TED Talks語料庫分析 Analyze the Corpus of TED Talk

91 Pages·2017·2.16 MB·English

南臺科技大學

應用英語系碩士班
碩士學位論文

TED Talks 自 2006 年至 2016 年
與商業有關之語料庫分析
A Corpus-Based Study of the Business-Related
TED Talks from 2006 to 2016

研究生：陳怡潔
指導教授：黃大夫

中華民國一○六年七月
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中文摘要

本研究旨在針對TED Talks網站上關於商業類演講之內容進行語料分析，研究
主要目的為：(1)探討TED Talks商業類演講之常用字彙；(2)探討為達到98%的閱
讀及95%的聽力理解，需要多少英語國家語料庫及美國當代英語語料庫
(BNC/COCA lists) 字族表字彙量 (3)針對TED Talks商業類演講與多益字族表之字
彙涵蓋率進行比較分析。
本研究選擇TED Talks平台為英文學習工具，理由為該平台擁有豐富的影音學
習內容，TED的講者多來自該領域的菁英以及專家學者，匯集了許多精彩的影片，
除了英語學習外，更可吸收來自各類領域的資訊。此外，近年來許多企業採納多益
成績判定員工英語溝通能力，為了解以TED Talks為英語學習平台對於多益考試的
準備是否有相當程度的幫助，研究者TED Talk網站上316篇關於商業類演講的逐
字稿(總計628,437字)為語料庫，並以AntConc 及AntWordProfiler軟體進行分析。
本研究結果顯示：(1)在前 100個TED Talks商業類演講常用字彙中，虛詞占
68%、實詞占 32%。在前200個常用字彙中，虛詞所占比例逐漸減少，實詞所占
比例逐漸增加。(2)為達到98%的TED Talks商業類演講閱讀理解，所需國家語料
庫及美國當代英語語料庫字族表的字彙量約6,000字。除此之外，為達到95%的
TED Talks商業類演講聽力理解，所需國家語料庫及美國當代英語語料庫字族表的
字彙量約3,000字。(3)多益字族表與TED Talks商業類演講字彙涵蓋率為13.02%。
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(4)受訪者認為以TED Talks平台為英文學習工具，對於準備多益測驗之聽力及閱讀
能力最有幫助。
希冀本研究能提供參加多益測驗的考生能利用TED Talks平台為英文學習工
具，並以英語國家語料庫及美國當代英語語料庫字族表為參考，增加聽力及閱讀能
力。除了希望進一步協助測驗者獲得佳績，也希望英語教學者可以提供TED Talks
平台，增加學習者的學習動機，進而強化字彙能力。

關鍵字: TED Talks、字頻表、語料庫分析
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Abstract
The purpose of the present research is to analyze the business-related corpus of TED

Talks. The primary goals of research are: (1) to explore the frequency word list in TED
Talks. (2) to explore the lexical coverage of TED Talks by the BNC/COCA Word List to
understand what vocabulary frequency level can achieve an ideal 98% of text token coverage.

(3) to analyze the lexical coverage of the TED Talks corpus using TOEIC Word Family List.
The reason for this study selecting TED Talks platform as an English learning tool is
TED Talks platform has many kinds of learning content. Besides, TED speakers come from
plural academic fields, providing many exciting videos; it not only allows users to learn

English, but also to absorb the knowledge from various fields. Recently, many companies
have adopted the TOEIC score to determine all employees’ ability of English communication.
In order to understand the TED Talks as an English learning platform for the preparation of
TOEIC is helpful or not, the researcher collected 316 transcripts of business speeches from
TED Talk website (Totally consist of 628,437 running words) for the corpus, and used
AntConc and AntWordProfiler software to analyze.

The findings are summarized as follows: (1) there are 68% of function words and 32%

of content words in the top 100 words of TED Talks Corpus. In the first 200 frequency
vocabulary, the proportion of functional words gradually reduced, and the proportion of
content words gradually increased; (2) at least 6,000 word families are needed to meet the
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ideal reading lexical coverage of TED Talks Corpus in BNC/COCA Word List, while at least
3,000 word families are needed to meet the ideal listening lexical coverage of TED Talks
Corpus in BNC/COCA Word List; (3) the lexical coverage of TED Talks Corpus in TOEIC

Word Family List is 13.02 %; (4) the participants generally thought that watching TED Talks
video facilitates preparation for reading and listening of TOEIC.
It is hoped that the finding of this study can be used to prepare for TOEIC. Besides,
test-takers can use TED Talks and BNC/COCA Word List as a learning tool to increase the
listening and reading ability. Meanwhile, the researcher hopes that this study can not only
assist test-takers in achieving desirable scores, but also guide English teachers to use TED
Talks as a learning tool to increase learner motivation, and to expand English vocabulary.
Keywords: TED Talks, word frequency lists, corpus analysis
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Acknowledgements
This thesis could not have been accomplished without the support of many people. I am
deeply thankful to those who helped and companied me in the process of doing this research.
Firstly, I would like to express my greatest appreciation to my thesis advisor, Dr. Da-Fu
Huang. I really appreciate all the insightful opinions and discussion with him. Without his
professional guidance, this research would not be accomplished. Thank you Dr. Huang for
directing me gets through this challenging process. Besides, my sincere gratitude also goes to
the proposal defense and final defense committee members, Dr. Kuie-Jung Chen, Prof.
Yi-Zhen Chen, Prof. Tung, Hsing-Cheng and Prof. Yang, Chih-Fang, for giving me valuable
suggestions on the thesis. More importantly, I deeply appreciate my family who has always
been there for me. I cannot overcome these difficulties and challenges without family support.
They always encourage me to achieve my goal. Especially my husband, I am grateful that he
always supports me with no regrets. Last but not least, I would like to devote this thesis to my
family because their continually supporting me to overcome all the challenge.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1 Introduction
Background………………………………………………………..……………………..1
Motivation……………………………………………………………………..…………3
Purpose of the Study………………………………………………………………..…….4
Research Questions……………………………………………………………………....5
Significance of the Study………………………………………………………………...5
Definition of the Terms…………………………………………………………………..6
Chapter 2 Literature Review
Corpus Analyze of Vocabulary…………………………………………………………..9
The Importance of Vocabulary………………………………………………………….10
The Relationship between Vocabulary Learning and Comprehension…...……………..11
Lexical Coverage …………………………………………………………………….…12
Word Frequency………………………………………………………………………...13
Learning Business Words through TED Talks ...…………………………………......14
Chapter 3 Method
Participants……………………………………………………….………....…………..18
Materials………………………………….……………………………………………..19
TED Talks Corpus………………………………………………………………………19
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The world list…………………………………………………………………………...20
BNC/COCA Word Family List…………………………………………………….21
TOEIC Word Family List…………………………………………………………..22
Instruments……………………………………………………………………………...22
AntConc……………………………………………………………………………..24
AntWordProfiler……………………………………………………………………………..25
Semi-Structured Interview ……………………………...…………………...………27
Procedure……………………………………………………………………………......28
Data Analysis……………………………………………………………………………30
Research Question 1………………………………………………………………...30
Research Question 2………………………………………………………………...31
Research Question 3………………………………………………………………...32
Research Question 4………………………………………………………………...33
Chapter 4 Results and Discussion
Word Frequency………………………………………………………………………...35
Lexical Coverage………………………………………………………………………..40
Coverage of BNC/COCA lists……………………………………………………..40
Coverage of TOEIC Word Family list……………………………………………..43
Results of Semi-structured Interview…………………………………………………...44
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The Experiences of Attending TOEIC…………………………...……...………...44
The Experiences of Using TED Talks………………….………………..….……..47
Participants’ Suggestions………………………………………………………….50
The comparison Score of Participants…………………………………………….53
Chapter 5 Conclusion
Summary of Major Findings……………………………………………………………54
Pedagogical……………………………………………………………………………..56
Limitations of the Study………………………………………………………………...57
Suggestions for Future Research………………………………………………………..57
References……………………………………………………………………………..…..59
Appendix A………………………………………………………………………………..67
Appendix B………………………………………………………………………………..75
Appendix C………………………………………………………………………………..76
Appendix D……………………………………………………………………………..…77
Appendix E……………………………………………………………………………..…78