ōyō shita shūtoku-yō kyōzai kaihatsu: Chūgakkō eigo-ka ondoku

kyōzai o rei ni [Development of theory-based teaching materials for mastering reading

aloud skills]. Bulletin of Aichi University of Education, 65, 157-163.

Matsuo, H. (2000). An analysis of Japanese high school English textbooks and university

entrance examinations: A comparison of vocabulary. ARELE, 11, 141-150.

McEnery, T., & Wilson, A. (2001). Corpus linguistics: An introduction. Edinburgh, United

Kingdom: Edinburgh University Press.

McEnery, T., Xiao, R., & Tono, Y. (2006). Corpus-based language studies: An advanced

resource book. New York, NY: Routledge.

McGrath, I. (2013). Teaching materials and the roles of EFL/ESL teachers: Practice and

theory. London, England: Bloomsbury Academic.

218

Meara, P. (1980). Vocabulary acquisition: A neglected aspect of language learning. Language

Teaching, 13(3-4), 221-246.

Ministry of Education (MOE). (2008a). Guómín zhōng xiǎoxué jiǔ nián yīguàn kèchéng

gāngyào yǔwén xuéxí lǐngyù (yīngyǔ) [Grade 1-9 English curriculum guidelines].

MOE. Retrieved from http://www.k12ea.gov.tw/97_sid17/%E8%8B%B1%E8%AA

%9E970526%E5%AE%9A%E7%A8%BF%E5%96%AE%E5%86%8A.pdf

Ministry of Education (MOE). (2008b). Pǔtōng gāojí zhōngxué bìxiū kēmù`yīngwén'kèchéng

gāngyào [General senior high school English curriculum guidelines]. MOE. Retrieved

from https://www.lungteng.com.tw/Web/Upload/Upload_File/Source12/%e8%

8b%b1%e6%96%87%e7%a7%91%e7%b6%b1%e8%a6%81(99%e8%aa%b2%e7%b6

%b1).pdf

Ministry of Education Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT). (1998). Chūgakkō

gakushū shidō yōryō gaikoku-go [Course of Study for junior high school English].

MEXT. Retrieved from http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/cs/1320124.htm

Ministry of Education Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT). (2008a). Shōgakkō

gakushū shidō yōryō kaisetsu: Gaikokugokatsudō-hen [Course of Study for elementary

school foreign language activities]. Tokyo, Japan: Toyokan.

Ministry of Education Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT). (2008b). Chūgakkō

gakushū shidō yōryō kaisetsu gaikoku-go-hen [Course of Study for junior high school

219

English]. Tokyo, Japan: Kairyudo.

Ministry of Education Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT). (2010). Kōtōgakkō

gakushūshidōyōryō kaisetsu gaikoku-go-hen eigo-hen [Course of Study for senior high

school English]. Tokyo, Japan: Kairyudo.

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT). (2011a). Five

proposals and specific measures for developing proficiency in English for international

communication. MEXT. Retrieved from http://www.mext.go.jp/component/english

/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2012/07/09/1319707_1.pdf

Ministry of Education Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT). (2011b). General

policies regarding curriculum formulation. MEXT. Retrieved from http://www.mext.

go.jp/component/a_menu/education/micro_detail/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2011/07/22/1298

356_1.pdf

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT). (2013).

Guroubaruka ni taiou shita eigo kyouiku kaikaku jisshi keikaku [The execution plan for

innovating English education in response to globalization]. MEXT. Retrieved from

http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/houdou/25/12/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2013/12/17/134245

8_01_1.pdf

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT). (2014). Kongo no

eigo kyōiku no kaizen jūjitsu hōsaku ni tsuite hōkoku - gurōbaru-ka ni taiō shita eigo

220

kyōiku kaikaku no itsutsu no teigen [Report on measures to improve English language

education in the future - Five suggestions for English education reform corresponding

to globalization]. MEXT Retrieved from http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/

chousa/shotou/102/houkoku/attach/1352464.htm

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT). (2017a). Gakushū

shidō yōryō no kaitei-tō ni tsuite [About the revision of the Course of Study]. MEXT.

Retrieved from http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/chousa/shotou/134/shiryo

/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2017/09/13/1395611_3.pdf

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT). (2017b). Heisei

29-nendo eigo kyōiku jisshi jōkyō chōsa (shōgakkō) no kekka [The results of English

education implementation in elementary school - 2017]. MEXT. Retrieved from

http://www.mext.go.jp/component/a_menu/education/detail/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2018/

04/06/1403469_04.pdf

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT). (2018). Heisei 29-

nendo eigo kyōiku jisshi jōkyō chōsa (kōtō gakkō) no kekka [English education

implementation report 2017]. Retrieved from http://www.mext.go.jp/component

/a_menu/education/detail/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2018/04/06/1403469_02.pdf

Mishan, F., & Timmis, I. (2015). Materials Development for TESOL. Edinburgh, United

Kingdom: Edinburgh University Press.

221

Muranoi, H. (2018). Shōgakkō eigo kyōiku no kiso chishiki: Koa karikyuramu junkyo [Basic

knowledge of elementary school English education: Based on the Core Curriculum].

Tokyo, Japan: Taishukan Shoten.

Nation, I. S. P. (1995). The word on words: An interview with Paul Nation. The Language

Teacher, 19(2), 5-7.

Nation, I. S. P. (2004). A study of the most frequent word families in the British National

Corpus. In P. Bogaards & B. Laufer (Eds.), Vocabulary in a second language:

Selection, acquisition, and testing, (pp.3-13), Amsterdam, Netherlands: John

Benjamins Publishing.

Nation, I. S. P. (2006). How large a vocabulary is needed for reading and listening? Canadian

Modern Language Review, 63(1), 59-82.

Nation, I. S. P. (2008). Teaching vocabulary: Strategies and techniques. Boston, MA: Heinle,

Cengage Learning.

Nation, I. S. P. (2011). Research into practice: Vocabulary. Language Teaching, 44(4), 529-

539.

Nation, I. S. P. (2013). Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge, England:

Cambridge University Press.

Nation, I. S. P., & Waring, R. (1997). Vocabulary size, text coverage, and word lists. In N.

Schmitt & M. McCarthy (Eds.), Vocabulary: Description, acquisition and pedagogy

222

(pp. 6-19). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Nation, I. S. P., & Webb, S. (2011). Researching and analyzing vocabulary. Boston, MA:

Heinle Cengage Learning.

Nishigaki, C., Amano, K., Yoshimori, T., & Chujo, K. (2011). Chū kōsei no tame no

konkōdansu rain o riyō shita dēta kudō-gata eigo gakushū kyōzai no kaihatsu no

kokoromi [Exploring DDL concordancing in the junior and senior high school

classroom]. Research Bulletin of Faculty of Education, Chiba University, 59, 235-240.

Nishigaki, C., Chujo, K., Kashimura, M. (2007). Shōgakkō eigo ni okeru nichijō seikatsu goi

no shidō: Goi sentei to eigo karuta no kaihatsu katsuyō [Teaching daily life English

vocabulary to Japanese elementary school children – Creation and use of ‘karuta’

cards], Bulletin of the Faculty of Education, Chiba University, 55, 255-270.

Nishigaki, C., Chujo, K., & Kato, C. (2008). Shōgakkō eigo hisshū-ka ni taiō suru ko-chū-kō

ikkan-gata no goi shidō -Chū kōsei-yō seikatsu goi karuta no sakusei to jissen

[Vocabulary instruction for elementary school English based on consistency from

elementary school to senior high school: Creation and practice of life vocabulary

‘karuta’ for junior and senior high school learners]. Research Bulletin of Faculty of

Education, Chiba University, 56, 301-316.

Nishino, T. (2008). Japanese secondary school teachers' beliefs and practices regarding

communicative language teaching: An exploratory survey. JALT Journal, 30(1), 27-50.

223

Nishino, T. (2011). Japanese high school teachers’ beliefs and practices regarding

communicative language teaching. JALT Journal, 33(2), 131-155.

Okabe, S., & Matsumoto, S. (2010). Kōtō gakkō shin gakushū shidō yōryō no tenkai

gaikokugoka eigo-hen [Development of the New Curriculum Guidelines for senior high

school English]. Tokyo, Japan: Meiji Tosho.

O’Keeffe, A., McCarthy, M., & Carter, R. (2007). From corpus to classroom: Language use

and language teaching. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

O’ki, T. (2015). Tekisutomainingu o mochiita kōkōsei eigo gakushū-sha no nīzu bunseki:

Daigaku juken yotei-sha to hi yotei-sha no hikaku [Needs analysis of high school

English learners using text mining: A comparison between university examinees and

non-examinees]. Hakuoh University Journal, 29(1), 193-216.

O'Malley, J. M., & Chamot, A. U. (1990). Learning strategies in second language

acquisition. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

O'Malley, J. M., Chamot, A. U., Stewner‐Manzanares, G., Russo, R. P., & Küpper, L. (1985).

Learning strategy applications with students of English as a second language. TESOL

Quarterly, 19(3), 557-584.

Ota, E. (2017). Kyūkatei to genkatei no chūkō eigo kyōkasho no naido hikaku - chūkō 6-

nenkan no kyōkasho gaido no suii [Comparison of textbook difficulty in JHS and SHS

English textbooks in the former and the current Course of Study: Text difficulty in

224

transitions between JHS and SHS textbooks]. Hakusan-eibeibungaku, 42, 19-41.

Oxford, R. L., & Crookall, D. (1990). Vocabulary learning: A critical analysis of techniques.

TESL Canada Journal, 7(2), 9-39.

Oxford, R. L. (1989). Use of language learning strategies: A synthesis of studies with

implications for strategy training. System, 17(2), 235-247.

Oxford, R. L. (1990). Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know. New

York, NY: Newbury House Publishers.

Oxford, R. L. (2012). Teaching and researching language learning strategies. Harlow,

England: Longman.

Oxford, R. L. (2017). Teaching and researching language learning strategies: Self-regulation

in context. New York, NY: Routledge.

Ozeki, N. (2006). Gakushū sutoratejī wo shidou sureba seito ga kawaru [Students will change

if strategy instruction is conducted]. In Learning Strategies Sig of JACET (Ed.), Eigo

kyoushi no tame no gakushū sutoratejī handobukku [The handbook of learning

strategies for English teachers]. Tokyo, Japan: Taishukan Shoten.

Ozeki, N. (2013). Can-do risuto to jiritsu shita gakushū-sha [CAN-DO lists and autonomous

learners].Tohoku Gakuin University Bulletin-English Language and Literature, 97,

147-158.

Ozeki, N. (2018). Shō chū kōtō gakkō ni okeru gakushū hyōka no arikata o kangaeru

225

[Learning assessment in elementary, junior, and senior high school]. In Eigo Jōhō

[English information] (pp. 4-9). Tokyo, Japan: Eiken Foundation of Japan.

Pinter, A. (2006). Teaching young language learners. Oxford, England: Oxford University

Press.

Richards, J. C. (1976). The role of vocabulary teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 10(1), 77-89.

Richards, J. C. (2007). Curriculum development in language teaching. New York, NY:

Cambridge University Press.

Rixon, S. (2013). British Council survey of policy and practice in primary English language

teaching worldwide. London, England: British Council. Retrieved from

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/D120%20Survey%20of%20Tea

chers%20to%20YLs_FINAL_Med_res_online.pdf

Robinson, P. (2003). The cognitive hypothesis, task design, and adult task-based language

learning. Second Language Studies, 21(2), 45-105.

Rubin, J. (1975). What the “good language learner” can teach us. TESOL Quarterly, 9(1), 41-

51.

Rubin, J., Chamot, A. U., Harris, V., & Anderson, N. J. (2007). Intervening in the use of

strategies. In A.D. Cohen & E. Macaro (Eds.), Language learner strategies: Thirty

years of research and practice (pp. 141-160). Oxford, England: Oxford University

Press.

226

Sato, Y. (2015). Ajia ni okeru kigyō bunka no hikaku kenkyū ni mukete: Tai Ōbei to wa

kotonatta bunrui-jiku no hitsuyō-sei [Toward a comparative study of Asian corporate

cultures]. Mita Business Review, 58(2), 87-98.

Schmitt, N. (1997). Vocabulary learning strategies. In N. Schmitt & M. McCarthy. (Eds.)

Vocabulary: Description, acquisition, and pedagogy (pp. 199-227). Cambridge,

England: Cambridge University Press.

Schmitt, N. (2000). Vocabulary in language teaching. New York, NY: Cambridge University

Press.

Schmitt, N. (2010). Researching vocabulary: A vocabulary research manual. New York, NY:

Palgrave Macmillan.

Schmitt, N., & McCarthy, M. (1997). Vocabulary: Description, acquisition and pedagogy.

Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Schmitt, N., & Schmitt, D. (2012). A reassessment of frequency and vocabulary size in L2

vocabulary teaching. Language Teaching, 47(4), 484-503.

Sinclair, B., & Ellis, G. (1992). Survey: Learner training in EFL course books. ELT Journal,

46(2), 209-225.

Sinclair, J., & Renouf, A. (1988). A lexical syllabus for language learning. In R. Carter & M.

McCarthy. (Eds.), Vocabulary and language teaching (pp. 140-160). New York, NY:

Routledge.

227

Smith, R. C. (Ed.). (2003). Teaching English as a Foreign Language, 1912-1936: Lawrence

Faucett (Vol. 4). London, England: Routledge.

Someya, Y. (1998). e_lemma. Txt. Retrieved from http://lexically.net/downloads/e_lemma.zip

Sokmen, A. J. (1997). Current trends in teaching second language vocabulary. In N. Schmitt

& M. McCarthy. (Eds.), Vocabulary: Description, acquisition, and pedagogy (pp. 237-

257). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Tani, K. (2008). Daigaku nyūshi sentā shiken goi to kōkō eigo kyōkasho no goi hikaku

bunseki [Comparative analysis of vocabulary in university entrance examinations and

high school English textbooks]. Practical English Studies, 14, 47-55.

The Nikkei. (2015, October 30). Sanseidō no eigo kyōkasho wa bigen chūgaku kyōkasho shea

[English textbooks of Sanseido have been slightly reduced – The share of junior high

school textbooks]. Retrieved from https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXLA

SDG30H7Z_Q5A031C1CR8000/

Tokyo Gakugei University. (2016). Eigo kyōin no eigodjikara shidō-ryoku kyōka no tame no

chōsa kenkyū jigyō [Survey of enhancing English proficiency and leadership skills of

English teachers]. An unpublished report. Tokyo Gakugei University.

Tokyo Metropolitan Office of Education, Curriculum and Guidance Division. (2014).

Toritsukō-tō gakkō oyobi chūtō kyōiku gakkō (kōki katei)-yō kyōkasho kyōka betsu

saitaku kekka (kyōkasho betsu gakkō-sū) [Textbooks for municipal high school and

228

upper secondary education school - Adoption results by subject (number of schools by

textbook)]. Retrieved from http://www.metro.tokyo.jp/INET/OSHIRASE/2014/

08/DATA/20o8s500.pdf

Tomlinson, B. (2011). Materials development in language teaching. Cambridge, England:

Cambridge University Press.

Tomlinson, B. (2015). Developing principled materials for young learners of English as a

foreign language. In J. Bland (Ed.), Teaching English to young learners: Critical issues

in language teaching with 3-12 year olds (pp. 279-293). New York, NY: Bloomsbury

Publishing.

Tono, Y. (2008). Ajia kakkoku to Nihon no eigo kyōkasho hikaku [Comparison of English

textbooks between Asian countries and Japan]. Retrieved from https://www.kantei.

go.jp/jp/singi/kyouiku_kondan/kaisai/dai3/2seku/2s-siryou3.pdf

Tono, Y. (2008). Kyōzai to kōpasu [Materials and corpus]. In J. Nakamura & S. Hotta (Eds.),

Kōpasu to eigo kyōiku no setten [Connection between corpus and English education].

(pp. 3-19). Tokyo, Japan: Shohakusha.

Tono, Y. (2017). Gengo zairyō to no rinku ga hirogeru CAN-DO no kanōsei [The possibilities

of CAN-DO lists linked with language materials]. The English Teachers' Magazine,

65(11), 28-30.

Tsai, H. Y. C. (2009). Taiwan in Japan’s empire-building: An institutional approach to

229

colonial engineering. New York, NY: Routledge.

Tseng, F. (2008). An analysis of vocabulary selection in elementary school English textbooks.

(Unpublished master’s thesis). Graduate Institute of Foreign Languages and Literature,

National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan.

Underwood, P. (2012). The Course of Study for senior high school English: Recent

developments, implementation to date, and considerations for future research. Toyo

Eiwa University, Jinbun Shakaikagaku Ronshu, 30, 115-145.

Vandergrift, L. (2003). Orchestrating strategy use: Toward a model of the skilled second

language listener. Language Learning, 53(3), 463-496.

Van Hort, R., & Vermeer, A. (2007). Comparing measures of lexical richness. In H. Daller, J.

Milton, & J. Treffers-Daller (Eds.), Modelling and assessing vocabulary knowledge

(pp. 121-138). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing.

Wenden, A. L. (1986a). Helping language learners think about learning. ELT Journal, 40(1),

3-12.

Wenden, A. L. (1986b). Incorporating learner training in the classroom. System, 14(3), 315-

325.

Wenden, A. L. (1995). Learner training in context: A knowledge-based approach. System,

23(2), 183-194.

Wenden, A. L. (1998). Metacognitive knowledge and language learning. Applied Linguistics,

230

19(4), 515-537.

Wenden, A. L. (2002). Learner development in language learning. Applied Linguistics, 23(1),

32-55.

Webb, S. (2007). The effects of repetition on vocabulary knowledge. Applied Linguistics,

28(1), 46-65.

West, M. (1953). A general service list of English words. London, England: Longman, Green

& Co.

Wilkins, D. A. (1972). Linguistics in language teaching. London, England: Edward Arnold.

Willis, D. (1990). The lexical syllabus: A new approach to language teaching. London,

England: Collins ELT.

Willis, J. (2011). Concordances in the classroom without a computer: Assembling and

exploiting concordances of common words. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Materials

development in language teaching (pp. 51-77). Cambridge, England: Cambridge

University Press.

Willis, D, & Willis, J. (2007). Doing task-based teaching. Oxford, England: Oxford

University Press.

Wu, C. Y. (2018). Shuāng fēng xiànxiàng xià tíshēng guó xiǎo gāo niánjí xuéshēng yīngyǔ

xuéxí dòngjī zhī xíngdòng yánjiū [An action research on improving the English

motivation of senior elementary school students under bimodal distribution].

231

(Unpublished master’s thesis). Graduate Institute of Public Affairs and Social

Innovation, Feng Chia University, Taiwan.

Wu, J. (2012). Policy perspectives from Taiwan. In M. Byram & L. Parmenter (Eds.), The

Common European Framework of Reference: The globalization of language education

policy (pp. 213-223). Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters.

Wu, W. H., Chen, S. F., & Wu, C. T. (1989). The development of higher education in Taiwan.

Higher Education, 18(1), 117-136.

Yang, I. (2006). Guónèi gè jí yīngyǔ jiàoxué de cíhuì liàng wèntí [On the issue of vocabulary

size in English teaching in Taiwan]. Journal of the National Institute for Compilation

and Translation, 34(3), 35-44.

Yang, S. K. (2001). Dilemmas of education in Taiwan: internationalization or localization?

Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Comparative and International

Education Society. March 14–17, 2001. http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs.

Yu, I. Y. (2016). Yīngyǔ gē jiàoxué duì guó xiǎo bùtóng xuéxí chéngjiù de sān niánjí xuétóng

yīngyǔ shìzì nénglì zhī yǐngxiǎng [The effects of English songs and rhymes on English

word recognition of third graders of different academic achievement]. (Unpublished

master’s thesis). Department of Learning and Materials Design, University of Taipei,

Taiwan.

Yum, J. O. (2000). The impact of Confucianism on interpersonal relationships and

232

communication patterns in East Asia. In L. A. Samovar & R. E. Porter (Eds.),

Intercultural communication: A reader (pp. 63-73). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth

Publishing Company.

Zhang, Y. B., Lin, M. C., Nonaka, A., & Beom, K. (2005). Harmony, hierarchy and

conservatism: A cross-cultural comparison of Confucian values in China, Korea, Japan,

and Taiwan. Communication Research Reports, 22(2), 107-115.

Zimmerman, C. B. (1997). Historical trends in second language vocabulary instruction. In J.

Coady & T. Huckin (Eds.), Second language vocabulary acquisition: A rationale for

pedagogy (pp. 5-19). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Zimmerman, C. B. (2013). Teaching and learning vocabulary for second language learners. In

M. Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language (pp. 288-

302). Boston, MA: Heinle ELT.