Larger Differences In Vocabulary Sizes Necessary To Reach 98% Coverage Between The Genres

By Author: Alex Lee
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In response to the fourth research question, the results indicated that the vocabulary necessary to reach 95% coverage was fairly consistent between the genres; however, there were much larger differences in the vocabulary sizes necessary to reach 98% coverage between the genres. A vocabulary size of the most frequent 3,000 word families plus proper nouns and marginal words provided 95% coverage for eight of the eleven genres, and a vocabulary size of the most frequent 4,000 word families plus proper nouns and marginal words provided 95% coverage for the other three genres (animated, war, and action). The vocabulary size necessary to reach 98% coverage ranged from the most frequent 5,000-10,000 word families plus proper nouns and marginal words. Three of the genres (horror, drama, and crime) reached 98% coverage at the 5,000 word level, three of the genres (romance, classic, and westerns) reached that point at the 6,000 word level, three of the genres (action, science fiction, and comedy) reached 98% coverage at the 7,000 word level, and a vocabulary of the most frequent 9,000 and 10,000 word families plus proper nouns and marginal ...
... words provided 98% coverage for war and animated movies, respectively. Taken together, the results suggest that horror and drama may be the least demanding genres in terms of coverage. Each of those genres reached 96% coverage at the 3,000 word level and 98% coverage at the 5,000 word level. Teachers and learners need to be aware that drama and horror are likely to be the easiest genres to understand and they should aim to initially use L2 movies from those genres for language learning until viewers can demonstrate precise comprehension of movies. However, the differences between the vocabulary size necessary to reach 95% and 98% between the genres also suggests that the vocabulary size necessary to understand movies is likely to vary from movie to movie and teachers and learners should not assume that all movies within the drama and horror genres will be easily understood. Merrell Shoe

The result for animated movies at both coverage points is quite surprising because the traditional audience for animated movies is children. However, this finding is supported by Nation's (2006) analysis of coverage of the animated movie Shrek, which also did not reach 95% coverage until the 4,000 word level and 98% coverage at the 7,000 word level. One reason why chil?dren's movies may have more low frequency vocabulary than other movies could be because there are a number of low frequency words from a traditional adult spoken and written corpus, which are high frequency words for children. For example, animal names such as penguin, zebra, and squirrel are known by many two-year olds but are found in the 6,000 word list. Other words such as: cookie, pizza, and Halloween are also likely to be known by young children but because they are not common words in conversation or written text they are categorized as low frequency words. It is likely that frequency lists based on children's books and viewed materials may be slightly different than the BNC lists, and most parents can attest that young children know a surprising number of low frequency words and are able to enjoy watching children's movies. Merrell Boot

If the aim of watching movies is incidental vocabulary learning then there are three vocabulary learning strategies which should be considered. First, research has shown that watching video with subtitles may increase incidental vocabulary learning. Teachers and learners need to be made aware that watching movies with subtitles may have a positive effect on learning and that watching L2 movies with subtitles should not be discouraged. Subtitles may have a similar effect to L2 glosses in reading. When needed, they may ease the burden of comprehension. Although subtitles may not be available on television or at the movie theatre in an ESL context, many DVDs do provide the option of having both an English soundtrack together with English subtitles. Subtitles may be particularly useful for learners watching their first L2 movies when the task of precise understanding may be overwhelming. Gradually, however, there should be a clear aim towards watching L2 movies without subtitles and understanding authentic L2 input without learning aids.