1

Michael West’s General List

Comparison

With Yemeni Crescent Book words

Ministery of Higher Education

Sana’a Univeristy

Education College

M A Program

English Department

Supervised By:

Dr:Ismail M. Naji

Prepared By:

Yasser Mohammed Al-Refaee

2

Introduction

Although the language makes use of a large number of words, not all of these words

are equally useful. One measure of usefulness is word frequency, that is, how often

the word occurs in normal use of the language. From the point of view of frequency,

of % 7It occurs so frequently that about . is a very useful word in Englishthe word the

the words on a page of written English and the same proportion of the words in a

Look back over this paragraph and you . theconversation are repetitions of the word

. in almost every linetheind an occurrence of will f

The good news for second language learners and second language teachers and

pcurriculum designers is that a small number of the words of English occur very

frequently and if a learner knows these words, that learner will know a very large

proportion of the running words in a written or spoken text. Most of these words are

content words and knowing enough of them allows a good degree of comprehension

of a text. Thus, words selection has to be taken into consideration when selecting a

textbook or designing a syllabus.

However, with a continuing emphasis on communication in language teaching there

is a tendency to give less attention to the selection and checking of language forms

in course design. Now that the benefits of form focused instruction are being

positively reassessed, we may see a change in attitude towards vocabulary lists and

frequency studies. The benefits of giving attention to principles of selection and

gradation in teaching however remain important no matter what approach to

teaching is being used. A goal of this review of the findings of research on vocabulary

size and frequency is to show that this information can result in considerable

benefits for both teachers and learners.

In an attempt to see the extent to which our English books known as crescent are in

line with what is called content specifications in terms of words selection and the

orientation of series itself ,the matching between its methodology and design.

Crescent series are claimed to be communicative in nature. The purpose of this

paper, thus, is to figure out the whether these books are following a synthetic or

analytic approach for selection and gradation of its content .Synthetic approach

means deciding and specifying what linguistic items to include .Analytic approach

does not present carefully selected samples of language in an attempt to build up a

gradual picture of the grammar of the language .Instead ,it identifies phrases which

have high utility and presents these as whole phrases .After counting and

comparing the words of all crescent book series and West's lists, we found that the

crescent books series are not synthetic nor analytic .the number of words covered in

3

crescent series books are approximately 49.91% which is neither below nor above

the norms of synthetic or analytic approaches.

What vocabulary does a language learner need?

Second language learners need first to concentrate on the high frequency words of

the language. Now ,we look at some useful vocabulary lists based on frequency and

review the research on the adequacy of the General Service List (West, 1953). Most

counts also consider range that is the occurrence of a word across several

subsections of a corpus (McIntosh, Halliday and Strevens, 1961).

The practice of counting words has a long history dating as far back as Hellenic times

(DeRocher, 1973). Several early word counts are mentioned in Fries and Traver

(1960). There are many lists of the most frequently occurring words in English among

which is The General Service List (West, 1953) The GSL contains 2000 headwords and

was developed in the 1940s. The frequency figures for most items are based on a

5,000,000 word written corpus. Percentage figures are given for different meanings

and parts of speech of the headword. In spite of its age, some errors, and its solely

written base, it still remains the best of the available lists because of its information

about the frequency of meanings, and West's careful application of criteria other

than frequency and range.

The classic list of high frequency words is Michael West's General Service List (1953).

The 2000 word GSL is of practical use to teachers and curriculum planners as it

contains words within the word family each with its own frequency. For example,

excited, excites, exciting and excitement come under the headword excite. The GSL

was written so that it could be used as a resource for compiling simplified reading

texts into stages or steps. West and his colleagues produced vast numbers of

simplified readers using this vocabulary. This is actually a very old list being based on

frequency studies done in the early decades of this century. Doubts have been cast

on its adequacy because of its age (Richards, 1974) and the relatively poor coverage

provided by the words not in the first 1000 words of the list (Engels, 1968).

Engels makes two major points. Even if a limited vocabulary covers 95% of a text, a

much larger vocabulary is still needed to cover the remaining 5% (p. 215). However

Engels overestimates the size of this vocabulary. He suggests 497,000 words. His

second point is that the limited vocabulary chosen by West (1953) is not the best

selection. Engels examined 10 texts of 1000 words each. He found that West's GSL

plus numbers covered 81.8% of the running words (This did not include proper

nouns which covered 4.13%). Engels' definition of what should be included in a word

family did not agree with West's and so Engels considered that West's GSL contained

3,372 words. This is because Engels considered flat and flatten, and police and

4

policeman to be different word families. West gives separate figures for such items

but indicates through the format of the GSL that they are in the same family. This

difference however does not influence results. Engels considered the first 1000 of

the GSL to be a good choice because the words were of high frequency and wide

range (p. 221).

Engels correctly points out that the GSL does not provide 95% coverage of texts. He

also says that the words outside the first 1000 of the GSL are "fallacious ... [because]

they cannot be called general service words". Engels considers that the range and

frequency of these words are too low to be included in the list. He suggests that for

the lower frequency words in the GSL "the work should be done all over again" (p.

226), giving more attention to topic and genre divisions. Hwang and Nation (1995)

report on such a study. The results only partly support Engels' ideas. It is possible to

replace 452 of the words in the GSL with 250 words of higher frequency across a

range of genres, but the change in total text coverage is small - from 82.3% to 83.4%.

Even adjusting for the difference in size of the GSL, 2,147 words, and the new list,

1,945 words, still leaves the percentage difference in coverage at 1.68%. Thus

although the GSL is in need of replacement because of its age, errors it contains, and

its written focus, it is still the best available list, given the range of information it

contains about the relative frequency of the meanings of the words. In a variety of

studies (Hwang, 1989; Hirsh and Nation, 1992; Sutarsyah, Nation and Kennedy,

1994) the GSL has provided coverage of 78% to 92% of various kinds of written text,

averaging around 82% coverage.

Word frequency lists

Frequency information provides a rational basis for making sure that learners get

the best return for their vocabulary learning effort. Vocabulary frequency lists which

take account of range have an important role to play in curriculum design and in

setting learning goals.

This does not necessarily mean that learners must be provided with large vocabulary

lists as the major source of their vocabulary learning. It does mean however that

course designers should have lists to refer to when they consider the vocabulary

component of a language course, and teachers need to have reference lists to judge

whether a particular word deserves attention or not, and whether a text is suitable

for a class.

The availability of powerful computers and very large corpora now make the

development of such lists a much easier job than it was when Thorndike and Lorge

(1944) and their colleagues manually counted 18,000,000 running words. The

making of a frequency list however is not simply a mechanical task, and judgments

based on well established criteria need to be made. The following list suggests

several of the factors that would need to be considered in the development of a

5

resource list of high frequency words.

1Representativeness The corpora that the list is based on should adequately

represent the wide range of uses of language. In the past, most word lists have been

based on written corpora. There needs to be a substantial spoken corpus involved in

the development of a general service list. The spoken and written corpora used

should also cover a range of representative text types. Biber's (1990) corpus studies

have shown how particular language features cluster in particular text types. The

corpora used should contain a wide range of useful types so that the biases of a

particular text type do not unduly influence the resulting list.

2Frequency and range Most frequency studies have given recognition to the

importance of range of occurrence. A word should not become part of a general

service list because it occurs frequently. It should occur frequently across a wide

range of texts. This does not mean that its frequency has to be roughly the same

across the different texts, but means that it should occur in some form or other in

most of the different texts or groupings of texts.

3Word families The development of a general service list needs to make use of a

sensible set of criteria regarding what forms and uses are counted as being members

of the same family. Should governor be counted as part of the word family

represented by govern? When making this decision, the purposes of the list and the

learners for which it is intended need to be considered. As well as basing the

decision on features such as regularity, productivity, and frequency (Bauer and

Nation, 1993), the likelihood of learners seeing these relationships needs to be

considered (Nagy and Anderson, 1984).

4Idioms and set expressions some items larger than a word behave like high

frequency words. That is, they occur frequently as a unit (Good morning, Never

mind), and their meaning is not clear from the meaning of the parts (at once, set

out). If the frequency of such items is high enough to get them into a general service

list in direct competition with single words, then perhaps they should be there.

Certainly the arguments for idioms are strong, whereas set expressions could be

included under one of their constituent words (but see Nagy, this volume).

5Range of information To be of full use in course design, a list of high frequency

words would need to include the following information for each word - the forms

and parts of speech included in a word family, frequency, the underlying meaning of

the word, variations of meaning and collocations and the relative frequency of these

meanings and uses, and restrictions on the use of the word with regard to

politeness, geographical distribution etc. Some dictionaries, notably the revised

edition of the COBUILD dictionary, include much of this information, but still do not

go far enough. This variety of information needs to be set out in a way that is readily

accessible to teachers and learners.

6

6Other criteria West (1953: ix) found that frequency and range alone were not

sufficient criteria for deciding what goes into a word list designed for teaching

purposes. West made use of ease or difficulty of learning (it is easier to learn another

related meaning for a known word than to learn another word), necessity (words

that express ideas that cannot be expressed through other words), cover (it is not

efficient to be able to express the same idea in different ways. It is more efficient to

learn a word that covers a quite different idea), stylistic level and emotional words

(West saw second language learners as initially needing neutral vocabulary). One of

the many interesting findings of the COBUILD project was that different forms of a

word often behave in different ways, taking their own set of collocates and

expressing different shades of meaning (Sinclair, 1991). Careful consideration would

need to be given to these and other criteria in the final stages of making a general

service list.

With a continuing emphasis on communication in language teaching there is a

tendency to give less attention to the selection and checking of language forms in

course design. Now that the benefits of form focused instruction are being positively

reassessed, we may see a change in attitude towards vocabulary lists and frequency

studies. The benefits of giving attention to principles of selection and gradation in

teaching however remain important no matter what approach to teaching is being

used. A goal of this review of the findings of research on vocabulary size and

frequency is to show that this information can result in considerable benefits for

both teachers and learners.

7

Michael West’s General List

)2282(A list of

Ability Afternoon Another Asl Basic

Able Again Answer Asleep Basin

About Against Anxiety Association Basis

Above Age Anxious Astonish Bath

Abroad Agency Any At Bathe

Absence Agent Anybody Attentive Battle

Absent Agriculture Anyhow Attack Bay

Absolute Ago Anyone Attempt Because

Accept Agree Anything Attend Bcket

Accident Ahead Anyway Attention Be

Accord Aim Anywhere Attract Beak

Account Air Apart Attractive Beam

Accuse Airplane Apology Audience Bean

Accustom Alike Appear Aunt Bear

Ache Alive Appearance Autumn Beard

Across All Applaud Avenue Beast

Act Allow Applause Average Beat

Action Allowance apple Avoid Beauty

Active Almost Application Avoidance Become

Actor Alone Apply Awake Bed

Actress Along Appoint Away Bedroom

Actual Aloud Approve Awkward Before

Add Already Arch Axe Beg

Address Also Argue Baby Begin

Admire Although Arise Back Behave

8

Admission Altogether Arm Backward Behaviour

Admit Always Army Bad Behind

Adopt Ambition Around Bag Being

Adoption Ambitious Arrange Baggage Belief

Advance Among Arrest Bake Belive

Advantage Amongst Arrive Balance Bell

Adventure Amount Arrow Ball Belong

Advertise Amuse Art Band Below

Advice Ancient Article Bank Belt

Advise And Artificial Bar Bend

Affair Anger Attraction Barber Berry

Afford Angle As Bare Beside

Afraid Angry Ashamed Bargain Besides

After Animal Ashamed Barrel Best

Better Boy Chain Cloth Compose

Between Brain Chair Clothe Composition

Beyond Branch Chairman Cloud Condition

Bicycle Brass Chalk Club Confess

Big By Chance Coal Confession

Bill Cage Change Coarse Court

Bind Cake Character Coast Cover

Bird Calculate Charge Coat Cow

Birth Calculation Charm Coffee Coward

Business Calculator Cheap Coin Cowardice

Bit Call Cheat Cold Crack

Bite Calm Check Collar Crash

Bitter Camera Chesses Collect Cream

Black Camp Chest Collection Creature

9

Blade Can Chicken Collector Crime

Blame Canal Chief College Criminal

Bleed Cap Child Colony Critic

Bless Cape Childhood Color Crop

Blind Capital Chimney Comb Cross

Block Captain Choice Combine Crowd

Blood Car Choose Come Crown

Blow Card Christmas Comfort Cruel

Blue Care Church Command Crush

Board Carriage Chwwe Commerce Cry

Boast Carry Circle Commercial Cultivate

Boat Cart Circular Committee Cultivation

Body Case Citizen Common Cultivator

Boil Castle City Companion Cup

Bold Cat Civilize Companionship Cupboard

Bone Catch Claim Company Cure

Book Cattle Class Compare Curious

Border Cause Classification Comparison Curl

Borrow Caution Classify Compete Current

Both Cautious Clay Competition Curse

Bottle Cave Clean Competitor Curtain

Bottom Cent Clear Complain Curve

Boundary Center Clerk Complaint Cushion

Boundary Century Clever Complete Custom

Bow Ceremony Climb Completion Customary

Bowl Certain Clock Complicate Customer

Box Certainty Close Complication Cut

10

Daily Department Descend Drow Employ

Damage Depend Descendant Drum Employee

Damp Dependence Descent Dry Empty

Dance Dependent Describe Duck Enclose

Danger Depth Discussion Due Enclosure

Dare Desert Discussion Dull Encourage

Dark Deserve Disease During End

Darken Desire Disgust Dust Enemy

Date Desk Dish Duty Engine

Daughter Despair Dismiss Each Engineer

Day Destroy Disregard Eager English

Daylight Destruction Disrespect Ear Enjoy

Dead Destructive Dissatisfaction Early Enough

Deaf Detail Dissatisfy Earn Enter

Deafen Determine Distance Earnest Entertain

Deal Develop Distant Earth Entire

Dear Devil Distinguish Ease Entrance

Death diamond District East Envelope

Debt Dictionary Disturb Eastern Envy

Decay Die Ditch Easy Equal

Deceit Difference Dive Eat Escape

Deceive Difficult Divide Edge Especially

Decide Difficulty Division Educate Essence

Decision Dig Do Education Essential

Decisive Dine Doctor Educator Even

Declare Dinner Dog Effect Evening

Decrease Dip Dollar Effective Event

Deed Direct Donkey Efficiency Everlasting

11

Deep Direction Door Efficient Every

Deepen Director Dot Effort Every

Deer Dirt Double Egg Everybody

Defeat Disagree Doubt Either Everyday

Defend Disappear Down Elastic Everyone

Defendant Disappearance Dozen Elder Everything

Defense Disappoint Drag Elect Everywhere

Degree Disapprove Draw Election Evil

Delay Discipline Drawer Electric Exact

Delicate Discomfort Dream Electrician Examine

Delight Discontent Dress Elephant Example

Deliver Discover Drink Else Excellence

Delivery Discovery Drive Elsewhere Excellent

Demand Description Drop Empire Except

Exception Family Fit Freeze Girl

Excess Fan Fix Frequency Give

Excessive Fancy Flag Frequent Glad

Exchange Far Flame Fresh Glass

Excite Farm Flash Friend Glory

Excuse Farm Flat Friendly Go

Exercise Fashion Flatten Fright Goat

Exist Fashioned Flavor Friendship God

Existence Fast Flesh From Gold

Expect Fasten Float From Golden

Expense Fat Flood Front Good

Expensive Fate Floor Fruit Govern

Experience Father Flour Fry Governor

Experiment Fatten Flow Full Grace

12

Explain Fault Flower Fun Gradual

Explode Favor Fly Funeral Grain

Explore Favorite follow Funny Grammar

Explosion Fear Figure Fur Grammatical

Explosive Feast Fold Furnish Grand

Express Feather Fond Furniture Grass

Expression Feed Food Further Grateful

Extend Feel Fool Future Grave

Extension Fellow Foot Gaiety Gray

Extensive Fellowship For Gain Grease

Extent Female Forbid Gallon Great

Extra Fence Force Game Great

Extraordinary Fever Foreign Gap Greed

Extreme Few Forest Garage Green

Eye Field Forget Garden Grind

Face Fierce Forgive Gas Ground

Fact Fight Fork Gate Group

Factory Frighten Formal Gather Grow

Fade Fill Former Gay Growth

Fail Film Forth General Guard

Failure Find Fortunate Generous Guess

Faint Fine Fortune Gentle Guest

Fair Finger Forward Gentleman Guide

Faith Finish Frame Get Guilit

Fall Fire Framework Gift Gun

Fame First Free Gighway Habit

Familiar Fish Freedom Half Hair

Hall Hesitation Husband Insurance Kitchen

13

Hand Hide Hut Insure Knee

Handkerchief High I Intend Kneel

Handle Hill Ice Intention Knife

Handshake Hinder Idea Interfere Knock

Handwriting Hindrance Ideal Interference Knot

Hang Hire Idle International Know

Happen History If Interrupt Knowledge

Happy Hit Ill Interruption Lack

Harbor Hold Imaginary Into Ladder

Hard Hole Imaginative Introduce Lady

Harden Holiday Imagine Introduction Lake

Hardly Hollow Imitate Invention Lamp

Harm Holy Imitation Invention Land

Hammer Home Immediate Inventor Landlord

Haste Homecoming Immense Invite Language

Hasten Homemade Importance Inward Large

Hate Homework Important Iron Last

Hate Honest Impossible Island Lately

Hatred Honesty Improve It Later

Have Honor In Jaw Latter

Harvest Hook Inch Jealous Laugh

Hay Hope Include Jealousy Laugher

He Horizon Inclusive Jewel Law

Head Horizontal Increase Join Lawyer

Headache Horse Indeed Joint Lay

Headdress Hospital Indoor Joke Lazy

Heal Host Industry Journey Lead

Health Hot Influence Joy Leadership

14

Heap Hotel Influential Judge Leaf

Hear Hour Inform Juice Lean

Heart House Ink Jump Learn

Heat How Inn Just Least

Heaven However Inquire Justice Leather

Heavenly Human Inquiry Keep Leave

Heavy Humble Insect Key Left

Height Hunger Inside Kick Leg

Heighten Hunt Instant Kill Lend

Hello Hurrah Instead Kind Length

Help Hurry Interest King Lengthen

Here Hurt Instrument Kingdom Less

Hesitate Insult Kiss Lose

Lessen Lessen Meantime Modern Neat

Lesson Lot Meanwhile Modest Necessity

Let Loud Measure Modesty Neck

Letter Love Meat Moment Need

Level Lovely Mechanic Momentary Needle

Liar Low Mechanism Money Neglect

Liberty Loyalty Medical Monkey Neighbor

Librarian Loyalty Medicine Month Neighborhood

Library Luck Meet Moon Neither

Lie Lump Melt Moonlight Nephew

Life Lunch Member Moral Nest

Lift Lung Membership More Net

Light Machine Memory Moreover Network

Lighten Machinery Mend Morning Never

Like Mad Mention Most New

15

Likely Madden Merchant Mother News

Limb Mail Mercy Motherhood Newspaper

Limit Main Mere Motherly Next

Line Make Merry Motion Nice

Lip Male Message Motor Niece

Lipstick Man Messenger Mountain Night

Liquid Mange Metal Mouse No

Lis Mankind Middle Mouth Noble

List Manner Might Move Nobody

Listen Manufacture Mild Much Noise

Literary Many Mile Mud None

Literature Map Milk Multiplication Noon

Little March Mill Multiply North

Live Mark Mind Murder North

Load Market Mine Music Northern

Loaf Marriage Mineral Musician Nose

Loan Marry Minister Must Not

Local Mass Minute Mystery Note

Lock Master Miserable Nail Notebook

Lodge Mat Misery Name Nothing

Log Match Miss Narrow Notice

Lonely Mater Mistake Nation Now

Long Material Mix Native Nowadays

Look May Mixture Nature Nowhere

Loose Maybe Model Nbasket Nuisance

Lord Meal Moderate Ncessary Number

Loss Mean Moderation Near Numerous

Nurse Orange Passage Pigeon Pot

16

Nursery Order Passenger Pile Pound

Nut Ordinary Past Pin Pour

Oar Organ Paste pinch Poverty

Obedience Organize Pastry Pink Powder

Obedient Origin Path Pint Power

Obey Ornament Particle Pipe Practical

Object Other Patience Pity Practice

Objection Otherwise Patient Plain Praise

Observe Ought Patriotic Plan Pray

Occasion Ounce Pattern Plant Preach

Ocean Out Pause Plaster Precious

Of Outline Paw Plate Prefer

Off Outside Pay Play Preference

Offend Outward Peace Pleasant Prepare

offense Over Pearl Please Presence

Offer Overcome Peculiar Pleasure Present

Office Overflow Prejudice Plenty Preserve

Officer Owe Pen Plow President

Official Own Pencil Plural Press

Often Ownership Penny Pocket Pressure

Oil Pack People Poem Pretend

Old Package Perfect Poet Pretense

Old Pad Perfection Point Pretty

Omission Page Performance Poison Prevent

Omit Paint Performance Police Prevention

On Paint Perhaps Polish Price

Once Pair Permanent Polite Pride

17

One Palce Permission Political Priest

Only Pale Permit Politician Print

Onto Pan Person Politics Prison

Open Paper Person Pool Private

Operate Parcel Persuade Poor Prize

Operation Pardon Persuasion Popular Probable

Operator Parent Pet Population Problem

Opinion Park Photograph Possess Procession

Opportunity Part Photography Possession Product

Oppose Particular Pick Possessor Production

Opposite Partner Picture Possible Producw

Opposition Party Piece Post Profession

Or Pass Pig Postpone Profit

Program Rabbit Rellege Road Satisfactory

Program Race Remain Roar Satisfy

Progress Radio Remark Roast Sauce

Promise Rail Remedy Rob Saucer

Prompt Railroad Remember Robbery Scent

Pronounce Rain Remind Rock School

Pronunciation Raise Rent Rod Science

Proof Rake Repair Roll Scientific

Property Rank Repeat Roof Scientist

Proposal Rapid Repetition Room Scissors

Propose Rare Replace Root Scold

Propwe Rate Replay Rope Scorn

Protect Rather Responsible Rubber Scrape

Protection Raw Report Rubbish Scratch

Proud Ray Represent Rubbish Screen

18

Prove Razor Representative Rude Screw

Provide Reach Reproduce Rug Search

Public Read Reproduction Ruin Season

Pull Ready Republic Rule Season

Pump Real Reputation Run Seat

Punctual Realize Rest Rush Second

Punish Reason Restaurant Rust Second

Pupil Reasonable Result Sort Secrecy

Pure Receipt Retire Sacred Secret

Purple Receive Revenge Sacrifice Secretary

Purpose Recent Review Sad See

Push Recognition Reward Sadden Seed

Put Recognize Ribbon Saddle Seem

Puzzle Reflection Rice Safe Seize

Qualification Refresh Rich Safety Seldom

Qualify Refuse Rid Sail Self

Quality Regard Ride Sailor Selfish

Quantity Regret Right Sake Sell

Quarrel Regular Ring Salary Send

Quart Rejoice ripe Sale Sense

Quarter Relate Ripen Salesman Sensitive

Queen Relation Rise Salt Sentence

Question Relative Risk Same Recommend

Quick Relief Rival Sample Record

Quiet Relieve Rivalry Sand Red

Quite Religion River Satisfaction Redden

Reduce Resistance Royalty Speech Sting

Reduction Respect Rub Speed Stir

19

Refer Signal Soap Spell Stock

Reference Signature Social Spend Stocking

Reflect Silence Society Spill Stomach

Request Rotten Scale Service Sign

Rescue Rough Scarce Set Suger

Reserve Round Scatter Settle Suggest

Resign Row Scence Several Suggestion

Resist Royal Scenery Still Suit

Shaalow Silent Sock Spin Stone

Shade Silk Soft Spit Stop

Shadow Silver Soften Spite Store

Shake Simple Soil Splendid Storm

Shall Simplicity Soldier Split Story

Shame Since Solemn Spoil Stove

Shape Sincere Solid Sport Straight

Share Sing Solution Spot Straighten

Sharp Single Solve Spread Strange

Sharpen Sink Some Spring Strap

Shave Sir Somebody Spirit Straw

She Sister Somehow Square Stream

Sheep Sit Someone Sreep Street

Sheet Situation Sometime Staff Strengthen

Shelf Size Sometimes Stage Stretch

Shell Skill Somewhere Stain Strict

Shelter Skin Something Stair String

Shield Skirt Soncern Stamp Strip

Shiling Sky Soncern Stand Stripe

20

Shine Slave Song Standard Stroke

Ship Slavery Soon Star Strokw

Shirt Sleep sore Start Strong

Shock Slide Sorrow State Struggle

Shoe Sliff Sorry Station Student

Shoot Slight Sort Stay Shout

Shop Slip Soul Steady Show

Shore Slippery Sound Separate Shower

Short Slope Soup Separation Shut

Shorten Slow Save Serious Sick

Should Small Saw Servant Side

Shoulder Rot Say Serve Sight

Smeel Sousin Too Twist View

Smile South Tool Type Village

Smokw Sow Steam Ubstance Violence

Smoth Space Steel Ugly Violent

Snake Spade Steep Umbrella Virtue

Snow Spare Steer Study Visit

Speak Stem Stick Table

Summer Telephone Threaten Town Suck

Sun Tell Throat Toy Sudden

Sune temper Throw Track Unless

Supper Temperature Thumb Trade Unlite

Supplay Temple Thunder Train Until

Support Tempt Thus Translate Up

Suppose Tend Ticket Translation Upon

Sure Tender Tidw Translator Upper

21

Surface Tent Tidy Trap Uppermost

Surround Term Tie Travel Upright

Surprise Terrible Tight Tray Upset

Suspect Test Tighten Treasure Urge

Suspicion Teste Till Treasury Urgent

Suspicious Than Timw Treat Use

Swallow Thank Tin Tree Usual

Swear That Tip Tremble Vain

Sweat The Tire Trial Valley

Sweep Theater Title Tribe Valublw

Sweet Theatrical To Trick Value

Sweeten Then Tobacco Trip Various

Swell There Today Trouble Varriety

Swim Therefore Toe Trunk Veil

Swing These Together Trust Verb

Sword They Tomorrow Truth Verse

Sympathetic Thick Ton Try Very

Sympathy Thicken Tongue Tube Vessel

System Sour Tonight Turn Victory

Take Think Touch Tame West

Take Thirst Tough Tap Wire

Tall This Tour Tax

Taxi Those Stiff Tail

Tea Though Tower Tailor

Teach Though Under Western

Tear Thread Underneath Wet

Telegraph Threaten Understand What

22

Thief Tooth Union Wisdom

Thin Top Unit Wise

Thing Total Unity Wish

Thom Toward Strength Visitor

Thorough Uncle Step Voice

Wall Whichever Universal Success

Wander While Universe Such

Want Whip Vote Succeed

War Whisper Vowel

Warm Whistle Voyage

Warmth White Wage

Warn Whiten Waist

Wash Who Wait

Waste Whoever Waiter

Watch Whole Wake

Water Whom Walk

Wave Whose Whatever

Wax Why Wheat

Way Why Wheel

We Wicked When

Wealth(Bauer and Nation, 1993 Wide Whenever

Weak Widen Where

Weaken Widow Wherever

Weapon Widower Whether

Wear Width Which

Weather Wife With

Weave Wild Within

Weed Will Without

23

Week Win Witness

Weekday Wind Women

Weekend Window Whichever

Weigh Wine While

Weight Wing Stuff

Welcome Winter Stupid

Well Wipe Subject

24

):2081(Yemeni books list

abbreviation Almost arrange base ( n) bite

able aloud Art gallery beak Blanket

about also artifact beans Blaze

above Although artificial bear Bleeding

abroad always artist Beard Blind

accident am ask beat blind(n)

accept amal asleep beautiful Block

ache Ambition asma beauty blood

across ambulance aspirin because Blouse

activity amen at Become blue

actually an ate bed board

add anchor Atlantic bedding boat

addicted and atmosphere Bedroom boil

Address anger attack bee bone

adjective angry attend beehive book

adult animal attraction beekeeper Bookshop

advanced annual August been border

adverb another aunt before borrow

advertise Answer awake beg both

advertisement ant away begin bottle

advice Antonym awful beginning Bought

Aerial any Axe Behind Bounce

afraid anywhere back believe bowl

After appear bad Belong to box

Afternoon appearance badly-built below boxer

again appear bag Belt boxer

against apple bake Bend(v) boy

age applicant baker benefit bracelet

25

ago apricot Bakery berry bracelet

agree April balance best Braille

agriculture Arabic balcony better Brave

air arch Bald between bread

air-hostess archaeological ball bicycle break

airline architect balloon big breakfast

Air-wing architecture banana bike breath

Albarid are Bandage Biology bridge

algebra area Bank bird Brightly

All right Armchair bank manager bit

allow army Bars(of a gate)

arrival Basketball black abit along

brilliant candle cheetah coffee conversation

bring Capital city chef coin cook

birthday captain Chemicals cold cool

broken car chemistry cold copper

brother carbohydrates chest Collapse copy

brown care chicken Collect coriander

brush careful children collection corner

build Carefully chocolate college cornflakes

Built Caretaker choice Color Coronation

bumpy carpenter cholera column correct

Burger Carpet choose combine cost(v)

burn Carrier chop(v) come cotton

burn carry chopped comedy cough

burning carry, carried chopsticks comfortable Could

bury carton chose comic countable

bus cartoon circle Coming country

Bush cassette Citizen comma course

business castle city commit court(n)

26

businessman cat Civil war Commonwealth courtyard

but catch class Company cousin

Butcher cause classroom comparative Cover

butter CD claw compare coverings

by censer clean comparison Crash

Bye centimeter Clear comparison Cream

cabin centre Clear Compete Create

café Century clerk complete creek

cage ceremony Clever Computer crew

cake Certain climate conclusion Crime

calendar chair climb confidence crockery

call chalk clinic Confident crossroads

Called champion Close confirm crosss

calm down chance closedown Congratulations crowd

Came change Cloth connect Crown

camel channel Clothes conscientious crush

camera character cloud consonant cry

camp chat club Contain cucmber

can cheap Coal-mining continue cultural

can (n) check coast Continue culture

Cancel Cheer coastguard contrast cumin

cheese coastline control cup Disobey

coat Convention cupboard cure

Curly Deliver distance Eastern Equivalent

currency dentist district eat erosion

curry depart divided eaten escape

Curtain departure Do Education essential

curved describe doctor Educational even (when )

Cushion description Document efficient Evening

customer desert doll egg event

27

customs officer desertification domestic eight Eventually

cut desk done eighteen ever

cut up destination door eighth Everest

cutlery Destroy Dot eighty everyday

cycle Details Down either everyone

cylindrical develop Downhill electric everywhere

cyclist development dozens electrical exactly

Dad Diamond draft Electrical fault exam

dam diary drag electricity examine

damage (v) Did drama Electronics example

dancer die draw elephant excellent

dangerous different dream eleven except

dark Difficult Dress Emergency Exchange

data dig dressmaker Emigration exercise

daughter dinner dried emphasize exhibition

Dave Directions drilling Empire expect

dawn dirt drink employer experience

day Dirty Drive end experiment

daytime Disabled driven endless explain

dead disagree driver energy Explanation

deal with Disappear drop engineer export

dear disaster drought Engineering extract

Death disaster drown Enjoy extremely

decide Discipline dry enough Eye

deck Discover During Enter eye-witness

Decorated Discovery dust Entrance eye-witness

defend Discuss dustbin Entry fabric

Define Discussion Dusty Envelope face

Definitely disease duties epidemic facilities

definition Disembarkation each epidemic facilities

28

degree dishes early episode Factory

degrees Celsius disinfect Earn equal Facts

delay disinfectant earrings Equipment fair

delicious Disneyland Easier, easiest falcon

fallen immediately Invention ability alone

famine fill in for garlic grazing

famous fill in Forename gas great

fan Film Forest gazelle green

fantastic film director forestation gear grief

far final forget generally grill

Farm finaly fork generation grind

farmer find form Gentle groan

farmhouse fine form gentlemen ground

farmland finely forming Geography grow

Farther Finger fortunately germ guess

fascinated finish forty get guide

fascinating fire forwards gift gun

Fashion(n) fireman found Giggle habits

fast Fireproof four ginger hair

Fat First fourteen giraffe half

fat fish fox girl Hall

father fish France Give hammer

Favorites fishermen free give birth hand

Fax Fit Free glad hand

Feather fit frequently glass handbag

February five fresh glass handicrafts

fed Flag Friday glasses handkerchief

feed flame fridge glue handle

feel flat friend Go handlebars

feelings Flat friendliness goat happen

29

feet flight friendly gone happy

felt flippers frighten Good hard

female Floor from good at harvest

fertile flour frozen Goodbye Hassan

fertilizer flu Fruit goods(pl n) Have

festival fly/flies Fuad Govern He/he

fewer flyflew fun government HE Excellency

fewer foal fur grab/grabbed head

Field focus Furniture grandson Head of state

fifteen fog further grape Head( chief)

Fifth fog furthermore grapefruit headache

fifty follow future grass headline

fig food Game grate Headquarters

Figure foot/feet garden grateful headword

fill football gardening graze health

Hear horrific immunize invest label

heavy horse Impolite invitation ladder

height hose important invite lady

held Hospital impossible Iraq lake

Helicopter hot Impossible iron lamb

Hellow hotel Improve Is/is Lamp

help hour in Islam/Islamic lampshade

Help house incense island land

helpful household Including It/it landslide

her housewife Income itself language

her Housework increase Jacket large

Here however Independent jar last

hers huge Independently jet (of water) late

herself humid India job later

Hi humidity industrial journalism laugh

30

hidden hump industry journalist lay

hide hundred infect journey lazy

high hundreds infection judo leaf

High jump hunger infinitive juice leaf \ leaves

highlands hunting infinitive jump Learner

Hill hurricane Influence jungle leather

Hilly hurt information Just leave

him husband infrequently kaftan leave

himself hygiene ingredient keep left

hire hypothesis inhabitant keeper leg

his I/I'm inject kettle Legal

historical ice-cream injection Key legend

history icy Injured kg( kilogram) lemon

hit idea injury/ies kick length

hobby idea inside kill leopard

hold ideal Instruction kilo less

hole idex intense kilometer lesson

holy idiomatic interested in kind let

home ill interesting King letter

homeless illness/es international Kitchen lettuce

homework imagine interview Knee level

hope imagine into kneel Library

hopeless Imitate introduce knew life

horizon immediate Invent knife lift

horrible immunization

know immigrant light knowledge lighting(n)

like male middle mountain newsflash

Likely man midnight Mountainous Next

line management Might mouse nice

link mane mile moustache Night

31

lion mango milk Mouth nightfall

liquid man-made Million move nine

list map minaret Mr. ninety

listen Marathon mind Mrs. nitrogen

literature marble mine mud No

litre mare minister Mum Nobody

Live marvelous minor museum noise

local mark minute music noisily

lone mast miracle musician nomad

long mat mirror must noon

long-eared match Miss my no-one

look material missing myself normally

lorry mathematician mistake mysterious normally

lose Mathematics misty mystery northern

Loss mattress mix nadia not

lost may mixture Nail notes

Loud maybe mixture name nothing

lounge me nineteen narrow nothing

love mean mobile national notice

Lovely meaning moderate National noun

low measure Modern nationality Now

Luckily meat moment native Nowadays

luggage Medal Monarch natural nowhere

luky medicine Money near number

lunch meet monkey nearby nurse

lying meeting monster nearly nut

Machine memory month necessary Obey

mad men moon neck object(n)

magazine mend more necklace Occasion

magnificent menswear morning need Occupation

32

magnificent menu Moslem neighbour Ocean

Main message Mosque neither o'clock

mainly Messenger Most net of

Majlis met mostly Never of course

major metal mother new off

make metre motor newly President

malaria microscope Motorist news Press

office page peak play pressure

officer pain pear please prevent

Official painful peas plough Previous

Often paint Pedestrian plug Prince

Oh paintbrush peel plump Principality

oil painter peeled plus print

Ok painting(n) pen poet priority

olive paints pencil point Prison

on Pakistan Penicillin poison Prisoner

one palace penny Police probably

onion Palace people policeman Problem

only pan Pepper polite procedure

open panic Perfect polite(ly) process ( n )

opinion papaya preference politeness producer

opportunity paper perhaps pool product

opposite paramedic Period Popular profit

or parents Permanente Population programme

oral paresly person port promote

orange park personal positive pronunciation

order park( a car) peter possibility protect

Ordinary Parliament petrol Possible protection

organizer Parliamentary Phone post protein

originally part photography Postbox prove

33

others partner phrase postcard province

otter party Physical poster public

ours pass physics Postman pull

ourselves passage pice of pot pullover

out passenger pick potato pulse

outboard passive picnic potter pupil

Outer passport Picture pottery purpose

outside Past Pigeon pour Purpose

outwards past pillow powerful push

over paste (n) pills Practice(n) Put

Over there pat pilot Pray puzzle

owl path Pin Prefix qualifications

Owner patience pineapple Preparation qualified

oxygen patient place prepare qualify

Pacific Pattern plan preposition quantity

packed lunch pavement plant prescribe quarter

packet Pay plastic prescription Queen

question peacefully Plate present Sewer

questionnaire peaches Room save Sex

quickly Reign(n,v) root Saw sexless

quiet relations rope say shake

quietly Relationship rough scald shaking

Quiz relative round scales shall

race Relax roundabout Scarf shape

radio remember Route scary shark

radiographer remind row Scene She/she

rain remove Royal scenery sheep

rainfall re-order rubber school sheet

rainy re-pack rude Science sheikh

raise repair( v) rug scientific Shelf

34

Ran repeat Rugby scientist shine

ranch Replace ruins scissors Shirt

rattlesnake reply rule score Shock

Raven report ruler scratch Shoe

raw Republic rumor Scream shop

reach rescue run scruffy shopkeeper

read reservation Rush(v) Sea shore

ready Respect rut Search(n,v) short

real Responsibility Sack seat shortage

really rest sad Second shortened

reason Restaurant sadly secondary shorts

Reasonable restore safe secretary shout

Receive result safety Security show

recently return said See shower

reception rev/revved Sail(n) seed showercurtaian

receptionist rice Sailing seedless sick

recklessly rich sailor seem side

recognize ridden salad seen sight

recommend ride salary selfish sign

Recorder right Salmon sell Signature

recover Ring Salt Sense silently

red Rise(v) sam Separate silk

reduce river same serial Silly

refrigerated road sand series similar

register Robot sandals Serious simmer

regularly rock sandy seriously Simon

Regulation rocky Satellite Serve Simple

simplified Roll(v) Saturday Set T.V

since roof sauce settler table

sing soil stand subtropical table

35

sink Sold star succeed tags

sister solve starve Success tail

Sit some Station successful Take

sitdown somebody stationary suddenly Take(time)

site someone Statue sue Talk

Situation something stay sugar tall

Six sometimes steal Suggest tallest

Size Somewhere Steam Suitcase tanker

skill son steam summary tap

skin song steep Summer tarmac

Skirt soon step sun taste

sky sore Stereo Sunday taxi/taxied

skyscraper sorghum Stick sunny taxi-driver

sleep Sorry Still sunrise tea

slight Sort stitch sunset Teach

slim sound(n) Stole super teacher

sling spaceship stone superb team

slip (t) spade Stood superlative Tease

slow spare stop Supermarket teenager

small Speak store Superstition Teeth

smallest spear stork supply Telephone

smallpox Special Storm support telescope

smile Spectator story suppose temperature

Smoke speed straight on sure temple

smoking spelling Straight(hair) surface (n,v) Ten

smooth spend Stream surgery tense

snake spice Street Surprised tent

sneeze spike stress survivor Terrible

snow Spoke Stretcher Swallow terrified

so spokesman Strict swam Terrified

36

soak spoonful string Sweater text

Soap sport stripe swim Textbook

society sports teacher Strong Swimmer than

Sock spread structure Switch thanks

Socket squeeze stuck swollen that

Sofa staff study sword The/the

soft stained study symbol Warning

theatre Stairs study(n) Synonym Was

their Stall(n) Stupid syringe Wash

theirs Stamp style system Watch

them together subject Up water

Themselves Toilet tropical Uphill Wave

Then told Trouble(n ~) upset way

There tomato Trousers upwards we

therefore tomb truck urban weak

thermometer tomorrow truth Urgent weapon

these too try us Wear

They/they took T-shirt use weather

Thick toothpaste tsp( teaspoon) Useful wedding

thin topsoil Tuesday usually Wednesday

thing Toral turn vacancy Week

think total Twelve vaccinate weekend

Third touch twenty valley weigh

thirsty tour twin Valuable weight

thirteen tourch Two Value(n) welcome

thirty Tourism type variety well

this tourist Typical vegetables well ( n )

thoroughly Tow umbrella vegetation Went

those towards uncle vehicle Were

Thousands towel unconscious verandah wet

37

Three Tower uncountable verb What

throat Town under very Wheelchair

through track (n) underlined victim When

throw tractor understand view Where

Thursday trade Unexpected villa whereas

tick trading ( n ) unfit village wherever

ticket traditional unfortunately visa which

Tidier, tidiest traffic jam unfriendly Visit while

tie Train Unhappy visitor whisper

timetable Training unhelpful vitamin white

tired Traitor uniform voice Who

title Trapped unique volcano Whole

to travel unit Volleyball whose

toatally Tray Unity vowel Why

Today treasure University wait widely

toes treat unlike Wales wory

wife treatment Unlucky walk would

wildlife tree Unnecessary wall wreck

will triangular untidy wander write

Win / won trick until want Written

window trip unusual warm Wrong

windy you unwell workbook x-ray

wing young wonderful worker year

winter yours won't workshop yellow

Wipe yourself wood world Yes

wish Youth wooden worldwide Yesterday

With zebra wool worried yield ( n )

Without Zebra crossing word worse zoo

woman zone Work worst zoologist

yogurt arrive Beach Blame horn

38

One dimension of analysis which has been the subject of a great deal of discussion

and comment is the synthetic/ analytic dimension. The distinction between synthetic

and analytic (Wilkins, 1976) described the synthetic language teaching strategy is

one in which the different parts of language are thought separately and step by step

so that acquisition is a process of gradual accumulation of parts until the whole

structure of language has been built up. In an analytic syllabus, learners are

presented with chunk of language which may include structures of varying degrees

of difficulty. The starting point for syllabus design is not the grammatical system of

the language, but the communicative purposes for which language is used. It is

theoretically possible to conceive of language courses as being solely synthetic or

solely analytic. However, it is likely that, in practice, courses will be typified as more-

or- less synthetic or more or less analytic according to the prominence given to

discrete elements in the selection and grading of input.

In terms of words selection, it is said that if the syllabus content covers less than 20

percent of Michael West General List, it is analytic, communicative and if the syllabus

content covers more than70 it is synthetic, lexical syllabus.

• All words in Michael West’s list are (2282)

• All words in the Yemeni books (2081)

• Words in Yemeni books but not in Michael West list (942)

• Words in Yemeni books that are in West Michael list (1139)49.91%

• Words in Michael West list but not in Yemeni books (2417)

Then, we come to the judgment that the English Crescent Book Series for Yemen is

neither synthetic nor analytic in terms of its words selection. Simply, all words of the

Yemen books of English known as crescent series are 2081 and only 1139(49.91%)

words of them are found in Michael West General lists .The books are claimed to be

communicative adopting the functional notional syllabus design .The notional

functional design is not based on structural, grammatical, lexical selection of words,

it is rather concerned with the notion (what does the learner need to mean in

English) and functions.

1139 × 100

2282 49.91%

39

References

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Books, English Language Teaching for The Arab World /Oxford University Press SARL,

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Fries, C.C. and A.A. Traver. 1960. English Word Lists. Ann Arbor: George Wahr.

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