The analysis of relevance of vocabulary used in the 'Water' unit of chemistry i textbook

Jiyoung Kim, Miju Cho, Mina Goo, Jongseok Park

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This study analyzed the vocabulary level in the 'Water' unit of chemistry I textbook. It also analyzed its relevance to the 11th graders' vocabulary level. The main tool for analyzing vocabulary level was SWA(Science Word Analysis) program which was referenced the Standard Korean Dictionary and Graduated Vocabulary of Korean Language Education. The results in this study turned out to be as follows: The distribution of scientific vocabulary level increased from Level-1 to Level-3 and showed a tendency to decrease rom Level-3 until Level-5. The average percentage of Out of level is the largest as 37%. The highest percentage of non-scientific vocabulary was Level-1. The distribution of non-scientific vocabulary level decreased progressively. The Level-5 and Out of level are used 18% averagely. So, there are 6 vocabularies of Level-5 and 82 vocabularies of extra-level inappropriate in scientific vocabularies. And there are 53 vocabularies of Level-5 and 145 vocabularies of Out of level inappropriate in non-scientific vocabularies. Therefore, the overall state of textbooks for grade 11 students are reasonable. But there are a great many vocabularies inappropriate for them. Those should be used minimum, and to be changed to the 1-4 of level vocabulary as stated in the student's level of understanding of appropriate vocabulary.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)471-478
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of the Korean Chemical Society
Volume54
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 20 Aug 2010

Keywords

  • Chemistry I textbook
  • Relevance of vocabulary level
  • Vocabulary
  • Vocabulary level

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