Vocabulary Analysis of the Mandarin Language Textbooks for Lower Grades in Elementary School – A case study based on the textbooks published by Han Lin Publishing Co., LTD

• Main Authors: Chi-hsiu Hsieh, 謝其秀
• Other Authors: Kuang- ming Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/88429951321824488811

碩士 === 國立臺南大學 === 國語文學系碩士班 === 100 === A procedure is－The thesis tries to survey the readability of the textbooks used in lower grade Mandarin language class in the elementary school nowadays. The textbooks surveyed in the thesis are published by Han Lin Publishing Co. LTD. By using quantitative analysis, the researcher first segments the words and phrases in the Mandarin language textbooks volume by volume, lesson by lesson and sentence by sentence and then analyzes the use of vocabulary in the textbooks from three different aspects: analysis of category, event category and word frequency. According to the results of the analysis, it is hoped that this thesis can provide another aspect of teaching material analysis for teachers and textbook editors. The results of the thesis are as follows: I. The Amount of Vocabulary: There are sixty lessons in the Han Lin Mandarin language textbooks from starter, volume I to IV. The amount of vocabulary is 1,287 words, including the lesson titles and reading contents. The total number of times of the vocabulary reaches to the amount of 5,548. II. Analysis of Category: The categories of the vocabulary used in the textbooks from starter, volume I to IV mostly belong to content words, and the amount is 1,218 words. The frequency of using these words is up to 87.9%. There are 69 function words, and the frequency of using these function words is 12.1%. The largest category of all the content words is noun, and its using frequency is the highest, too. There are 563 noun entries in total, and the using frequency is 43.10%. The second largest category of the content words is verb. There are 542 verbs in total, and the using frequency is 29.15%. The smallest category of the function words is “DE and SHI”,only 4 entries in number, but its using frequency is the highest,which is 7.14%. III. Vocabulary Event Category Analysis: Among the vocabulary appeared in the Han Lin Mandarin language textbooks from starter, volume I to IV, if one word entry appears more than three times, it is classified into a specific event category according to its meaning. The result shows that the largest amount of vocabulary is the category of “life and creature”, and the amount is 75 words. The second largest amount of vocabulary is the category of “universe and earth”, 68 words. The highest using frequency is the vocabulary of the category of “mind, language and information”, and the number of times is 1,092, which is 24.30%. The second highest using frequency is the vocabulary of the category of “human and society”, and the number of times is 599, which is 13.33%. IV. Analysis of Frequently Used Vocabulary: The percentage of frequently used vocabulary in the Han Lin Mandarin language textbooks from starter, volume I to IV is low. Compared with the first 3,000 frequently used vocabulary in《The report for schoolchildren'' frequently used words》, the corresponding words are 807, which is only 62.7%. The words corresponding to the first 8,000 frequently used vocabulary are 986, which is only 76.6%. Compared with the first 3,000 frequently used vocabulary in Word List with Accumulated Word Frequency in Sinica Corpus 3.0, the corresponding words are 577, which is only 44.8%. The words corresponding to the first 8,000 frequently used vocabulary are 814, which is only 63.2%. Compared with the first 3,000 frequently used vocabulary in National Language Committee in RPC《Modern Chinese words frequency list (Draft)》, the corresponding words are 628, which is only 48.7%. The words corresponding to the first 8,000 frequently used vocabulary are 729, which is only 56.6%.