Relations Between The Breadth And Depth Of Business English Vocabulary And Reading Comprehension

English vocabulary acquisition is a key component in the English languageacquisition, and it is also the basis of other skills, such as listening, speaking, reading,writing and translating. Developing a rich vocabulary is a top priority and a long-termchallenge for English learners. Vocabulary is so important that it opens new frontiersfor foreign language researchers and teachers.Business English is one important branch in ESP(English for SpecificPurpose).Since China has entered WTO, Business English has become more and morepopular. In order to get a better job and future, people begin to take part in BusinessEnglish examinations, such as BEC (Business English Cambridge). Naturally,Business English vocabulary is essential and the top priority in BEC.There are many studies on vocabulary (especially vocabulary size) and readingcomprehension both in China and abroad, but there are fewer on the Business Englishteaching on this part. Recently, vocabulary studies are focused either on breadth ofvocabulary knowledge, which pays attention to learners’ vocabulary size, or depth ofvocabulary knowledge, which explores the development of various dimensions ofindividual words. Traditional vocabulary studies neglect depth of vocabularyknowledge, which is similar to Business English vocabulary teaching in ESP.Business English vocabulary also has its own characteristics.Given such situation, the present study attempts to investigate the relationshipbetween Business English vocabulary knowledge (breadth and depth) and readingcomprehension among non-English majors in China where Business English islearned as a foreign language. As a result, we suggested some new vocabularyteaching methods. Sixties second-year non-English majors who majored inInternational Trade in Qingdao Agricultural University took part in the study, andthree tests were conducted respectively examining their English vocabulary size,depth of vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. Vocabulary size wastested by a new version of the Vocabulary Levels Test originally designed by Nation (1983,1990), and now revised and expanded and presented validity evidence bySchmitt and Clapham (2001). Depth of vocabulary knowledge was tested by a paperwhich adopted Read’s (1993,1997,1998) Word Associates Format. Both of the testswere revised by the writer according to the characteristics of the business English.The reading comprehension test was a sample test taken from the readingcomprehension section of BEC Vantage (Business English Cambridge—Vantage).SPSS13.0(Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) was employed for Pearsoncorrelation analysis and multiple regression analysis.The results showed:(1) there is high positive correlation among breadth anddepth of Business English vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension.(2) Inaddition to the prediction of breadth of vocabulary knowledge on readingcomprehension, depth of vocabulary knowledge can make a unique contribution toreading comprehension.Based on results of the present study, it is revealed that vocabulary learning ismuch more than learning as many words as possible. Business English learners mustlearn to master deep knowledge concerning individual words in various aspects. Withthe proper method, they can master more Business English words. To improve readingcomprehension in BEC, at least two components of vocabulary depth knowledge needserious attention in making BE curricula. First, in addition to primary meanings ofwords, synonymy and polysemy are also important elements that should be introducedin the classroom. Second, syntactic properties of words, in particular theircollocational relations with other words, are also well worth learners’ attention, sincethe levels of these aspects of word knowledge are strongly associated with those ofreading comprehension. To sum up, it is very important to put emphasis on both thebreadth and the depth of vocabulary knowledge in Business English vocabularyteaching and learning. As to business English learners, it is advisable to learn Englishbased on certain projects with the help of teachers and pursue more good methods.