The Characteristics of Basic Words Difficult for Japanese EFL Learners to Acquire through High School Education

The study examines the Japanese EFL learnersʼ vocabulary at the elementary 1,000- to intermediate 2,000-word levels, using a vocabulary estimation test. The data are analyzed according to participants' grades and schools. The study attempts to identify words difficult to acquire even for advanced learners (third-year senior high school students). Results show that there are a few words difficult for them to acquire even at the elementary 1,000-word level. There are four or five words at the E1,000-word level whose success rates are worst 10 in each grade as in the case of third-year students whilst there were only one or two words at the I1,000-word level whose success rates were worst 10 in each grade as in the case of third-year students. There are only a few words whose success rates were worst 10 regardless of school grades except third-year students. I conclude that educators should recognize the fact that the words difficult for third-years to aquire are also difficult for first- and second-years to acquire and that they should teach vocabulary to their students, taking the nature of a word into account.