A Study On Degree Adverbs In Chinese And Korean High School English Textbooks

The English language is one of the most prominent languages in the world and is considered to be the international language due to its wide usage. International political dialogue and trade contacts, the popularization of information and technology and the sharing of resources and education all regard English as a media tool. Therefore, English education has been the important component in the education system in non-English speaking countries. China and Korea also promote the foreign language education which attaches significant importance to English.The role of textbooks is very important in English education in non-English speaking countries. The vocabulary is one of the necessary factors throughout the whole English learning process; it's the basic element of language and also the direct reflection of pronunciation, meaning and grammar. In the practical application, most people first contact with vocabulary because thoughts and concept are needed to be expressed via them. Therefore, regarding the level of vocabulary, the words and its collocation which a textbook selects can affect whether learners can learn the useful language knowledge in a limited time.There are many kinds of adverbs in English and their usage is highly flexible. Among them, Degree Adverb is a significant adverb, which has quite a high usage frequency. Degree Adverb is used to increase, weaken or restrict the meanings or effects of words which it modifies and sometimes it can even change the meaning of a sentence. With the application of Degree Adverbs, we can make sentences more impressive and colorful. Also they make them be more imaginable because the words they modify successfully conveyed meanings of sentences. However, compared with other parts of speech, we have not taken Degree Adverbs seriously. Moreover, studies on vocabularies in English textbooks have not involved the Degree Adverbs yet.China and Korea are both non-English speaking countries. The students of high school English textbooks in both countries have the necessary English level and the language goals of textbooks are both to emphasize the authenticity of the language. So, are there any similarities or differences between Degree Adverbs in Chinese and Korean high school English textbooks?This study focuses on the presentation, distribution and collocation of Degree Adverbs in Chinese and Korean high school English textbooks. First, we set up the small corpuses of Chinese and Korean high school English textbooks and combine them with the most commonly used words in English and BNC (British National Corpus) to analyze the differences of presentation of Degree Adverbs. We also analyze the characteristics of their distribution and collocation in Chinese and Korean high school English textbooks. This allows us to investigate the similarities and differences of Degree Adverbs in Chinese and Korean textbooks, to provide foundation for the compilation or revision of our nation's high school English textbooks. At the same time, we hope this research will benefit China's English teaching.