a lexical analysis of iraqi first level of intermediate school english textbook
Learning vocabulary of any language has great impact on the acquiring of that language. Many linguists and scholars have emphasized the importance of vocabulary in communicative competence, so that some of them consider it the heart of language. One of the best methods of learning vocabulary is to focus on words of high frequency. This is a corpus-based study and the method of analysis used in this study is the method of using computer software program equipped with lists prepared from reliable corpora in order to compare them with corpora prepared from the texts to be analyzed. In the present study, a lexical analysis of First Iraqi intermediate school English textbook (hence forth FIETB) was conducted. The software program (AntWordProfiler) as main instrument and (Range) programme as supported instrument, in order to analyze the corpora of the textbook to find out whether this course provides the student with the required vocabulary without using low frequency words which causes extra burden for student. In addition, investigation for coverage, word families and the appropriateness of recycling for vocabulary was done. The findings of this study revealed that the FIETB (English for Iraq) contains numerous numbers of vocabulary with low frequency, low number of word families, an average around 90% of coverage, and no/ or insufficient recycling. Finally, some conclusions, recommendations, and suggestions have been presented. (Published abstract)