The Subject in an Authorized Junior High School Textbook: Usage-Based Frequency Analysis

Abstract

This study reports on an analysis of the usage of the English subject in one of authorized junior-high-school textbooks New Crown English Series (NC). As a point of reference, analysis was also conducted on the Oxford Reading Tree Series (ORT), which are established levelled stories for British children. The analysis focused on frequency of different types of subject from the perspective of usage-based second language learning. One of the main findings on the usage of the third-person subject was that, while ORT frequently used proper nouns of its main characters, such proper-noun use was very limited in NC. Instead, general use of common nouns was observed from earlier stages. The results suggest that easily identifiable subjects should be used in stories at early stages before general use on social topics is introduced.