Vocabulary In The NMET-2019 In The Context Of The NSECS

The New Senior English Curriculum Standards(2017 Edition)(NSECS)has been brought into force since the fall of 2018.The just-concluded National Matriculation English Test(NMET)in 2019 is the first college entrance examination after the new curriculum standards were issued.Vocabulary has always been the focus of English teaching and learning.It is a very important part of English testing and a key factor in controlling the difficulty of the paper sheet.Therefore,a comparative study of the vocabulary required in the latest edition of the NSECS and the words actually used in the examination sheets of the NMET-2019 can benefit the assessment and improvement of the test under the guidance of the new curriculum standards.It is also of illuminating and referential value for the NMET to better fit in with the requirements of the NSECS and the current situation of English teaching and learning in China.In the context of the new curriculum standards,the present study explores the distribution of the vocabulary in the eight NMET-2019 examination sheets respectively,as well as the alignment situation with the vocabulary of three mastery levels in the word list of the NSECS.The study is centered on the following three questions:1.What are the coverage characteristics of the NSECS-required vocabulary in the NMET-2019?2.What are the distribution characteristics of the NSECS-required vocabulary in the NMET-2019?3.What are the reasons for misalignment between the vocabulary in the NMET-2019 and the NSECS-required vocabulary?Using corpus analysis software AntConc and corpus linguistic research methods,this study conducts quantitative,qualitative and comparative analysis to further compare the number and distribution of vocabulary at all levels that are listed in the new curriculum standards and included in the NMET.Specific classification and analysis of the misaligned words are carried out as well.The major findings are summarized as follows:1.In terms of lexical coverage,words in the NSECS word list account for the vast majority of the vocabulary in the NMET-2019.In general,the design of the NMET-2019 is in line with the requirements of vocabulary evaluation in the NSECS.However,the lexical coverage of the three-level words in National Examination Sheet?,National Examination Sheet ?,and Shanghai Examination Sheet are relatively low.2.From the perspective of lexical distribution,more than half of the word types in the NMET-2019 aligned to the words listed in the NSECS.Level 1 and Level 2 words are tested at almost the same proportion,while the rates of the three-level words tend to decrease successively as the levels of the words increase.3.The misaligned words in the NMET-2019 are mainly classified into three categories:proper names,compound words and derived words.These types of words focus on the evaluation of students' language ability of inferring from the context and language knowledge of word-formation,which is challenging for students to some degree.In the end of the paper,suggestions for teachers to expand students' vocabulary,for test-designers to scientifically choose and examine vocabulary,and for students to improve their vocabulary ability are provided.