The Relationship of Word Power and Communicative Proficiency CHUJO, Kiyomi Nihon University TAKEFUTA, Junko Bunkyo Gakuin College TAKAHASHI, Hideo Chiba University TAKEFUTA, Yukio Bunkyo Gakuin University Abstract The objective of this paper was to observe and examine the dynamic relationship between learners vocabulary size and communicative proficiency, as measured by the TOEIC test. First, we defined three levels of vocabulary size based on The System 5,000 Word List, a word frequency list: 1,000 word list, 3,000 word list, and 5,000 word list. Then, the TOEIC tests were modified to make three tests comparable to the three defined levels of vocabulary size. Modifications to the TOEIC tests were made by deleting words from the tests that were not found on each level s defined list. The tests were administered to a group of native speakers of English. The vocabulary coverage coefficient of each participant was calculated and then compared with each participant s TOEIC score. There appears to be a relationship between the vocabulary coverage coefficient and the TOEIC scores in this study. This relationship may indicate that this coefficient may act as a predictor of TOEIC scores with a negligible margin of error. In other words, vocabulary size provides an objective measure of a learner s communicative proficiency, when all factors are held constant with the exception of vocabulary knowledge. It was also found that native speakers, who utilized top-down processing of information on the TOEIC tests, scored higher than 700 with the test of 1,000 words, and higher than 900 with the test of 3,000 words. 1 / 11
1.,1979 Vocabulary West,1930 Lorge,1937 McCarthy, 1990 Vermeer (Laufer,1997) Gass & Selinker (Laufer,1997) Read,2000 1996 3 12 60 2,000 Shillaw(1995) 1996 Borrow 1999 1,500 2,000 World Economic Forum 1 2 IT 3 2001 18,100 Jaatinen & Mankkinen,1993 18,100 11 1/20 1/50,1979 Finocchiaro,1964 West,1926 1994 5,000 (,1994) 1 5,000 2,000 7,000 94.0 95.7 16.8 1 23.2 1 2000 Test of English as a Foreign Language TOEFL 430 600 29 TOEFL Reading Comprehension Section 2 / 11
TOEFL550 24 1 24 1 7,000 8,000 18,100 7,000 8,000 1,500 2,000 7,000 8,000 5,500 6,000 6 2,000 4 5,500 6,000 7,000 8,000 1/20 1/24 1995 5,000 1,000 3,000 5,000 3 1995 5 A E Test of English for International Communication TOEIC 2. 1 TOEIC 2 3 / 11
3. 3.1 5 2 3.2 5 2 1 2 3 9 3 4 5 3 1 2 3 3 1 2 3.3 TOEIC TOEIC 2 TOEIC 3 TOEIC 3.4 5,000,1994 3.5 3.5.1 1 1,000 2 3,000 3 5,000 TOEIC TOEIC Listening Section Reading Section 5,000 1,000 3,000 5,000 3 1,000 3,000 5,000 1 1,000 2 3,000 3 5,000 3 1,000 A: You say you re looking for something and? B: And it has to have an? A: I have a few models in the that should interest you. What is she buying? (A) A model (C) A car (B) A house (D) A radio 4 / 11
3,000 A: You say you re looking for something and? B: And it has to have an automatic? A: I have a few models in the that should interest you. What is she buying? (A) A model (C) A car (B) A house (D) A radio 5,000 A: You say you re looking for something compact and? B: And it has to have an automatic transmission? A: I have a few models in the that should interest you. What is she buying? (A) A model (C) A car (B) A house (D) A radio 3.5.2 1,000 3,000 5,000 3 1,000 3,000 5,000 Listening Section Reading Section 3.5.3 5 / 11
1993 1 100 100 100 1 3.5.4 5,000 1,000 3,000 5,000 1,000 3,000 5,000 3.5.5 TOEIC A E 5 6 / 11
4. 1 1,000 3,000 5,000 Listening Section Reading Section 2 2 TOEIC TOEIC 3 3 2 TOEIC 1 Listening Section Reading Section 1,000 89.8 88.9 0.9 3,000 96.7 96.8 0.1 5,000 98.5 97.8 0.7 1,000 80.3 75.1 5.2 3,000 93.9 91.2 2.7 5,000 96.5 94.9 1.6 100 (%) 95 90 Listening 85 80 75 Reading 70 1,000 3,000 5,000 2 TOEIC 7 / 11
2 TOEIC 1,000 85.1 82.0 790 3,000 95.3 21 94.0 909 5,000 97.5 40 96.4 929 3 TOEIC 5. 1 Listening Section Reading Section Listening Section Reading Section Listening Reading 5.2 3,000 5,000 2.7 1.6 Listening 0.9 Listening Section Reading 8 / 11
2.7 2.5 2 TOEIC TOEIC TOEIC 1,000 3,000 5,000 TOEIC 85.1 95.3 97.5 82.0 94.0 96.4 redundancy 1,000 82.0 B 790 3,000 5,000 21 40 1,000 B A 20 50 1 TOEIC PROFICIENCY SCALE A Non-Native B 5,000 1,000 3,000 5,000 9 / 11
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Read, John. (2000) Assessing Vocabulary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.. (1995). English Proficiency, 9, 1-10. Shillaw, J. (1995). Using a Word List as a Focus for Vocabulary Learning. The Language Teacher, 58-59.. (1993)., 3, 68-84.. (1994).., 42, 253-267.. (2000)., 7, 1-54. West, Michael. (1926). Learning to Read a Foreign Language. London: Longman s Green. West, Michael. (1930). Speaking Vocabulary in a Foreign Languages One Thousand Words. Modern Language Journal, 14(7), 509-521.. (1996)., 10, 1-13. ( ) 1 130 5 5,000 2 5 2 1 2 3 1,000 3,000 5,000 9 3 2 1,000 3,000 5,000 3 11 / 11