An Analysis of Vocabulary Usage in English Children's Podcasts
Location
Golden Eagles
Department
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
Abstract
Previous research found a linear relationship between the vocabulary coverage (i.e., how many words learners know in a text) and listening comprehension (van Zeeland & Schmitt, 2013). To engage in a daily conversation, English language learners (ELLs) need to know about 2,000 words. ELLs need to know more words if they want to comprehend information in different media outlets. Previous studies indicated that for the comprehension of TV programs, movies, and general-audience podcasts, around 3,000 to 8,000 word families (plus proper nouns and interjections) were necessary (e.g., Webb & Rodgers, 2009; Nurmukhamedov & Sharakhimov, 2021). However, very little is known about the vocabulary coverage of children’s podcasts in English. To explore the vocabulary demands of children’s podcasts, a corpus comprising the transcripts of 100 popular podcasts was compiled. The transcripts were generated using the transcription tool Otter.ai. The podcasts included the episodes from KidNuz, Brains On, But Why?, and Wow In The World. The AntWordProfiler software was utilized for the analysis (Anthony, 2014). During the presentation, the presenter will answer the following question: “How much vocabulary is necessary to understand children’s podcasts in English?” Preliminary findings will be presented and some pedagogical implications of the study will be discussed.
Faculty Sponsor
Ulugbek Nurmukhamedov, Northeastern Illinois University
An Analysis of Vocabulary Usage in English Children's Podcasts
Golden Eagles
Previous research found a linear relationship between the vocabulary coverage (i.e., how many words learners know in a text) and listening comprehension (van Zeeland & Schmitt, 2013). To engage in a daily conversation, English language learners (ELLs) need to know about 2,000 words. ELLs need to know more words if they want to comprehend information in different media outlets. Previous studies indicated that for the comprehension of TV programs, movies, and general-audience podcasts, around 3,000 to 8,000 word families (plus proper nouns and interjections) were necessary (e.g., Webb & Rodgers, 2009; Nurmukhamedov & Sharakhimov, 2021). However, very little is known about the vocabulary coverage of children’s podcasts in English. To explore the vocabulary demands of children’s podcasts, a corpus comprising the transcripts of 100 popular podcasts was compiled. The transcripts were generated using the transcription tool Otter.ai. The podcasts included the episodes from KidNuz, Brains On, But Why?, and Wow In The World. The AntWordProfiler software was utilized for the analysis (Anthony, 2014). During the presentation, the presenter will answer the following question: “How much vocabulary is necessary to understand children’s podcasts in English?” Preliminary findings will be presented and some pedagogical implications of the study will be discussed.