Word Frequencies and Vocabulary Threshold Levels in EFL Textbooks. A Corpus Study

Abstract

A significant number of studies have identified inadequate vocabulary exposure in EFL coursebooks as a problem. However, few studies have been carried out in the Swedish context. This observation, along with how the most recent revisions of the Swedish syllabi mention vocabulary explicitly, inspired this investigation of the vocabulary exposure in upper secondary coursebooks in the Swedish context. In total, text excerpts from four books were analysed through AntWordProfiler (Anthony, 2022), also revealing low exposure to high- and low-frequency words. However, since word frequencies are based on native speaker production rather than learner-produced language, their role as an accurate gauge for potential vocabulary exposure can be questioned. Thus, from the coursebook corpora a small number of words were selected and compared to the threshold division made by CEFR (Council of Europe, 2020) in the English Vocabulary Profile (Cambridge University Press, 2015c). Revealing a vast representation of words from all threshold levels in the majority of the coursebooks, the author suggests that future studies focus on analysing the percentage of the presence of different threshold levels instead of word frequencies in EFL coursebooks. Furthermore, it is strongly advised not to assign all vocabulary gains to a coursebook, since the results also indicate that the imbalance between content and vocabulary exposure will likely remain during the compilation of coursebooks.