文献综述
1. Introduction1.1 Research backgroundReading is widely recognized as an indispensable skill for achieving academic success, no matter which language media, first or second language (e.g. Johns, 1981; Snow, Burns Rosenfeld, Leung Carrell, Devine Qian, 2002; 2006). In relation to language testing, it is also one of the fundamental concerns for developing the content of a reading test. In line with the requirements of the syllabus, we will explore the relationship of lexical complexity between English reading textbooks and TEM-4 Reading comprehension texts.Lexical complexity reflects the diversity and maturity of learners language output, which is one of the important representations of learners language development. In previous studies, researchers mostly focused on the lexical complexity of the writing part. For example, Bao (2011) uses candidates essays from different schools for TEM-4 and TEM-8 as a corpus to explore the interaction between school type and essay level in terms of lexical complexity. Compared to research on writing, fewer scholars have studied reading texts, including reading materials in tests and reading content in textbooks. Tang (2009) finds that lexical complexity shows a positive correlation with reading difficulty, which indicates that lexical complexity reflects the difficulty and validity of the test. Therefore, comparing the lexical complexity of the textbook reading texts with that of the TEM-4 can be enlightening for English majors. However, this research has only just been initiated. This paper selects An Integrated English Course (Book 1-4) as the object of text analysis, mainly based on the following considerations: first, it is published by an authoritative foreign language publishing house - Shanghai Foreign Language Education Publishing House; second, it is widely used by English Majors in many colleges and universities in China, which is of great influence in Comprehensive English teaching materials for English Majors in China. The aim of this essay is to explore the relationship between English reading textbooks and TEM-4 reading comprehension texts on the level of lexical complexity, which attempts to show that whether the most well-received textbook satisfy the vocabulary requirements of TEM-4. In the meanwhile, the research should give some enlightenment to the future professional English education to some extent.1.2 Research purposesThis thesis explores the lexical complexity between the texts in An Integrated English Course (Book 1-4) and TEM-4 reading comprehension in order to further compare the relationship between the vocabulary teaching of An Integrated English Course (Book 1-4) and the lexical learning requirements of TEM-4.Theoretically, it can enrich the research on lexical complexity between English reading textbooks and TEM-4 reading comprehension texts. This article builds its own corpus, taking the most popular English textbooks and the most recent 15 years of reading comprehension in TEM-4, so that the study is in line with the requirements for the advancement of English language teaching. Practically, the study will provide the references to raise the design of English reading textbooks for the designers, aiming at improving its validity. It is also useful for the development of communicative reading test and reading instruction.1.3 Organization of the studyThis thesis comprises of five chapters. Chapter 1 includes the background and purpose of the study, and an outline of the thesis. Chapter 2 reviews the existing literature and studies that deal with the definitions and measurements of lexical complexity. Chapter 3 describes the specific methods used in this study. Chapter 4 provides a detailed description and interpretation of the study results. These relate to the results based on the use of qualitative and quantitative research techniques. Chapter 5 summarizes the main findings of this paper. It provides a retrospective statement of the entire study and explains the findings with reference to each research question. The chapter also discusses the main findings and limitations of this study, as well as recommendations and implications for ELT.2.Literature review2.1Definations of Lexical ComplexityRegarded as a key notion in vocabulary study, lexical complexity has been taken as an important predictor of students performance and an essential indicator of students reading quality. Lexical complexity in the current study refers to the features of vocabulary used in reading. However, there is little agreement about the definition of lexical complexity among scholars. Lexical complexity is often regarded as equal to lexical diversity or lexical richness (Laufer, 1991; Read, 2000). But in the meanwhile, there are many scholars who believe it is different from lexical diversity, which is considered as one part of the multidimensional characteristics of lexical complexity (Malvern, Richard, Chipere Hyltenstam, 1988; Laufer, 1991: Engber, 1995), lexical sophistication or rareness (Laufer, 1991: Read, 2000), lexical density (Backman, 1978; Hyltenstam, 1988), lexical individuality or originality (Laufer, 1991), lexical sophistication and lexical diversity (Bao, 2011) and lexical errors (Read, 2000). Specifically, according to Engber (1995), lexical complexity refers to the correct lexical form and the various ways of lexical choices. However, Read (2000) explains that lexical complexity is a generic term used to show the lexical features in written works. According to Wen (2006), lexical complexity is the manner in which different frequencies of lexical types are assigned and predetermined in spoken and written forms. Bao (2011) suggests that lexical complexity is an indicator for calculating learners vocabulary width. 2.2 Empirical studies of lexical complexityThe number of studies on lexical complexity in written texts is quite large. Various studies about lexical complexity have been conducted by scholars and researchers. Scott amp; Danielle（2009）studies lexical differences in L1 and L2 writing. They find that L1 and L2 written texts vary in several dimensions related to the writers use of lexical choices. Bao (2008; 2010; 2011) conducts a similar study in an attempt to discover whether there is an interaction between lexical complexity and writing of the text. Lexical complexity and reading are not as much of a study as writing. Xie (2012) conducts an exploratory analysis of the reading comprehension materials in the English paper of the college entrance examination in terms of lexical complexity, makes an analysis of the stability of the reading test in the university entrance examination, and offered insights into the direction of reform. Yu (2018) examines the relationship between lexical complexity and CET-6, IELTS and TOEFL Reading Tests and discovers a remarkable difference between the lexical complexity of these three tests. The findings demonstrate that vocabulary complexity rises step by step in the CET-6, IELTS, and TOEFL reading tests, which is also consistent with the rising difficulty of the test.In the present study, there are many studies on the reading part of TEM-4 in English, but they mainly focus on the analysis of text difficulty and content validity, etc. Tang (2009) applies Wordsmith and SPSS to compare the self-built TEM-4 and TEM-8 corpora on text structure and grammatical metaphors and discovered that the necessary condition for understanding the discourse is the accumulation of vocabulary. Zhao (2017) reveals that the difficulty of TEM-8 is higher than that of TEM-4 in terms of vocabulary and syntax, thus providing suggestions for teaching and learning by comparing the self-built corpus. However, research that combines TEM-4 reading comprehension texts with English textbook reading sections to study lexical complexity is still in its infancy.
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