A Change of the Receptive Vocabulary Size of the Japanese EFL College Freshmen

Abstract

Vocabulary is considered to be one of the most important factors for English as a foreign language (EFL) learners to acquire the four key English skills of reading, listening, writing and speaking. The Japanese Course of Study for Junior High Schools was revised in 2017. This revision increased the number of vocabularies that Japanese junior high school students should learn in their English classes. The purposes of this study are to verify whether the revision of the Course of Study for Junior High Schools affects the receptive vocabulary size of the freshmen at National Institute of Technology, Kisarazu College or not, and to estimate their receptive vocabulary size. The results show that the revision of the Course of Study for Junior High Schools affected the Japanese EFL college freshmen to increase their receptive vocabulary size, and that their receptive vocabulary size could be estimated at 2333-2393 words out of 4000 words.