<Articles> An Analysis of Vocabulary Used inSTEP 1^<st> and Pre-1^<st> Grades, TOEFL, andTOEIC

著者 Hirai Akiyojournal orpublication title

言語文化論集

number 54page range 1-16year 2000-10-10URL http://hdl.handle.net/2241/8886

血血alysISOfVocabu血γUsedinSTEPl芦t

andPre－1StGrades，TOEFL，andTOEIC

AkiyoHirai

Abstract

InJapan，burcommercializedEnglish pro丘dency tests，TOEFL（Testof

English as a Foreign Language），TOEIC（Test of English brIntemational

Communication），STEP（theSocietybrTestingEnglishPro鮎iency）1Stgrade，

andSTEPpre－1Stgrade，打epOpularamongleamersofEnglishwhowantto

improvetheirpracticallevelofEnglish ability．InordertoinvestlgateWhether

Studying brone test helps prepareleamers branyoftheothertestsaswell，

VOCabu血γ1temSuSedinthereadingsectionofeachtestwerecompareduslnga

computerso氏warepro訂amCalledlわcα∂叫わ，恥材β血如才酢（1996）．The

resultsindicated that each test had some unlque血圧erences，but the kinds of

VOCabula叩1temSfbundinthesetestsweresimilar．Thus，1eamerswhostudyin

Ordertopassorgethighscoresononeofthetestscan，if仙eystudywisely，galn

advantagesin taking the othertests．This paper suggests what kinds ofword

Study can be e任ectivein prepanng especially fbr the reading section ofthese

tests．

Introduction

Thereareseveralkindsofstandar血zedEnglishpro丘ciencytestswhichare

widely usedinJapan．Theyinclude STEP（the Society fbr Testing English

Pro丘ciency）tests，TOEFL（TestofEnglishasaForeignLan即age），andTOEIC

（TestofEnglishforIntemationalCommunication）．

TOEFLisbasicallybrstudentswhowanttostudyinAmedcanuniversities

Since most Amedcan universities requlre forel卯Students to bke TOEFL．

However，because TOEFL has along histo叩 肌d provides some un血m

Standard，regardless of whether students study abroad or not，SOmeJapanese

2 AkiyoHimi

universitiesandcollegeshavestudentsbkeTOEFLinordertoknowwhatlevel

theyareat．

Atestthathasgainedpopul血tylnreCentyearSisTOEIC．Itissaidthat

manycompaniestakeTOEICscoresintoconsiderationinhidngpeople（虹mura，

1991），SOmanyCOllegestudeptswhoarejob－huntingtakeTOEIC．

STEPtests，reCO釘1izedbytheMinist叩OfEducation，havesix酢adelevels．

WhileTOEFLandTOEICprovidescores，STEPtestsglVe’pass－or■血1’ratlngS．

Inpa血cular，thehighesttwo，STEPIStandpre－1Stgrades，Sharecandidates

withTOEFLandTOEIC．Accor血ngtoastudybookpublishedbytheSocietyfbr

TestingEnglishPro触ency（STEP），STEPpre－1St許adehasbeensetatthe

levelofleamers who have丘nished aJunior college progm with the test

covenngabouta7，500word－1evelvocabul町・STEPIStgradehasbeensetat

thelevelofleamerswho have丘nisheda b∬－yearuniverslty prOgram andwho

havetheabilitytounderstandEnglishusedinabroadrangeofdailylifb，andto

expressone－sviewswith瓜uent English．The testcovers somewherebetween

thelO，000and15，000word－1evel．Since仇esestandardsaresetbySTEP，SOme

Japanese universities have be即n tOgive somecourse credits to students who

haveobtainedpre－1StorlStgrade・

Since allofthesetests are supposedtomeasure overallEnglishlanguage

pro丘ciency，1tisassumedthatstudyingforoneofthetestsishelp山1intakingany

oftheothertests．However，therehasbeenlittleresearchonhowsimilarthese

popu血testsareintemsofvocabula叩uSe．Thus，thepurposeofthisstudyis

tocomparevocabula叩uSedinthesetestsandtosuggestwhatkindofwordstudy

can be e鮎ctivein taking especially reading section of these tests．The

vocabula叩COmpadsonwasmadeonlyacrossthereadingsectionofthetests・

Thiswasmainlybecauseallthetestshaveareadingsectioninasimilarbmat，

makingvocabula叩COmpadsonpossible．

Method

Mated山s

Twolongrea血gpassagesusudlyappearintheSTEPIStandpre－1Stgrade

tests．Thus，burSTEPIStandfburSTEPpre－1Streadingpassagesweretaken

丘om the spnng andね110f1997tests fbr the analysIS・As fbr TOEFL and

AnAnalysISOfVocabul叩UsedinSTEPIStandPre－1StGrades，TOEFL，andTOEIC 3

TOEIC，Since previous tests had not been published，TOEFL readingpassages

Were taken丘om mock testsin the月聯和白／伽乃fわβ月わ〃7℃肌Jヤゆjわ0々

（Lougheed，1992）andTOEICreadingpassagesweretaken血）mmOCktestsin

theⅧC々gαd吻一助5わわⅥ盲乃吻c〃㍑乃gカγα3β吻少聯℃椚（氾mu柑，

1991）．To attain alen釦h of text similar to that ofthe STEP tests br the

pu叩OSeOfcompadson，all丘vepassageswerechosen丘omthereadingsectionof

OneTOEFLtest，tOgetherwiththethirdrea血gpassageofanotherTOEFLtest．

AsfbrTOEIC，allthepassages ofonecompletereadingsectionwereused・

Thus，intotal，SixTOEFLandnine TOEICreadingpassageswereexamined．

ThetotalwordsoftheSTEPISt，pre－1St，TOEFL，andTOEICwere1526，1375，

1479，and1425words，reSpeCtively．These passages were analyzed uslng

帖cαわ叫Jg，I杓ね，αれdjね喝gSOftware（Nation＆Heatley，1996）．

AnalysesandDiscussion

Vocab山arylevel

Tablelshows how much ofthe fbur textsis covered by tbe three base

lists．According to the computer－based analysis，Word List Oneincludes the

most缶equentlOOOwordsofEnglish．WordListTwoincludesthesecondmost

丘equentlOOOwords．Those2000wordsareregardedashigh丘equencywordsl・

Word ListThreeincludes academic wordswhich are notinthe丘rst2000words

OfEnglishbutwhichare丘equentinupperseconda叩SChoolanduniversltyteXtS

如）maWiderangeofsubjects．山10fthesebaselistsincludethebasebmsof

words and derived fbms．The丘rstlOOO words thus consist of around3000

bms．ThesourcesoftheselistsareAGβ乃g和才Sg和icgエ盲5J〆E，感ね九肋γゐby

MichaelWest（1953）br the丘rst2000words，and乃gこ如才γg巧妙帆招エf5f

（UWL）byXueandNation（1984）brthethirdlist（Nation，1998a）．

】The丘柑tlOOOwordsofACg〝g和J滋印加エねJ〆軸fsゐl物れ虫areusually仇osein也elistwitha

丘eque爪印highertbn332∝CurrenCeSper5millionwords，plusmonths，血ysoftheweek，numbers，

titles（Mr．，Mrs．，Miss，Ms，Mister），and丘・equentgreetings（Hello，Hi，etC．）melistsincludebo仇

Amehαn and Bdtish spellings・Apostrophes are treatedas spaces，SO‘Ⅰ－ve’iscounted astwo

items，aSis‘Jane－s．’

4 AkiyoHirai

Tablel・乃∬fG）〃gγ聯〆肋β凡〟γ乃5ね砂地g肋5f舟e甘〟β乃f2βββI杓招5〆

軸才5んα乃d肋β乙加古γβ作物恥招エねf

Test Wordlist Tokens／％ Types／％ Families／％

STEPISt one ll16／73．1

Two 71／4．7

Three 130／8．5

Notinthelists 209／13．7

418／58．2 323

61／8．5 57

87／12．1 77

152／21．2

Total 1526 718 457

STEPpre－1st One lO65／77．5

Two 76／5．5

Three 91／6．6

Notinthelists 143／10．4

375／60．1 292

63／10．1 56

72／11．5 66

114／18．3

Tota1 1375 624 414

TOEIC One lO63／74．6

Two 84／5．9

Three 65／4．6

Notinthelists 213／14．9

341／57．1 278

61／10．2 51

48／8．0 43

147／24．6

Total 1425 597 372

TOEFL One lO26／69．4

Two lO9／7．4

Three 145／9．8

Notinthelists 199／13．5

317／49．1 254

83／12．9 72

100／15．5 82

145／22．5

Total 1479 645 413

Fourtestsabove One 4270／73．6

Two 340／5．9

Three 431／7．4

NotiIlthelists 764／13．2

948／47．7 619

244／12．3 193

264／13．3 213

533／26．8

Tota1 5085 1989 1025

As shownin Tablel，the STEPpre－1Sttest seems to be the easiest

because83．09ら（＝77．5＋5．5）ofthe totalwords are血）m the丘rst2000word

lists（i．e．，山gh丘equencywords）．Thisgivesthehighestcoverageamongtbe

StAnAnalysISOfVocabu如UsedinSTEPIStandPre－1Gmdes，TOEFL，肌dTOEIC 5

burtests．山so，thepercentageofwordsnotcoveredbyanyofthelistsisthe

lowestatlO・4乳 TbismaybeplausiblebecauseSTEPpre－1Stgradeisregarded

asaneasiertestthanSTEPISt酢ade．

The next easiest test seems to be TOEIC because 80．59らof the total

wordsarehigh丘・equenCyWOrds，thehighestpercentagenexttoSTEPpre－1St

酢ade．Thoughthenon－COVerageisthehighestat14．9％intheTOEICpassage，

manyofthesewordsarepropernouns．Forexample，inthe丘rstTOEICpassage

（seeAppend汝A），60utOf17wordsarepropernouns（28．3％totalnotcovered）．

Amongthem，theword－Macintosh－appears5times．Thiswordmaybefamiliar

to readers asitis used with the similar pronunciationinJapanese，and most

readerswillprobablyknow仙sねmouscomputername．Asfbrthesecondtext

inAppend汝B，130utOf26wordswerepropernouns，makingupthehalfofthe

WOrds．Becausethetextisabusinessletter，theletterhead，theinsidead血ess，

andthesignaturecontainpropernouns．Thesepropernounsarenotdi成cultand

probablydonotinte血rewithreaders’comprehensionofthepassage，butrather

helptheircomprehension．On average，29．6％ofthewords notincludedinthe

listsarepropernounsinalltheTOEICreadingtexts，Whilethisratiois26．0％in

STEPISt，26・7％inSTEPpre－1St，and17．39らinTOEFL．Inthisrespect，TOEIC

SeemSbeeasierthantheothertests．LiketheexampleofaTOEICreadingtext

inAppendix B，thereason why relativelymanypropernouns appearin TOEIC

readingpassagesisthatmoreautbenticreal－1ifemateddssuchasadve托isements，

businesscontracts，bills，menulists，andbusinesslettersareused．Ontheother

hand，TOEFL deals with more generalor academic toplCS SuCh as speech

COmmunication，teChnolo即Caladvancement，肌dcontroversial仇eo叩．

TheSTEPIStgradeandTOEFLseemtobesimilarinwordd瓜：ultysince

thepropo血oncoveredbyeachwordlistissimilar．High丘・equenCyWOrdsmake

up77・8％in仙eSTEPIStgradeand76．8％intheTOEFL，Whereasacademic

WOrdsmakeup8．5％弧d9．8％，andwordsnotincludedinthelistmakeup13．7％

弧d13．5乳respectively．

0verall，thepropo血onofhigh丘・equencywordswasthelargestinallofthe

b∬teXtS．Oneofthebestwaystoincreaseknowledgeofhigh丘・equenCyWOrds

istoread許adedreaders，1nWhichhigh丘equencytolower丘equencywordsare

used step by stepin accordance with the 許adelevelof the books．By

6AkiyoHimi

encountenngthesamehigh丘equencywordsrepeatedly，1eamerscanretainthose

WOrdsin memo叩．AれOtheradvantage ofuslngg柑dedreadersis thatstudents

Canincrease rea血ngmlenCyby concentratlngOn the content ofa bookwithout

beingintempted by many unknown words since they can choose their

appropnatelevelofreadingd血culty．

Academicwords

Ifwecomp訂ethepropo止ionofthesetesttextswithothertypesoftexts，

One Obvious d鮎renceis that the propo止ion ofwords covered by the UWLis

relativelylargein these test texts as shownin Table2provided by Nation

（1998b）．

Table2．乃∬fわ少βα乃dおズfcβ〃β，聯砂地β∽05才一如ヴ〟g乃f2β00紺β？1ゐ〆軸ゐゐα乃d肋gと／Ⅵ仏

TextType WordList Propo止ion

Conversation 1stlOOO 84．3％

2ndlOOO 6．0％

UWL l．9％

Other 7．8％

Novelsfbryoungerreaders IstlOOO 909あ

Incl．propernouns 95％

Fiction 1stlOOO 82．3ウち

2ndlOOO 5．1％

UWL l．7％

Other lO．9％

Newspapers 1stlOOO 75．59あ

2ndlOOO 4．7％

UWL 3．9％

Other 15．7％

Academic 1stlOOO 73．5％

2ndlOOO 4．6％

UWL 8．5％

Other 13．3％

AnAnalysISOfVocab血叩UsedinSTEPIStandPre－1StG柑des，TOEFL，andTOEIC7

Indetail，aCademicwordsintheSTEPIStgradeandTOEFLex弧inedin

this study make up8．5％and9．8％，Whichis similar to the propo血on ofthe

academictextNation（1998b）examinedandlargerthantheothertypesoftexts．

Therefbre，1nOrdertocopewithTOEFLorSTEPISt訂ade，Studentswillneed

tospendmuchtimeonacademicwordsbesideshigh丘equencywords．

Speci丘cally，What academicwords丘equentlyappearin these tests？The

analysISWaSCOnductedbyuslng勉，聯，aSShowninTable3．勉，聯CanCOmpare

thevocabula叩Ofupto32d鮎renttextsatthesametime．Foreachwordinthe

texts，itprovidesarangeofdistdbution丘糾re（howmanytextsthewordoccurs

in），alleadword丘equency丘gure（thetotalnumberoftimestheactualheadword

type appearsin allthe texts），abmilyf上equency五郎re（the totalnumber of

times thewordanditsbmilymembersoccurinallthetexts），anda丘・equenCy

丘即refbreachofthetextsthewordoccursin（Nation，1998a）．

Table3．御伽ヴ〟g乃qAc（Zdg∽才cI杓，也

珊L RANGE TYPE FAMILY STEP1

4 0

5 0

5 0

7 1

6 5

8 0

5 0

14 9

18 14

6 3

6 2

5 3

4 2

9 0

7 4

9 6

5 1

7 0

6 3

4 1

§！旦！班室生1 1 2

5 0 0

0 1 4

0 0 6

0 1 0

8 0 0

0 1 4

3 0 2

0 0 4

1 0 2

0 2 2

2 0 0

1 1 0

1 8 0

2 0 1

1 0 2

4 0 0

0 0 7

0 0 3

1 0 2

AREA

ASSET

ATMOSPHERE

COMMUNICATE

CONSUME

CONTINENT

CULTURE

ECONOMY

ENERGY

EⅣⅤIRONMENT

EQUIPMENT

ESTIMTE

EXPERT

mCOME

M即OR

RESEARCH

RESOURCE

SATELLITE

TECHNOLOGY

THEORY

3 3

1 0

2 5

2 1

2 0

1 8

2 1

3 0

2 18

3 4

3 6

2 0

3 1

2 9

3 7

3 6

2 0

1 4

2 3

3 3

TOTAL 45 79 140 54 30 15 41

8 AkiyoHirai

Academicwordsthatappeareitheratleast丘vetimesoracrossthreetests

Were Chosenin the Table 3． The words ECONOMY，ENERGY，and

ENⅥRONMENTsuggestthatcu汀entissuesdiscussedworldwidearetakenupln

the tests．Words related to theseissues such as ASSET，CONSUME，

ESTIMATE，INCOME，AREA，ATMOSPHERE，CONTINENT，EQUIPMENT，

EXPERT，RESOURCE，andTECHNOLOGYappearinthetable．Anothergroup

Of words seem to be related to culture or academic study such as

COMMUMCATION，CULTURE，M即OR，RESEARCH，and THEORY．In this

Way，themost丘equentacademicwordscanberelatedwitheachotherundera

Certain toplC．Therebre，1t may be e鮎ctive to read

Same tOplC Orissueintensively．By doing so，the

academicwordsappeanngmore丘■equentlylnthetests．

SeVeralpassages on the

leamers may encounter

Atthe sametime，they

Willbe able to becomeねmiliarwith apa止icular丘dd that they choose．While

increaslngVOCabula叩andknowledgeofthefield，thele肝nerSmaylnCreaSetheir

readingspeed，Whichisanimpo止antskillbrsuccessinthesetests．

Twoother strategies are suggested by Nation（1990）．oneis toleam

directly丘omtheUWL．TheUWLhas836headwordsintotal，Whichis notan

impossiblevocabula叩Sizetoleamdirectly丘omalist．

1eam pre丘ⅩeS and roots．Because many wordsin

dedvation，they conbinimportant pre血es and roots，

rememberandguessthewords．

TheotherstrategylStO

the UWL are of Latin

Which can helpleamers

ーNotintbelists－words

Words notcoveredbyanyoftbelists make uparound13％onaverage．

Thesewordsmaybewo止hanalyzingsincestudiesbyDeville（1985）andLaufer

（1989）claim that reading comprehension at an academiclevelrequires95％

1exicalcove柑ge，i．e．theknowledgeof95％ofwordtokensinaglVenteXt．So，

What kindofwords commonly appearin thetext passages examined uslngthe

助郷prO訂am？

Table4shows－notin仙elists’wordswhichappearatleastintwoofthe

tests．Among the19 words shownin Table 4，tenWOrds（AMERICA，

AMERICAN，COMPUTERS，EUROPE，GOODS，JAPAN，NORWAY，OPERA，

PERCENT，TELEⅥSION）肝eloan words or proper nouns which are

AnAnalysisofVocab血叩UsedinSTEPIStandPre－1StGmdes，TOEFL，抑dTOEIC 9

pronounced similarlyinJapanese．Thus，mOStJapaneseleamers may a止eady

knowormayeasilyleamthesewords．Yoshida（1978）bundthatEnglishloan

WOrdsinJapanesehelpedchildrentoleamtherelatedEnglishwordsquickly．On

this point，Nation（1990）reports that the more pre血ctable and regular the

featuresofthewordthelightertheleamlngburden．Inthiscase，prOnunCiation，

pa止Oftheleamlngburden，hasbeenreduced．

Table4．7妙g5〆爪b‖乃肋g上ねf’Ⅵわ招s4抄βαわ曙αJエgぉ＝〃mO乃sね

Type Range Freq STEPI STEPprel TOEIC TOEFL

AI∋UNDANT

MERICA

AMERICAN

COMPUTERS

DEFICIT

EUROPE

GOODS

GROSS

HOUSEHOLD

JAPAN

NORWAY

OPERA

PERCENT

PERCENTAGE

PREDICT

REMOTE

SEEMINGLY

TELEVISION

ⅥA

2 2

2 5

3 7

2 4

2 3

2 2

2 2

2 7

2 2

3 6

2 2

2 8

3 12

2 2

2 2

2 2

2 2

2 2

2 2

1 1

0 4

3 3

2 0

1 2

1 0

0 1

0 1

1 0

4 1

0 1

0 0

4 7

1 0

1 0

0 1

0 1

0 1

1 0

0 0

1 0

1 0

0 2

0 0

0 1

1 0

6 0

1 0

1 0

0 1

1 7

0 1

0 1

0 1

0 1

1 0

0 1

0 1

TOTAL 41 74 20 24 13 17

Therestofthewordsseemtobetechnicalwordsofapa血c山訂genreOr

toplC・For example，ABUNDANT，DEFICIT，GROSS，弧d HOUSEHOLD may

10 AkiyoHimi

O氏en appear when we discuss economy，and REMOTE and VIA may be

丘equently usedin a toplC about traveling．Since toplCS On eCOnOmics，ener訂

problems，enVironment，Culture，and travelseem to be o氏en taken up by

Standardizedtests，thesewordsseemtobeimpo爪ant．Ateachermaythusteach

importantpre丘ⅩeS，rOOtS，andsu伍ⅩeStOhelpleamersrememberthemeanlngOf

thesewordsbyanalyzlng仇ewordsABUNDANT，DEFICIT，andREMOTE．

Anotherwaytolookatthesewordsistoexamineonlywordsappe打1ngfive

times or more，aS Shownin Table5．Most of these wods were fbund to be

proper nouns such as names of countdes（MERICA，JAPAN），peOple

（仙ERICAN，ASIAN），place（ANTARCTICA，ASIA，and ORLEANS）；COined

words（LESSEE，LESSOR，MACⅣTOSH，andVELLUTINO）肝ealsoused．

Table5．I杓γゐ 他ff乃伽上古ざJ’耽fcゐ4抄gαγ爪〃β乃∽β50γ肋柁

Type Range Freq STEPISTEPprel TOEIC TOEFL

MERICA 2 5

MERICAN

ANTARCTICA

ASIA

ASIAN

DYSLEXIA

FILE

GROSS

JAPAN

LESSEE

LESSOR

MACひJTOSH

OPERA

3 7

1 6

1 8

1 7

1 6

1 8

2 7

3 6

1 5

1 6

1 5

2 8

ORLEANS 1 7

PERCENT 3 12

SUNSPOTS 1 5

VELLUTINO 1 5

0 4

3 3

0 6

8 0

7 0

6 0

0 0

0 1

4 1

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

4 7

0 0

5 0

1 0

1 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

8 0

6 0

1 0

5 0

6 0

5 0

1 7

7 0

0 1

0 5

0 0

TOTAL 26 113 37 22 41 13

AnAnalysISOfVocabulaIγUsedinSTEPIStandPre－1StGmdes，TOEFL，andTOEICll

Otherwords suchas GROSS，OPERA，andPERCENTarealsolistedinTable4

and these words are pronounced similarlyinJapanese．A由比cult word

DYSLEXIAappears six times within a passage ofSTEPISt gmde，but the

meanlnglS eXplained at the beginnlng Ofthe passage as saylng，”Dyslexla，the

inabilitytoleamhowtoread，isthemost丘equentlydiagnosedleamlngdisability

intheUnitedStates．‥‥ Therefore，le訂nerSWhodonotknowthemeanlngOf

thiswordprobablywillnothaveanyproblemhere．ThewordFILEisalsoaloan

WOrdando氏enusedinJapanese．ThemeaningofthewordSUNSPOTSmaybe

guessedfromthecontextandby血vidingthewordinto－SUN’and’SPOT．－ Thus，

among’notinthelist－wordsappeanngrelatively丘equently，there肝ealmostno

WOrdswhichseemtointe血rewithcomprehension．

The rest of the many words not covered by any of也elists arelow

なequencywords．Thus，1emersdonothavetospendsomuchtimeinleamlng

those words since they willnot encounter them丘・equently．However，ltis

assumedthatthosewhoexpecttopassSTEPIStgradeorscoreover600in

TOEFLalreadyknowthe丘rst2000wordsandalmostalloftheacademicwords

in UWL．Forthislevelofstudent，Whatis recommendedis to read authentic

matedals extensively，eSpeCially cu汀entissues asin English newspapers，

∧甘柿ち仲EE打or乃舶Emagazines，Or丘ompracticepassagesfbrSTEPIStgrade

Or TOEFL，in order toincrease receptlVe VOCabula叩1nCludinglow丘equency

WOrds．山so，1eamers may bene丘t丘om the extensive reading becauseit will

preventthemfrombrgettlnghighfrequencywordsandacademicwordsinUWL．

Anotherstrate訂1eamersatthislevelcanuseistousea血ctiona叩eぽectively．

Leamers should tⅣtO訃1eSS the meanlng Ofaword丘om the context orword

roots as much as possible and use a dictiona叩Onlyifthe word disturbs their

COmprehension．

Conclusion

Inthisstudy，thenumberoftextsusedfbrtheanalyseswasrelativelysmall，

Whichmaythreatenthegeneralizabilityoftheresults．Therefbre，alargerscale

Studyoft山skindwouldbenecessa叩1nthe山ture．However，eVenWithsucha

Smallnumberoftexts丘omeachtest，theresultsrevealedthatthefburtestsare

12 AkiyoHirai

slightlydi鮎rentintemsofwordlevel・TheSTEPpre－1Stgradetestseemsto

betheeasiest．Ifexamineesstillhaveproblemswithhigh丘・equenCyWOrds，they

needto spendtimeonthesewordsbecausethehigh打equencywords makeup

morethan80％ofthetotalwords．Onewaytocoverthehigh丘equencywords

is an extensive reading program using g柑ded readers．Ako，Nation（1994，

1998b）emphasizesthatteachersshouldteacht∬getWOrdsthroughthebllowing

b∬ Strands of classroom activities：1eamlng 丘om meanlng血cusedinput，

bm－bcusedinput，meanlng－bcused output，and 凡uency development to

Strengthen students■vocabula叩1eaming．As a follow－up eXerCise，the teacher

Can prOVide these high丘・equenCy WOrdsin contextin order to seeifstudents

acqulrethem．

The next easiest test seems to be TOEIC．This test alsoincludes high

丘equencywordsatabout80％，SOitiswor比spendingtimeonthesewords．

One unlquepOlntOfthe TOEIC textsis that relativelymanypropernouns are

usedbecause readingpassages訂e adapted丘・Om advertisements，bills，business

letters，and business contracts．In as much as these words are recognized as

propernounsbyleamers，thesemaynotbed雌cult，butratherhelptheleamers

COmprehend that type of text．However，theleamers may need to become

ねmiliarwiththesespeci丘cpassagefbms．

Themostdi胱ulttestsareSTEPIStgradeandTOEFL．Inthesetests，a

relatively highpropo血on ofacademicwords appear．Thus，1n Order to pass a

STEPIStgradetestorgetahighscoreonTOEFL，theleamersneedtoleam

these academic words as wellas high丘・equenCy WOrds，uSing the UWL（or

AWL2）．Itmaybeusefultoleamthemeaningofpre血esandrootsandtoread

passagesrelevanttotopics丘equentlytakenupinthetests．

山so，10W丘・equenCyWOdscannotbeignoredbecausemorethanlO％ofthe

WOrdsinalltbeburtestsarenotincludedin anyoftbelists．Thus，1eamers

p別1icularly at a higherlevelofpro丘ciency may t叩tOincreaselow丘■equenCy

WOrdsreceptivelybyextensivereadingofauthenticmatedals，praCtlClnggueSSlng

2Nationlaterre－Selectedabout600words h）m the UWLandGltegOhzed these as伽Acα血桝ic

肋ねエ由′血I呪ノ（Nadon，1998b）．HerecommendedusingtheAWLbrdirectstudysincethese

600wordsareimpoねntfbracademicr飽ding，itis，therebre，WO仙while spendingtime on these

words．

AnAndysiso川ocabu叫UsedinSTEPIStandPre－1StGmdes，TOEFL，肌dTOEIC13

themeanlngSOfwordsincontext，andleamlngOfpre丘ⅩeSandroots．

As we have seen so血r，there are d鮎rencesin d雌（：ultyand types of

WOrds usedin these tests． However，itis obvious that studyingfbrone test

helps theothertests becauseitwasfbundthatbesidestheimpoぬnceofhigh

丘equencywords，theproportionofacademicwordsisrelativelylargeinallofthe

burtests．Thus，Studyingacademicwordswillce止ainlyhelplemerstakethese

tests．山so，aSdiscussedabove，aCademicwordsandlow丘equencywordswhich

appearinthetestsarerelatedto some speci丘ctoplCS．Thus，byreadingabout

Cu汀enttOplCSOraCademictoplCSO氏entakenuplnthetest，1eamerscanmaster

thesewords．Inthisway，therearee航cientwaystoleamtestvocabula叩．As

Laufer（1989）claims，1eamersshouldkeepinmindthat95％wordcoverageofa

readingpassageleadstosu銑（：ientcomprehension．

Refbrences

Deville，G．（1985）．Aねが〝γわ管α凡Jβα川gγ－5JαfcαJ〃ggゐ．Paperpresentedat

the5thLSPSymposium，Leuven，Belgium．

mmura，M．（1991）．m汀C月gαd吻一助ざわJ和才乃わ好Cβα和βカrα3β吻少叩㌢Ⅶ∽．

（Trans．）Tokyo：Anlku

Laufer，B．（1989）．wもatpercenbgeoflexisisessentialforcomprehension？

InLauren，C．andNordman，M．（Eds．），伽椚助椚α耶乃才乃如曙わ乃i乃た吻

肋如乃β5．Clevedon：Multilin訃IalMatters，pp．316－23．

bugheed，L．（1992）．月聯乃ね〝如乃如β助JJⅧ丹ゆ劫βた．NewJersey：

InstmctionalDesignIntemational，Inc．

Nation，Ⅰ．S．P．（1990）．乃∝ゐ吻α舶加α和吻伽αぬ由り．Mass．：Heinle＆

Heinle．

Nation，Ⅰ．S．P．（1994）．乃∝如喝上古5ね邦吻α乃d軸gα如櫛Tokyo：Temple

UniversityJapan．

Nation，Ⅰ．S．P．andHeatley，A．（1996）．Ⅵ把α∂叫Jg，肋吻α血助郷ご♪γ耶〝ば

カγ♪和Cβざざ古材ぉちLALS，VictoriaUniversityofWellington，NewZealand．

Nation，Ⅰ．S．P．（1998a）．伽α占叫Jβ，卿α如勉プ邸丹唱和椚5カγPCS

㍑5‡曙〟S－β05I．Thereferencematerialdeliveredinthe98－spnngcourseat

TempleUniversityJapan．

14 AkiyoHi血

Nation，Ⅰ．S．P．（1998b）．乃αd古材α乃d血α和吻伽α∂加わ町．Workshopactivities

br the98’spdng course at Temple UniversityJapan．Tokyo：Temple

UniversityJapan．

Pifer，G．（1987）．β加舶吻朗仏力γTOEJC月g加古曙朗古仏jわ0ゐ3．NewYork：

Longman．

Yoshida，M．（1978）．The acquisition of English vocabu血y by aJapanese

Speaking child．In5－βCO乃dエβ仰Acヴ㍑ね〟わ乃，E．M．Hatch（Ed．）．

Newbu叩House，NewYork：91－100．

West，M．（1953）．AGβ乃g和J5β和わgエねf〆軸ねゐI杓γゐ．London：Lon印Ian

Xue，G．and Nation，Ⅰ．S．P．（1984）．A University Word LisL 血仰

エgα和‡，好α乃dG）桝桝〟乃わα如乃β，2：215－229．

AnAnalysisofVocab血YUsedinSTEPIStandPre－1StGmdes，TOEFL，andTOEIC15

Append汝A

TOEICPassagel

Wordsmarked＋wOrd＋打einBASEWRD2．DAT

Wordsmarked＝WOrd＝areinBASEWRD3．DAT

Wordsmarked＊word＊訂enOtinanylist

So，Whydon■tyoucometosee＊Macintosh＊？

＋Apple＋＝COmputer＝＊Co＊．has＋manged＋aSpeCial’Meet＊Macintosh＊■

＋pro訂am＋atthePress＋Club＋（2ndFloor）onMondayandTuesdayMarch

18thand19thforyoubusinessmenand＊professional＊1eaders．AtlO：30a．m．

Or2：00p．m．oneitherday，yOuCanget＊hands－On＊expedencewith＊Macintosh＊

and＋key＋ ＊so允wa代＊ ＋programS＋which can＝enhance＝yOur repO止S and

＝CO汀eSpOndence＝，＊budgeting＊ and accountlng，＊酢aphics＊ and ＝data＝

＋management＋．At4：00p．m．，We－11have a special＊session＊on＝prq】eCt＝

plannlng．Andifyourtimeislimited，We－11havetwoopenhousesdailyfbryouto

get＊acquainted＊血th＊Macintosh＊：丘om＋noon＋to2p．m．血th＊sandwiches＊，

and丘om5：30to8：00p．m．wi仏1ight＊re丘eshments＊．

Justfillout and＋mail＋the＋enclosed＋＋card＋andwe■1lreseⅣeaSpaCe

br you（or someone you ＊designate＊）．＝Incidentally＝，ifyou accept our

＋invitation＋，yOumayWina＊Macintosh＊，SOWelook＋bn好打d＋tOSeelngyOu．

（Adopted丘omBuildingSkillsfbrTOEICReadingSkillsBook3byGeorgePikr

（1987）．LongmanGroup．）

16 AkiyoHirai

Append汝B

TOEICText2

C．J．＊Bennett＊＊CO＊．＊Inc＊．

1213West＊Bradbrd＊＊Ave＊．

＊B此10＊，New＊York＊

May 8，1985

＊Ando＊T柑dingCompany

＊3－56＊Minami＊＊Aoyama＊

＊Minato－ku＊，＊Tokyo＊103，りapan＊

Gentlemen：

On May5th，Our Order No．＊K－6543＊br50sets of＋weight＋1i鮎ng

＝equlpment＝ardvedin丘ve separate cases with each case＋weighing＋0Ver

3000＊lbs＊．

We had＝SpeCi丘ed＝in our order that the cases not＋weigh＋more than

lOOO ＊lbs＊ a pleCe，Since we do not have the proper ＝tranSpO比1ng＝

＝equlpment＝tO＋handle＋heavier＋weights＋．To＝はansport＝the＊goods＊

toour＊warehouse＊，WeWere＝Obliged＝tO＊unpack＊thecasesand＊repack＊

the＋weights＋intosmallercases．

The time spent on＊repacking＊and the cost ofmatedals br smaller cases

resultedinourhavingtopayad血tionalcostsof＄1，200．

Wewo山d＋requeSt＋thatyourcompany＋a∬ange＋to＝COmpenSate＝uSfbr

the ad血donalcosts＊incu汀ed＊and that our＝instmctions＝ regar血ng山t∬e

Ordersbe＊con丘med＊inwntlngbyyouro凪ce．

＋Sincerely＋yours，

＊William＊＊Grassman＊

＋Manager＋