Reconsidering Vocabulary in Picture Card Sets: Do They Contain the Words that Pupils Want to Use?

抄録

In order to investigate whether the picture card sets adequately contain the words that pupils want to use, the contents of six picture card sets were compared with the results of the questionnaire asking pupils’ favorite things. The analysis revealed that no more than 27.71% of the words that pupils want to use are contained in picture card sets on average, and vocabulary of pupils’ favorite drinks especially tended not to be picturized. Also, three kinds of vocabularies –school-related things, the things unique to Japanese culture, and subordinate ideas – were found less likely to be contained in picture card sets. Considering the results, it is found that picture card sets do not adequately contain what pupils want to use, and thus it is assumed that they are not substantially used in primary English classes. It is suggested that to teach pupil-centered lessons, teachers should not use picture cards without consideration; rather, they should decide what word to use based on their pupils’ interests.