Book Review: A Vocabulary Proposal Aligned with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages towards Turkish A1 and A2 Levels

Abstract

This study aims to introduce Prof. Nihal Çalışkan’s study entitled A Vocabulary Proposal Aligned with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages towards Turkish A1 and A2 Levels. The teaching of Turkish that has made a rapid improvement in recent years draws a great deal of attention as a foreign/ second language. Nonetheless, the lack of word/ vocabulary lists stands out in this field. This study that is based on corpus linguistics, Çalışkan’s field of study, and her own language learning experiences has been built on the idea that vocabulary is important in the acquisition of language skills, yet that a certain part of it should be taught as a priority in the face of the broad volume of the elements of vocabulary. In this study, which was meticulously carried out in line with the principle of transparency by examining current textbooks, the word was considered as an orthographic unit. This study was conducted in three phases and reached 1152 words at A1 level and 1653 words at A2 level. In the list prepared, the vocabulary elements were basically divided into two groups as “words” and “units that exceed the limits of word”. The units that exceed the limits of word was further subdivided into four categories: “morpheme units”, “lexical units”, “syntactic units” and “discourse units”. The words determined based on prevalence criteria was aligned with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). All units are exemplified by sentences generated by the author herself.