| Recently, researchers are paying more and more attention to productive vocabulary, especially its' development process. They have tried to construct theoretical models and carry out case studies. However, research on productive vocabulary development is still scanty, and many questions about productive vocabulary remain unsolved, for example, do genders affect the development of productive vocabulary? Do different majors affect the development of productive vocabulary? Little research has been done in the two respects. Therefore, we need to carry out a study in which the two aspects are examined.This study centers on three research questions:1) What are the general tendencies in the development of L2 productive vocabulary of the English majors?2) Is there any difference in the development of L2 productive vocabulary between male and female learners? What's the general tendency for change in the two genders?3) Is there any difference in the development of L2 productive vocabulary between learners' of Business English and learners' of English Education? What's the general tendency for change in the two majors?The study is a longitudinal study, it examines the timed compositions of 161 individuals at the end of the third, fifth and seventh semesters. The compositions are finished as final examinations. The 161 students are English majors, among whom 120 are females, and as for majors, 80 are Business English learners, the rest 81 learners are learning English Education. So development is investigated with the ascending of time. Gender and major differences are considered respectively along the time.To show the differences and developmental tendencies in genders and majors, two indexes are used: type and family. The two indexes are checked individually in each of the four wordlists.We have made the following findings:1) Type and family seem to coincide in their development tendency. Percentage in type 1, type 2, family 1, and family 2 generally follow a descending trend, with a little regression in the seventh semester. Percentages in type 3, type 4 and family 3 follow an ascending tendency, which indicates learners' effort in using low-frequency words. And distinctive increase of percentage is aware of in type 3 in the fifth and seventh semesters, showing a big potential to development. 2) The development of type and family in list 1 and list 2 shows a descending trend in the fifth semester in both genders. As for the gender differences, type 1 is almost the same, but female increase too much in the seventh semester. This may show that females have a good command of list 1 and that males are more likely to try new words compared with females. In type 2 and family 2, the trend continues. WUL (list 3) develops more rapidly than other lists. In list 3, females are in an advantageous place when measuring the development in type and family, they seem to achieve more in list 3. Females show a great increase in the fifth semester. Development in list 4 remain almost the same in female as well as male, it first increases and then decrease to the original level. Words in list4 are not so commonly used, so both genders reach the plateau and try to avoid the use of them when at their own choices.3) As for major differences, the BE learners seem to develop better in the first two lists, although the two major are at almost the same or similar level in the third semester, they decrease more quickly in the first most frequently used 2,000 words; and in the seventh semester, they retreat less than EE learners. In the third wordlist, type and family of BE learners increase at the same rate as those in EE learners and the two majors tend to reach the same level at the end of the seventh semester. Especially when in the 3rd wordlist, the BE learners usually have a big edge over EE learners in type and family, but the rates they develop into the fifth semester are always the same; and finally in the seventh semester, they reach the same percentage.This research has implications for teaching. Correlations between genders and productive vocabulary development and between majors and productive vocabulary development are mainly appearing in WUL words. At the same time, the WUL words are open to development. So teachers should pay more attention to the gender and major differences and try their best to improve learners' productive vocabulary development by potentially improving productive ability in WUL words.
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