Choosing appropriate reading material for language learners is not an easy task. It is necessary to keep in mind the specific purpose of the exercise and that the material chosen must support that purpose. Often, these goals will include developing fluency, increasing vocabulary knowledge, and increasing the rate at which vocabulary grows. One of the texts and novels commonly used for extensive reading in high intermediate level English as a Second Language coursework in the United States is The Giver, a young adult novel written by American author Lois Lowry. Due to its importance, we chose to analyze the novel within the framework of word frequency counts through the lens of the percent of words a learner must know in order to understand the particular text. A corpus-based method is utilized in the study to determine the types and frequency of vocabulary that The Giver provides. Common groupings of related low frequency lexical items and collocations are explored. This application of a corpus-based analysis of the text draws a picture of the vocabulary that is presented in The Giver, and how it matches 1K, 2K and AWL. The analysis reveals that 89.07% of the vocabulary was found to fall within these high frequency word lists, which gives the novel a somewhat higher comprehensibility than average academic texts. Analysis of low-frequency words reveals key vocabulary that increase comprehensibility when explicitly taught, as well as use of compound words, prefixes, and suffixes, that—if paired with instruction in vocabulary analysis techniques—can also increase the comprehensibility of the text. A conclusion is drawn regarding the appropriateness of this novel for the target audience in the specified course types, with suggestions for modifications and supplements for the text’s use within ESL/EFL classrooms.

Keywords: word frequency; reading comprehension; vocabulary knowledge and size; corpus-based method linguistics

Alcaraz-Mármol, G. (2015). Dispersion and frequency: Is there any difference as regards their relation to L2 vocabulary gains? International Journal of English Studies, 15, (2), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.6018/ijes/2015/2/201471

Anthony, L. (2020). AntConc (Version 3.5.9) [Computer Software]. Waseda University. https://www.laurenceanthony.net/software

Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching languages to young learners. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511733109

Cobb, T. (n.d.). Web concordancers. Lextutor. Retrieved October 10, 2020, from https://www.lextutor.ca/conc/

Cobb, T. (n.d.) VocabProfilers. Lextutor. Retrieved October 8, 2020, from http://www.lextutor.ca/vp/

Cobb, T. (1998, 2019) Research base: Why & how to use frequency lists to learn words. Lextutor. Retrieved October 10, 2020, from http://www.lextutor.ca/research/

Davies, M. (2008-) The corpus of contemporary American English (COCA): One billion words, 1990-2019. Retrieved October 20, 2020, from https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/

Gao, Y. (2015). An empirical study on the correlation between vocabulary size and reading comprehension. Course Education Research, (16), 199-200.

Granger, S. (2002). A bird’s-eye view of learner corpus research. In S. Granger, J. Hung, & S. Petch-Tyson (Eds.), Computer learner corpora, second language acquisition and foreign language teaching(pp. 3–33). John Benjamins Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.6.04gra

Hoey, M. (2000). The hidden lexical clues of textual organisation: A preliminary investigation into an unusual text from a corpus perspective. In L. Burnard & T. McEnery (Eds.), Rethinking language pedagogy from a corpus perspective (pp. 31–42). Peter Lang.

Horst, M. (2000). Text encounters of the frequent kind: Learning L2 vocabulary through reading. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Wales, Swansea.

Hsueh-Chao, M. H., & Nation, P. (2000). Unknown vocabulary density and reading comprehension. Reading in a Foreign Language, 13(1), 403-430. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ626518

Jones, M., & Durrant, P. (2010). What can a corpus tell us about vocabulary teaching materials. In A. O’Keeffe & M. McCarthy (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of corpus linguistics (pp. 387-400). Routledge.

Laosrirattanachai, P., & Ruangjaroon, S. (2021). Implementation of a data-driven hospitality Lexis learning programme. 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 27(1). https://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2021-2701-01

Laufer, B. & Ravenhorst-Kalovski, G. C. (2010). Lexical threshold revisited: Lexical text coverage, learners’ vocabulary size and reading comprehension. Reading in a Foreign Language, 22(1), 15-30. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ887873

Lee, J. Y. V., & Wong, A. S. C. (2020). Vocabulary size and critical academic reading ability of secondary students in Sabah. 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 26(4), 15-27. https://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2020-2604-02

Lowry, L. (1993). The Giver. Houghton Mifflin.

Merriam-Webster. (2020). Merriam-Webster learner’s dictionary. Retrieved October 10, 2020, from http://www.learnersdictionary.com/

Millar, E. (2016). In search of a common core of key vocabulary among EFL coursebooks for secondary education in Cantabria using corpus linguistics applications. III Jornadas Iberoamericanas de Innovación Educativa en el ámbito de las TIC, 345-351.

https://repositorio.unican.es/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10902/18970/SearchCommonCore.pdf?sequence=1

Millar, N., & Budgell, B. S. (2008). The language of public health—a corpus-based analysis. Journal of Public Health, 16(5), 369-374. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-008-0178-9

Milton, J. (2013). Measuring the contribution of vocabulary knowledge to proficiency in the four skills. In C. Bardel, C. Lindqvist, & B. Laufer (Eds.), Eurosla monographs series, 2: L2 vocabulary acquisition, knowledge and use: New perspectives on assessment and corpus analysis, (pp. 57-78). European Association of

Second Language Acquisition.

Molavi, A, Koosha, M. & Hosseini, H. (2014). A comparative corpus–based analysis of lexical collocations used in EFL textbooks. Latin American Journal of Content & Language Integrated Learning, 7(1), 66-81. https://doi.org/10.5294/laclil.2014.7.1.4

Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge University Press.

Nation, I. S. P., & Waring, R. (1997). Vocabulary size, text coverage, and word lists. In N. Schmitt & M. McCarthy (Eds.), Vocabulary: Description, acquisition, and pedagogy (pp. 6-19). Cambridge University Press. https://www.scirp.org/(S(czeh2tfqyw2orz553k1w0r45))/reference/ReferencesPapers.aspx?

ReferenceID=1590729

Norberg, C., & Nordlund, M. (2018). A corpus-based study of lexis in L2 English textbooks. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 9(3), 463-473. https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.0903.03

Port. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/port

Sarem, S. N., Hamidi, H., & Mahmoudie, R. (2013). A critical look at textbook evaluation: A case study of evaluating an ESP course-book: English for international tourism. International Research Journal of Applied and Basic Sciences, 4(2),372-380.

https://www.academia.edu/14070844/A_Critical_Look_at_Textbook_Evaluation_A_Case_Study_of_Evaluating_an_ESP_Course_Book_English_for_International_Tourism?auto=download

Schmitt, N., Jiang, X., & Grabe, W. (2011). The percentage of words known in a text and reading comprehension. The Modern Language Journal, 95(1), 26-43. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2011.01146.x

Schmitt, N., & Schmitt, D. (2000). Vocabulary in language teaching. Cambridge University Press.

Stockton, S. K. (2020). A corpus-based analysis of junior and senior high school English textbooks in Japan [Doctoral dissertation, Northern Arizona University].

Tyler, A. (2012). Cognitive linguistics and second language learning: Theoretical basics and experimental evidence. Routledge.

van Zeeland, H., & Schmitt, N. (2013). Lexical coverage in L1 and L2 listening comprehension: The same or different from reading comprehension? Applied Linguistics, 34(4), 457-479. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/ams074

Webb, S., & Nation, I. S. P. (2008). Evaluating the vocabulary load of written text. TESOLANZ Journal, 16, 1-10. https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/lals/resources/paul-nations-resources/paul-nations-publications/publications/documents/2008-Webb-Evaluating-vocabulary-load.pdf

Wei, X. (2020). How does vocabulary knowledge relate to reading comprehension? In M. Dodigovic & M. P. Agustin-Llach (Eds.), Vocabulary in curriculum planning: Needs, strategies and tools (pp. 57-74). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48663-1_4

Yan, L., & Yang, Y. (2016). Examining business English majors’ business vocabulary knowledge development. The Asian ESP Journal, 12(3, 40-69

Zahar, R., Cobb, T., & Spada, N. (2001). Acquiring vocabulary through reading: Effects of frequency and contextual richness. Canadian Modern Language Review, 57(4), 541-572. https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.57.4.541

Zarifi, A., & Mukundan, J. (2013). Phrasal verb combinations in corpus-based studies: A critical review. International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature, 2(4), 212-217. https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.2n.4p.212