Rethinking Word Counting in English Education: A Comprehensive Investigation into Affix Knowledge Development

2024 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K00706
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02100:Foreign language education-related
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Sasao Yosuke 京都大学, 国際高等教育院, 准教授 (80646860)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2025-03-31
• Keywords: 語彙習得 / 教科書 / 接辞 / 派生語 / 多義語 / コロケーション

Outline of Final Research Achievements

A total of 103 English textbooks for elementary, junior high, and senior high schools, developed under the current Course of Study implemented since 2020, were analyzed to investigate the actual use of vocabulary from the perspectives of derivational words, polysemous words, and collocations. The results showed that derivational words and collocations were introduced only to a limited extent in elementary school but gradually increased in both variety and frequency as grade levels advanced. Regarding polysemous words, some were found to be used with peripheral meanings even at the early stages of learning. Across all perspectives, a sharp increase in vocabulary was observed during the transition from junior high to senior high school, suggesting the potential for increased learning difficulty during this period.

Free Research Field

応用言語学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は，小・中・高等学校の英語教科書を対象に，語彙の形の変化（派生語），意味の広がり（多義語），語と語の結び付き（コロケーション）の観点から語彙使用の実態を明らかにした。これまで英語教育では語彙数といった量的基準が重視され，こうした質的側面はほとんど考慮されてこなかったが，その質的側面に焦点を当てた点に本研究の学術的意義がある。また，教科書間や学年間で語彙の扱いに大きな差があることが確認され，特に中学から高校への移行期に学習負担が急増することが示された。これらの成果は，今後の語彙指導の改善や，学習者の負担軽減に資する教材開発に貢献すると考えられる。