Vocabulary is considered to be an important factor for English as a foreign language (EFL) learners to acquire the four key English abilities of reading, listening, writing and speaking. To develop EFL learners' vocabulary effectively, it is necessary to first measure freshmen's vocabulary size on entry. In Japan, the new course of study for Junior High Schools which defines the number of words learned at Junior High was introduced in 2012 and this changed the learning criterion of English vocabulary. The purpose of this study is to figure out how much receptive vocabulary the freshmen at National Institute of Technology, Kisarazu College have and to verify whether the change of the course of study affects their receptive vocabulary size. The results show that the college freshmen have a vocabulary size of 1162-1496 words out of 2000 words, and that the receptive vocabulary size of the college freshmen was unaffected by the revision of the course of study.
