A Corpus-based Study on High-level Vocabulary in TEPS Vocabulary Section in Terms of Frequency Values

Abstract

This study aims to investigate whether TEPS vocabularies in questions number 46 through 50 in vocabulary part are frequently used by native speakers in daily life in terms of frequency value based on Corpus of Contemporary American English. The five questions have been criticized for being too difficult or too outdated to be used in daily life of native speakers. The result was that correct answers tended to have higher frequency value than that of distractors. Accordingly, these questions in controversy were proved to be valid for they satisfied the conditions of asking the answers of frequent words. The result of this study would contribute to settle the controversy over the validity of high-level vocabulary in TEPS.