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The Problem of Polysemy in the First Thousand Words of the General Service List: a Corpus Study of Secondary Chemistry Texts

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The Problem of Polysemy in the First Thousand Words of the General Service List: a Corpus Study of Secondary Chemistry Texts University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2008 The Problem Of Polysemy In The First Thousand Words Of The General Service List: A Corpus Study Of Secondary Chemistry Texts Karina Clemmons University of Central Florida Part of the Curriculum and Instruction Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Clemmons, Karina, "The Problem Of Polysemy In The First Thousand Words Of The General Service List: A Corpus Study Of Secondary Chemistry Texts" (2008). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 3527. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/3527 THE PROBLEM OF POLYSEMY IN THE FIRST THOUSAND WORDS OF THE GENERAL SERVICE LIST: A CORPUS STUDY OF SECONDARY CHEMISTRY TEXTS by KARINA CLEMMONS B.A. University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 1995 M.A. University of Central Florida, 2003 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in Education in the Department of Educational Studies in the College of Education at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Spring Term 2008 Major Professors: Keith Folse Stephen Sivo © 2008 Karina Clemmons ii ABSTRACT Vocabulary in a second language is an indispensable building block of all comprehension (Folse, 2006; Nation, 2006). Teachers in content area classes such as science, math, and social studies frequently teach content specific vocabulary, but are not aware of the obstacles that can occur when students do not know the basic words. Word lists such as the General Service List (GSL) were created to assist students and teachers (West, 1953). The GSL does not adequately take into account the high level of polysemy of many common English words, nor has it been updated by genre to reflect specific content domains encountered by secondary science students in today’s high stakes classes such as chemistry. This study examines how many words of the first 1000 words of the GSL occurred in the secondary chemistry textbooks sampled, how often the first 1000 words of the GSL were polysemous, and specifically which multiple meanings occurred. A discussion of results includes word tables that list multiple meanings present, example phrases that illustrate the context surrounding the target words, suggestions for a GSL that is genre specific to secondary chemistry textbooks and that is ranked by meaning as well as type, and implications for both vocabulary materials and classroom instruction for ELLs in secondary chemistry classes. Findings are essential to second language (L2) researchers, materials developers, publishers, and teachers. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ..........................................................................................................................vii LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................................viii LIST OF ACRONYMS/ABBREVIATIONS...............................................................................ix CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................1 General Background........................................................................................................................3 Statement of the Problem...............................................................................................................4 Theoretical Framework...................................................................................................................4 Research Questions .........................................................................................................................5 Definitions ........................................................................................................................................5 Assumptions.....................................................................................................................................6 Study Design.....................................................................................................................................7 Significance.......................................................................................................................................7 Limitations........................................................................................................................................7 Organization.....................................................................................................................................9 Summary ...........................................................................................................................................9 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW..............................................................................10 Introduction....................................................................................................................................10 Practical Significance.....................................................................................................................11 Information Processing Learning Theory..................................................................................12 The Input Hypothesis ...................................................................................................................16 Textbook Content Analyses.........................................................................................................18 iv Linguistic Features ....................................................................................................................20 Genre...............................................................................................................................................21 Corpus Linguistics .........................................................................................................................22 Educational Applications.........................................................................................................25 Vocabulary Word Lists .................................................................................................................26 The General Service List..........................................................................................................27 Polysemy .........................................................................................................................................30 Definitions..................................................................................................................................32 Tests for Polysemy....................................................................................................................34 The Difficulty of Polysemy in Reading..................................................................................37 Summary .........................................................................................................................................39 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................40 Introduction....................................................................................................................................40 Statement of the Problem.............................................................................................................40 Sample .............................................................................................................................................41 Procedure........................................................................................................................................43 Summary .........................................................................................................................................49 CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS.....................................................................................................50 Introduction....................................................................................................................................50 Research Question 1......................................................................................................................50 Research Question 2......................................................................................................................53 Summary .........................................................................................................................................56 v CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION...............................................................................................58 Introduction....................................................................................................................................58 Adequacy of GSL in Secondary Chemistry Textbooks ...........................................................58 Polysemy of GSL in Secondary Chemistry Textbooks............................................................59 Development of Instructional Materials ....................................................................................64
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