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ERIC Number: EJ803265
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0033-6882
EISSN: N/A
Investigating the Accuracy of Teachers' Word Frequency Intuitions
McCrostie, James
RELC Journal: A Journal of Language Teaching and Research, v38 n1 p53-66 2007
Previous research has found that native English speakers can judge, with a relatively high degree of accuracy, the frequency of words in the English language. However, there has been little investigation of the ability to judge the frequency of high and middle frequency words. Similarly, the accuracy of EFL teachers' frequency judgements remains largely unstudied. This study required two groups of native English speakers (English teaching professionals and undergraduate university students) to judge the frequency of words by ranking two lists of 24 words in order of frequency. The first list covered a wide range of frequency levels and the second list covered words in the middle frequency range. The results from this study indicate that the English teaching professionals' accuracy judgments do not seem to be significantly better than university undergraduates. Furthermore, both groups of native English speakers had difficulty judging the frequency of words in the middle frequency range. These results indicate the need for teachers to consult frequency lists rather than rely solely on their intuitions. (Contains 6 tables.)
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada; Japan
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A