A Research On Vocabulary Setting In Textbooks For Grade One Of Primary School

This paper investigates the vocabulary setting for the first grade of Oxford English(Shanghai Edition).The purpose of this investigation is to find out whether those words presented as new words in the textbook in concern meet the needs and wants of students in their English communication.By reviewing literature of this issue at home and abroad,the author conducts a detailed investigation according to the Communicative Approach and Krashen's Input Hypothesis.First,the author consults Collins English Dictionary and Range_GSL_AWL for word frequency of textbook vocabulary.Then,the author uses Microsoft Office Excel to count word class and further divides the nouns along with Lyons' s theory of noun orders and textbook themes.Meanwhile,the author checks the textbook vocabulary coverage in National English Curriculum Standards and Shanghai English Curriculum Standards.Finally,by questionnaire,the author randomly selects 153 students from three Shanghai primary schools to conduct a survey on their conditions of vocabulary learning and textbook use and compares their vocabulary test results with SPSS.The result shows that Oxford English(Shanghai Edition)for the first grade contains mostly nouns,especially concrete nouns.The proportion of high-frequency words is rather low.The coverage of core vocabulary in Shanghai English Curriculum Standards is higher than that of National English Curriculum Standards by 11.22%,but still less than 80%.The current vocabulary setting in Oxford English(Shanghai Edition)does not meet well with students' increasing learning demands.Based on the quantitative analysis of the vocabulary setting in Oxford English(Shanghai Edition)for the first grade,considering students' communicative needs and wants and students' cognitive development,the author argues that there is possibility for these students to learn more and there is room to add in more words.In terms of themes and topics identified with students' interest in their activities in life,the author selects 347 words from English Curriculum Standards,common word lists and children's books as a tentative supplement to Oxford English(Shanghai Edition)vocabulary.Meanwhile,the author believes that a corpus of children's English vocabulary can be built to assist textbook compilation.The feasibility and effectiveness of this supplementary word list requires a long-term verification of course.In actual practice,it shall be better for teachers to make adjustment along with their own students' learning conditions and teaching progress.