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EVALUATING LEXICAL COVERAGE ON COURSEBOOKS, “AMERICAN ENGLISH FILE 1 AND 2”
Abstract
The present study evaluated the lexical coverage of the series "American English File 1 and 2" textbooks to facilitate the English language development of undergraduate students. The evaluation focuses on the listening materials, vocabulary choice, and the alignment of these factors with students' expected English proficiency levels. The analysis of data was run using Vocabprofile via the Compleat Lexical Tutor (https://www.lextutor.ca/). The listening transcripts from both coursebooks were evaluated for lexical coverage at the K-3 level, which revealed a substantial lexical coverage of 98.2% for “American English File 1” and 97.4% for “American English File 2”, suggesting that students would likely grasp the listening texts effectively, thereby indicating that the materials are appropriate for learners at this proficiency stage. At the K-8 level, for a more advanced proficiency, the two coursebooks illustrated greater lexical coverage, accounting for 99.7% for “American English File 1” and 99.1% for “American English File 2”. These findings implied that EFL learners would demonstrate a strong comprehension of the materials, maximize these teaching resources, and experience the least errors. In conclusion, the findings suggested that the “American English File 1 and 2” coursebook series is regarded as an efficient instructional source to enhance students' English language skills, especially in vocabulary acquisition and listening comprehension, making them suitable for undergraduates. Discussion and recommendations for further research are put forward.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejals.v8i1.577
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