English by Japanese, Is There Any Difference?:
Investigating the Coverage Properties with the VacabProfile
Kazufumi Miyagi
EDSL 617:
Teaching and Learning Second Language Vocabulary
Professor Dr. Thomas Cobb
May 18, 2004
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In Japanese EFL contexts, it has been recognized that a desired vocabulary size
for junior high school English is around 900 words, and the additional 1,800 words or so
are needed for senior high school levels according to the current Course of Study for
Foreign Languages issued by the Ministry of Education (2003). If our EFL program
takes West’s General Service List (as cited in Nation & Waring, 1997) as a basis for its
vocabulary teaching, students will have a good chance to get exposed to 2,000 headwords
of the GSL while they are in senior high schools.
On the assumption that the abovementioned practice is the case in vocabulary
teaching in Japan, my purpose of this brief paper is to analyze four different types of
text produced by or for Japanese (NNS) in order to see if there are any difference in the
use of vocabulary as comparing to Nation’s (2001, p.17) results, which are presumably
obtained from authentic samples by native-speakers of English (NS) such as British and
American English-speaking people.
With regard to selecting the texts, my primary concern was to look for English
samples produced by Japanese speakers of English as much as possible attempting to
particularly see how the first 1,000 words (K1), the second 1,000 words (K2), and the
Academic Word List (AWL) words are played out in Cobb’s VocabProfile
(http://www.lextutor.ca). It would be interesting to examine differences, if any, in the
coverage properties between English usage of NNS and that of NS. Now let me describe
how I found the four texts.
Firstly, I was fortunate to recycle a transcript of English conversation by
Japanese speakers, which I once transcribed for a small-scale discourse analysis when I
was auditing a course in an American university in 1999. In addition to finding
conversation text, it was also easy to find an academic text written by
Japanese-speaking writers because there are a great number of articles by Japanese
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scholars available in English language journals. Among them, I chose one article by
Keiko Hirose (2003), who is an EFL/ESL researcher in a Japanese university.
However, with regard to fiction and newspaper text types, my efforts to locate
the samples authentically generated by Japanese ended fruitlessly. Thus, the searching
criteria had come to be adjusted to allow myself to include English samples which were
originated from Japanese texts and translated by non-Japanese speakers. As a result, I
settled on a Japanese fairy tale as a fiction type text, which was introduced to
English-speaking readers by Yei Theodora Ozaki about a good century ago, which was
retrieved from a Website of online e-book distributor called the Project Gutenberg. And
regarding to a newspaper text, I finally arrived at an article from one of the most
popular English-language newspapers published in Japan, the Asahi Shinbun. Although
both text types are not direct products by Japanese writers, nevertheless they are
unique enough to distinguish themselves from texts by NS because they deal with what
happens in Japanese contexts.
Results of the VocabProfile analysis of four text types are shown in Table 1.
Table 1.
Four text types and text coverage by the GSL and the AWL
Levels
Conversation
Fiction
Newspapers
Academic text
1st 1000
81.8 % (-2.5)
87.3% (+5.0)
77.2% (+1.6)
67.1% (-6.4)
2nd 1000
7.2% (+1.2)
4.2% (-1.2)
10.3% (+5.6)
5.0% (+0.4)
Academic
1.6% (-0.3)
0.5% (-1.2)
4.0% (+0.1)
8.1% (-0.4)
Other
9.3% (+1.5)
8.1% (-2.8)
8.5% (-7.2)
19.8% (+6.5)
Note. The first figure in each column represents the percentage breakdown of tokens. The figure in
parentheses represents the percentage difference between Nation’s (2001) data (Table 1.7., p. 17) and the
data of the present study: While (+) shows a gain, (-) expresses a loss in the current data comparing to
Nation’s.
Somewhat unexpectedly, overall findings of the present investigation show that
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there are not significant differences in the use of vocabulary by Japanese NNS in terms
of Japanese-specific attributions. Although considerable differences can be observed
sporadically in comparison with Nation’s (2001) data, those dissimilarities suggest, with
a closer look, that they would account more for topic selections or stylistic aspects of text
than for L1 background of text producers. In other words, what is the topic about and
how it will be presented basically dictate the coverage varieties in text.
On the newspaper text of my choice, for example, there is a large gain of 5.6% in
the list of the K2 words. However, this can be explained as follows. Because the article
deals with a topic, “doctor questioned in brain death killing,” the text itself intrinsically
generates less frequent words from the second 1,000-word list: that is, brain, hospital,
and patient. In fact, these three words alone make up a half of 44 tokens (5.2%) from the
K2 category. If the topic had been different, this figure could have been transferred to
the off-list words to make the coverage profile look more correspondent to Nation’s
(2001) data. Therefore, it would be fair to argue that the disparity between two sets in a
certain category may result from a specific topic that accounts for a certain group of
vocabulary to occur more frequently.
Likewise, regarding the fiction text type, the translator of this Japanese fairy
tale needs to consider the content of the story in order to attract its potential readers
who may be younger age with a small size of vocabulary. Therefore, the writer must have
carefully chosen words mostly from the first 1,000-word list, resulting in the highest
coverage of 87.3% across four texts in this category.
Another big difference is observed in the academic text type where a huge gain
of 6.5% is recognized in the off-list words, which occupies approximately one-fifth
(19.8%) of the entire tokens in text. On the other hand, a decline of 6.4% in the 1,000
most frequent word list marks by far the lowest percentage (67.1%) across four text
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types in this category. However, it does not still seem that being a Japanese writer holds
a probable cause for this phenomenon. Instead, it can be speculated that the disparity
between Nation’s data and the present data should depend upon where the extracted
text comes from: The processed portion of the current academic text has been removed
from the first two long paragraphs in the text. Usually, an author of academic paper
begins with a series of statements to build theoretical background of the study, upon
which s/he is going to develop arguments in subsequent chapters, by making references
to a number of previous literatures. As a result, the author comes to produce many
proper names that go to the off-list and filed-specific concepts that will not be included in
the 570 AWL, which altogether yield the reduction of the first 1,000 frequent words.
Therefore, it is more relevant to interpret the cause of this phenomenon as a stylistic
aspect of academic papers.
Of all text types, the conversation data is the most consistent with Nation’s
(2001) data. However, it should be noted that I have re-categorized several discourse
fillers (i.e. ah, aha, uhm, um) as high frequency words as well as having given the K1
status to yeah which is ranked in the eighth of the fifty most frequent spoken words
(McCarthy & Carter, 1997, p. 23). Although whether to include those transcribable
vocalizations into a dominant word list has not fully discussed, I have decided to count
them as significant words in oral language contexts because their recurrence is evident
enough not to overlook. If they had not reclassified as such, they would have accounted
for additional 7.3% to the off-list words otherwise. Moreover, my intention was to avoid
making others draw a hasty conclusion that Japanese use a lot more off-list words than
high frequency words when they speak English, which in fact is not simply true because
the surplus coverage due to those discourse fillers is equally observable in conversation
of native speakers of English.
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I have started this small investigation with some expectations of finding
L1-specific usage of vocabulary by Japanese speakers/writers of English. However, none
of my data has strongly convinced me to confirm that there is a difference in the use of
vocabulary between NNS and NS. Rather I have come to realize that, in order for one
language user to display his/her vocabulary profile, there are more essential factors than
L1 background of vocabulary users, such as a selection for topics in text and rhetorical
styles to present topics.
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References
Cobb, T. The compleat lexical tutor. http://www.lextutor.ca
McCarthy, M. & Carter, R. (1997). Written and spoken vocabulary. In N. Schmitt & M.
McCarthy (Eds.), Vocabulary: Description, acquisition and pedagogy. (pp. 20-39).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ministry of Education. (2003). The course of study for foreign languages. Retrieved
March 28, 2004, from http://www.mext.go.jp/english/shotou/030301.htm
Nation, P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
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Appendix
VP output of four text types with database
(1) Conversation
Background information of the conversation text
The following transcript is the text used in this VP analysis, which is a part of
conversation at a lunch table recorded in Virginia in the United States in October 1999.
There are five participants in the conversation: one female native speaker of English
(Speaker L) and four non-native speakers of English, who speak Japanese as L1 (three
men: K, T, and Z ; one woman: C ). These four speakers were all teachers of English in
Japanese senior/junior high schools, who were visiting the U. S. to participate in the
one-year language program. Speaker L was their teacher and their program coordinator
as well.
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English by Japanese
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English by Japanese 11
English by Japanese 12
(2) Fiction
The fiction text was retrieved from:
Ozaki, Yei Theodora. THE BAMBOO-CUTTER AND THE MOON-CHILD. The Project
Gutenberg E-text of Japanese Fairy Tales. Retrieved on May 15, 2004 from
http://gutenberg.mirror.cygnal.ca/etext03/jpnft10.txt
EXTRACTED TEXT
Long, long ago, there lived an old bamboo wood-cutter. He was very
poor and sad also, for no child had Heaven sent to cheer his old
age, and in his heart there was no hope of rest from work till he
died and was laid in the quiet grave. Every morning he went forth
into the woods and hills wherever the bamboo reared its lithe green
plumes against the sky. When he had made his choice, he would cut
down these feathers of the forest, and splitting them lengthwise, or
cutting them into joints, would carry the bamboo wood home and make
it into various articles for the household, and he and his old wife
gained a small livelihood by selling them.
One morning as usual he had gone out to his work, and having found a
English by Japanese 13
nice clump of bamboos, had set to work to cut some of them down.
Suddenly the green grove of bamboos was flooded with a bright soft
light, as if the full moon had risen over the spot. Looking round in
astonishment, he saw that the brilliance was streaming from one
bamboo. The old man. full of wonder. dropped his ax and went towards
the light. On nearer approach he saw that this soft splendor came
from a hollow in the green bamboo stem, and still more wonderful to
behold, in the midst of the brilliance stood a tiny human being,
only three inches in height, and exquisitely beautiful in
appearance.
"You must be sent to be my child, for I find you here among the
bamboos where lies my daily work," said the old man, and taking the
little creature in his hand he took it home to his wife to bring up.
The tiny girl was so exceedingly beautiful and so small, that the
old woman put her into a basket to safeguard her from the least
possibility of being hurt in any way.
The old couple were now very happy, for it had been a lifelong
regret that they had no children of their own, and with joy they now
expended all the love of their old age on the little child who had
come to them in so marvelous a manner.
From this time on, the old man often found gold in the notches of
the bamboos when he hewed them down and cut them up; not only gold,
but precious stones also, so that by degrees he became rich. He
built himself a fine house, and was no longer known as the poor
bamboo woodcutter, but as a wealthy man.
English by Japanese 14
(3) Newspapers
The newspaper article was retrieved from:
The Asahi Shimbun. Final judgement: Doctor questioned in brain death killing.
Retrieved on May 15, 2004
http://www.asahi.com/english/nation/TKY200405150155.html
FULL TEXT
FINAL JUDGMENT: Doctor questioned in `brain-death' killing
The Asahi Shimbun
SAPPORO-Police are questioning a 32-year-old doctor on suspicion of killing a 90-year-old
``brain-dead'' man in February by taking him off an artificial respirator at a hospital in
northwestern Hokkaido.
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Officials of the Hokkaido-run Haboro Hospital insist the family asked that efforts to prolong
the patient's life be halted, but police suspect the doctor failed to follow proper procedures to
determine brain death.
Sources close to the investigation say this raises the possibility of illegal euthanasia.
In Japan, a brain-dead patient can be declared legally dead only in cases where the organs
are to be donated for transplants. The criteria for determining brain death are extremely
strict.
The doctor worked at the hospital from May 2002 until last month.
According to officials, the patient was taken by ambulance to the hospital on Feb. 14, 30
minutes after food had become lodged in his throat. By the time he reached the hospital
around 1:10 p.m., he was not breathing and his heart had stopped.
His heart started beating again 30 minutes later, but he was unable to breathe on his own.
The doctor noted his pupils were dilated and told the man's family he was brain-dead. By the
following morning, the patient's condition had deteriorated.
When informed by the doctor that the man still appeared brain-dead, the family asked that
no steps be taken to prolong his life ``if there's no hope'' of recovery, according to officials.
The doctor removed the respirator, and the man died 15 minutes later.
Because he did not die of any illness, the doctor reported the case to police herself.
Hospital chief Takashi Sato said the patient's chart showed he ``would no doubt have died in
an hour or two'' even if left connected to the respirator.
Hokkaido officials in charge of prefectural hospitals said they would keep an eye on the
police investigation into whether the judgment of brain death was proper.
The latest case raises questions about how medical institutions determine brain death and
what standards they have for allowing removal of a respirator or other measures of
euthanasia.
In a 1995 ruling on a euthanasia case at the Tokai University hospital, the Yokohama
District Court set four conditions to be met: that the patient is in unbearable pain; the death
is imminent and inevitable; no alternative is available to relieve the pain; and the patient
has made his or her wish clear.(IHT/Asahi: May 15,2004) (05/15)
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(4) Academic text
The academic text was extracted from:
Hirose, Keiko (2003). Comparing L1 and L2 organizational patterns in the
argumentative writing of Japanese EFL students. Journal of Second Language Writing,
12, 181-209.
EXTRACTED FULL TEXT
The present study investigated the relationship between Japanese students’ first
language (L1) and second language (L2) writing in terms of organization. Previous
contrastive rhetoric research involving Japanese writers has found mixed results concerning
organization. On the one hand, Japanese is claimed to have distinct organizational patterns
from English (e.g., Hinds, 1983, 1990). On the other hand, some studies cast doubts on such
claims (Kubota, 1992, 1998b). Is there any characteristic of text organization specific to
Japanese writing? It is often argued that in opinion-stating essays Japanese writers are
hesitant to take a position initially, and the reader has to wait for the writer to state his/her
English by Japanese 17
position until the final part of the text (e.g., Oi, 1986). This tendency to postpone one’s main
point until a later position has been found not only in student texts but also in those written
by professional writers. Based on his analysis of the column tensei jingo (Vox Populi, Vox
Dei) from the Asahi Shimbun, one of the major Japanese newspapers, Hinds (1990)
characterized Japanese organizational pattern as ‘‘quasi-inductive.’’ Similarly, Maynard
(1996) analyzed 38 opinion columns from the same newspaper and suggests that Japanese is
‘‘bottom-heavy’’ in the sense of sentence, paragraph, and the whole text. Reviewing the
findings of contrastive rhetoric studies on English and Japanese, Kubota (1998a) concluded
that ‘‘one feature commonly identified by researchers as a characteristic of Japanese writing
is ‘induction’ ’’ (p. 478).
Such a ‘‘bottom-heavy’’ tendency has been also observed in L2 English texts
written by Japanese learners of English. Contrastive rhetoric studies have found that
Japanese EFL students tend to employ the specific-to-general (inductive) organization,
whereas American L1 students are more inclined to use the generalto- specific (deductive)
organization in English (e.g., Kobayashi, 1984; Oi, 1984). However, deductive patterns were
also reported to be employed by L2 Japanese writers. Kobayashi (1984) found many
Japanese EFL university students used the specific-to-general organizational pattern,
whereas advanced Japanese ESL students studying in the U.S. tended to favor the
general-to-specific pattern. Oi (1984) also found that just over half of the Japanese EFL
students writing in L2 had a preference for the general-to-specific organization, although
American university students showed a stronger preference for this pattern. Drawing on 130
English expository compositions written by intermediate and advanced Japanese students in
the U.S., Achiba and Kuromiya (1983) discovered that linear (deductive) rhetorical patterns
(34%) were most frequently employed, followed by circular and inductive patterns (27%).
These previous studies suggest that L2 Japanese students with some L2 writing experience
or a certain English proficiency level may tend to use the organizational pattern that many
studies have identified as the preferred L1 English one.