A Comparative Study of Vocabulary Levels Between Japanese Junior High School English Textbooks and Beginner-Level Extensive Reading Books

Abstract

This study aimed to establish a bridge between school curricula in Japan and extensive reading (ER) programs by investigating the appropriate levels of ER books for Japanese junior high school learners from a lexical level perspective. To achieve this goal, the study created three corpora: a textbook corpus, consisting of three types of textbooks authorized by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) for junior high school students in Japan; a Graded Readers (GRs) corpus, comprising 161 titles at YL 0.1 to 1.0; and a Leveled Readers (LRs) corpus, comprising 444 titles at YL 0.1 to 1.0. The vocabulary levels of the three corpora were analyzed to determine the optimal positioning of ER book levels within junior high school settings. The findings revealed that books from YL 0.5 to 1.0 of GRs were suitable for pleasure reading without a lexical burden for Japanese junior high school students as their vocabulary levels were below those of the textbooks. This research fills a gap in the literature and can serve as a useful guide for teachers in selecting appropriate ER materials for their students in junior high school settings in Japan.