A Useful 3,000-word Vocabulary for Students of English as Derived from Five Word Lists

Abstract

We sometimes have a question like this: "How many words does a second-language learner need?" and then, "What are the words he/she needs?" Especially the beginners of English want to know the answer to these questions. According to The Ministry of Education of Japan, junior- and senior-high school students are expected to learn about 3,000 English words over a period of six years. However, we can find only 507 words listed in "A Course of Study for Lower Secondary Schools in Japan." The Ministry of Education does not assign specific words; rather, it simply mentions that around 2,500 words is the aim. First, I selected five different English word lists. Each word list is composed of 2,000 to 2,500 defined words used to explain head words in English dictionaries. Next, I tried to prove whether or not we can read English sentences if we know only 2,000 words. Then I input the five- vocabulary data of more than 10,000 words into the Ms excel software. The results indicated 3,456 head words, which became my derived basic word list. I input the basic English word data into HT3 software which searches for those words in 11 different English patterns. The average of 11 patterns is as follows: if English learners know 3,456 words, they can read 89% of general reading material. As we can see from the results, these basic English words are very important. I hope my basic vocabulary list will make students confident in understanding English and will serve as a motivation to mastering it.