Abstract
Language textbooks play a major role in language teaching and learning, providing a structured approach to teaching and learning (Tomlinson, 2012). In particular, the vocabulary employed in textbooks provides the foundation for successful communication and serve as the core of language proficiency (Nation, 2001). The purpose of this study is to evaluate an in-house developed first-year English course material at a private university in Taiwan. This study examines (1) whether the corpus of the course material corresponds to the levels based on the Common European Framework of Reference (Council of Europe, 2001); (2) how it compares to year one English language coursebooks from China, Korea, Indonesia, and Thailand; and (3) whether it reflects common everyday language. Analysis using English Vocabulary Profiler shows the current course material conform to A1 to B2 CEFR levels. As compared with other Asian countries, the course material CEFR corpus is more similar to that of Indonesia and China. Finally, the current course material highly reflects everyday common language after comparison between the course material and words on the New General Service List (Brezina & Gablasova, 2013) is conducted.
Author Information
Toshiyuki Hasumi, Ming Chuan University, Taiwan
Lanasari Tan, Ming Chuan University, Taiwan
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