Types of vocabulary minima

There are distinguished two kinds of lexicon depending on the character of communicative activity: active and passive lexis. Active lexicon comprises the words used to express thoughts in oral speech and writing. They are used productively. Passive lexicon includes the words a person understands in other people’s oral or written speech but does not habitually use in his own speech. These words are used receptively.

The boundary between active and passive vocabulary minima is not stable. The active vocabulary word may move into the passive vocabulary if it is not regularly used in speaking or writing. The passive vocabulary word may, under favourable conditions, be actuated and used in productive speech at the necessary moment.

The volume and contents of the active and passive lexis in the mother tongue depend on the educational and cultural level of a person, his occupation and interests. According to the American methodologist R. Lado, 1,000 or 2,000 words are sufficient for speaking a mother tongue, 3,000 or 4,000 words – for listening and writing and 7,000 or 8,000 – for reading.

In the target language the active and passive vocabulary depend on the aim of studying the language and learning conditions. Thus, the problem of vocabulary selection includes, besides the principles of selection, four more points to be solved: 1) the purpose of selection; 2) the item of selection; 3) the volume of selection and 4) the sources of selection.

1) The purpose of selection takes into accounts the following aspects:

a) who this vocabulary is meant for (general English classes; specialised English schools; non-language departments; language departments; language courses for adults, etc.);

b) what practical, educational and cultural results are expected in the process of vocabulary acquisition;

c) what kind of speech activity this vocabulary is to be used in.

2) The item of selection is an item of teaching vocabulary, i.e. a lexical item. The lexical item can be not only a word, but also a word combination, and even a set expression.

3) The duration of the course, the numbers of academic hours a week, the method of teaching, the quality and character of exercises determine the volume of selection. Thus, we have several types of vocabulary minimum for various kinds of educational institutions:

 

Type of vocabulary Kind of Institution	Active	Passive	Text understanding percentage (S.K. Folomkina)
General secondary school		1,150 (1,500 – potential)	1,000 = 80%
Specialised language school	2,300	2,500	2,000 = 88-90%
Non-language department	2,500	3,000	3,000 = 92-94%
Language department	5,000	∞	4,000 = 94-96% 5,000 = 96-98%

Thus, S.K. Folomkinaconsiders it possible to understand 80% of information contained in the texts of average difficulty with the help of the first 1,000 of most frequently used words. In her opinion, the second thousand adds up 8-10% of understanding, the third – 4%, and both the fourth and the fifth – only 2%. In other words, the first two thousands provide understanding of 85-90% of textual information in reception.

V.A. Bukhbinderconsiders that the prescribed minimum volume of most frequently used words (1,000 lexical items) is unable to provide understanding of texts. He maintains that general comprehension in reading is achieved when 70% of words are familiar. However, such vocabulary volume is not optimum, for it provides only approximate incomplete understanding. As long as teaching reading is aimed at more or less adequate comprehension there should be not less than 85% of familiar words in a text. These 85% equal to passive vocabulary of 2,300-2,500 most frequently used words.

The first 1,000 words of active nucleus of vocabulary minimum form its stable core. The other 1,500 words acquired receptively may undergo certain changes caused by the alternation of teaching aims, fluctuation of the number and sequence of academic hours and so on.

4) The sources of selection are different for active and passive vocabulary minima. The active vocabulary is selected on the basis of analysing either written dialogical speech or phonograms of sounding speech of conversational-literary style, recorded in the real-life communicative situations. The passive vocabulary minimum is selected on the basis of extracts from the written sources.

In addition to the active/passive opposition in lexical minimum, there are distinguished several other types of vocabulary: 1) operative; 2) real and 3) potential vocabulary.

1) Operative vocabulary is the one a learner operates with or knows at the present moment of learning.

2) Real vocabulary is understood as all words of the vocabulary practically acquired by a student in the process of learning. Real vocabulary is meant to provide the development of productive and receptive skills. Real vocabulary comprises the learner’s active and passive vocabulary and serves the basis for forming his potential vocabulary.

3) Potential vocabulary of a learner comprises unknown words the meaning of which he can comprehend due to the already familiar elements of these words while listening or reading. Potential vocabulary consists of a) i nternational words similar to those of the mother tongue in their vocal or graphic form (a pianist, capitalism, etc.); 2) derivatives and compound words built of familiar components after the known scheme (e.g. childhood – детство; mother – мать; hence motherhood – материнство); 3) converted words (water – to water); 4) new meanings of the familiar polysemic words (a key - ключ; разгадка; код; тональность; высота голоса; клавиша etc.); 5) words the meaning of which can be esaily derived from the context. The potential vocabulary can enlarge the vocabulary providing listening and reading comprehension 5 or 6 times.