Abstract:

This study is a corpus-based evaluation of reading sections in English for Ethiopia textbooks grades 9-12 and the receptive vocabulary knowledge of students who used the textbooks. The study evaluated reading threshold vocabulary knowledge of the textbooks. The study also examined if students vocabulary knowledge is sufficient for independent reading. The methodology adopted for this research project is a corpus-based research methodology. It involved compilation and analysis of textbook corpus using computer software. For its framework of analysis BNC, high-frequency word list, and RANGE vocabulary profiling software were used. Receptive vocabulary knowledge of students was measured using The Vocabulary Size Test. The test was administered to 107 grade 12 students of Bahir Dar Preparatory and Secondary School. The result from the study indicated reading vocabulary threshold at 95% and 98% text coverage was knowledge of 4000-7000-word families. The vocabulary size test finding showed receptive vocabulary size of students was 3096-word families, which is below independent reading level. Based on the findings it was concluded that the reading sections need some modification aimed at easing the difficulty. Finally, it was recommended that teachers and students should be informed of the vocabulary demands and make use of resources from vocabulary research findings to compensate for the difficulty of reading texts.

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