1. How Many Words Does It Take to Listen and Read in English?
Norbert Schmitt
Dee Gardner
Mark Davies 1

2. Vocabulary Size Targets and Pedagogical Applications
Syllabus Design – How many words do we need to teach?

3. Vocabulary Size Targets and Pedagogical Applications
Syllabus Design – How many words do we need to teach?
Materials Development - How many words do we need in our textbooks?

4. Vocabulary Size Targets and Pedagogical Applications
Syllabus Design – How many words do we need to teach?
Materials Development - How many words do we need in our textbooks?
Assessment - How many words do we need to test?

5. Size → Frequency
Frequency has long been recognized as a key characteristic of vocabulary 5

6. Harold Palmer ( ) 6

7. Edward Thorndike (1874 – 1949) 7

8. Michael West (1888 – 1973) 8

9. Word Lists 9

10. Frequency Frequency is a useful tool to inform pedagogy
Most frequent words are the most useful 10

11. Frequent Words and Text Coverage in the Brown Corpus11 11

12. Paul Nation
How Large a Vocabulary is Needed for Reading and Listening?
I.S.P. Nation (2006) 12

13. Frequency and Coverage
Levels Written Spoken
coverage (%) coverage (%)
1st 1, – –84
2nd 1, – –6
3rd 1, – –3
4th–5th 1, –3
6th–9th 1, –1
10th–14th 1, <
Proper nouns – –1.5
Not in the lists – 13 13

14. Current Vocabulary Size Targets
Nation used a 98% figure to calculate vocabulary size requirements:
 6, ,000 word families for spoken discourse
 8, ,000 word families for written discourse 14 14

15. Current Vocabulary Size Targets
Nation used a 98% figure to calculate vocabulary size requirements:
 6, ,000 word families for spoken discourse
 8, ,000 word families for written discourse 15 15

16. Word Families
If learners know one member of a word family (suspicious), do they necessarily know the other members (suspect, suspiciously)?
Schmitt & Zimmerman (2002) 16 16

17. Word Families persist Noun The judge changed his mind because
of the lawyer’s ________.
Verb The lawyer ________ until the judge
changed his mind.
Adjective The ________ lawyer persuaded the
judge to change his mind.
Adverb The lawyer argued ________. 17 17

18. Word Families persist Noun The judge changed his mind because
of the lawyer’s persistence.
Verb The lawyer persisted until the judge
changed his mind.
Adjective The persistent lawyer persuaded the
judge to change his mind.
Adverb The lawyer argued persistently. 18 18

19. Word Families
Advanced learners typically knew some, but not all derivative forms
Typically knew noun and verb forms better than adjective and adverb forms 19 19

20. Counting Unit Lemma Persist: persists, persisted, persisting
Kremmel, 2016 (TESOL Quarterly)

21. Current Vocabulary Size Targets
Nation used a 98% figure to calculate vocabulary size requirements:
 6, ,000 word families for spoken discourse
 8, ,000 word families for written discourse 21 21

22. Vocabulary Coverage vs. Reading Comprehension

23. Vocabulary Coverage vs. Listening Comprehension
Mean comprehension (Max = 10)
Native speakers Non-native speakers
Lexical coverage 23 23

24. Lexical Coverage
Need to show a range of lexical coverages, as different learners may require different percentages 24 24

25. Vocabulary for Listening

26. Number of Lemmas in Conversation
Tokens 80% 90% 95% 98% %
Avg Coverage ~300, ,501 3, ,297
All BNC ,862, ,788 4, ,132 26 26

27. Number of Lemmas in Conversation
Tokens 80% 90% 95% 98% %
Avg Coverage ~300, ,501 3, ,297
All BNC ,862, ,788 4, ,132 27 27

28. Vocabulary for Reading

29. Number of Lemmas in Adult Fiction
Tokens 80% 90% 95% 98% %
Avg Coverage ~300K , , , ,071
All BNC ~31m , , , K 29 29

30. Number of Lemmas in Adult Fiction
Tokens 80% 90% 95% 98% %
Avg Coverage ~300K , , , ,071
All BNC ~31m , , , K 30 30

31. OVERVIEW

32. Spoken Genre in Lemmas (BNC/COCA)
Rounded to Nearest 100
Spoken Genre in Lemmas (BNC/COCA)
TV TV
Coverage Conv Lecture Radio talkshow sitcom
95% , , , , ,900
98% 3,100___ 5,000___6,400__ 6,500____ 5,600
Conv = conversation

33. OVERVIEW

34. Rounded to Nearest 100 Written Genre in Lemmas (BNC/COCA)
Adult Juvenile
_Coverage__Fiction Fiction News Mag Academic
95% , , , , ,200
98%__ , , , , ,800__
News = newspapers Mag = magazines Academic=academic writing

35. Health Warnings!
These tables show the amount of vocabulary necessary in these genres
(a lot!)
They do not show the actual lemmas which make up those amounts 35 35

36. Health Warnings!
High-frequency lists are probably a reasonable guide for the first 80% or so
They can be a rough guide for all percentages BUT:
Beyond 80%, each genre is likely to have to have its own particular vocabulary which differs from other genres 36 36

37. First Lemmas past 90% garage title signal (v) long-standing
Conver Lectures Newspaper Academic
garage title signal (v) long-standing
hole idiom colorful charity
bill armed mound arbitrary
both opposite universe discrete
grow middle trio conceptualize
care (v) relative (n) shiite gathering
finger square planned PH
tired switch (v) monument advisor
lucky specify shy irrelevant
mouth intend sibling large 37 37

38. 1. This is the _____ of the presentation.
a. beginning
b. middle
c. end
d. centre

39. 1. This is the _____ of the presentation.
a. beginning
b. middle
c. end
d. centre

40. Vocabulary Resource Website
Most Schmitt (and colleagues) research is available on Norbert Schmitt’s personal website:
All colloquium PPTs with references will be posted
Word lists (PHASE & PHaVE) are available
Vocabulary tests (VLT)
Links to websites, including COCA BYU web site 40 40

41. References
Nation, I.S.P. (2006). How large a vocabulary is needed for reading and listening? Canadian Modern Language Review 63(1),
Kremmel, B. (2016). Word families and frequency bands in vocabulary tests: Challenging conventions. TESOL Quarterly, 50(4),
Schmitt, N., Gardner, D. & Davies, M. (under review). How much vocabulary is required for listening and reading in English?
Schmitt, N., Jiang, X., and Grabe, W. (2011). The percentage of words known in a text and reading comprehension. Modern Language Journal 95(1), 41 41

42. References
Schmitt, N. and Zimmerman, C.B. (2002). Derivative word forms: What do learners know? TESOL Quarterly 36(2),
van Zeeland, H and Schmitt, N. (2013). Lexical coverage in L1 and L2 listening comprehension: The same or different from reading comprehension? Applied Linguistics, 34, 42 42