A Vocabulary-based Evaluation Of College English Textbooks

College English textbooks (general English textbooks available for Chinese college non-English majors) play an important role in College English teaching (the teaching of English to non-English majors in universities) in China. Since the1990s, with the reform of EFL teaching in China, a series of studies have been dedicated to the research on College English textbooks. Among the studies, some touch upon the vocabulary in reading texts. However, these studies merely focus on one current College English textbook. What’s more, the investigation of the vocabulary in reading texts only involves the width of vocabulary (lexical coverage) with the depth of vocabulary (e.g. senses, collocation) untouched.In view of the current situation, the vocabulary in reading Text As in three current College English textbooks is chosen to be examined in the present study. Three issues are addressed in terms of the selection and presentation of lexical content. They are the Text As’ coverage of Curriculum words (the words required in College English Curriculum Requirements (2004) issued by the Ministry of Education), the Text As’treatment of typical collocations of the covered Curriculum words and the new word densities of Text As.Based on the research data, the following findings are obtained:(1) The Text As’ coverage of Curriculum words in three textbooks is acceptable.(2) In terms of the typicality of collocations, there is much room for the three textbooks to be improved.(3) The new word densities of Text As are not satisfactory enough in general, though the new word density of one textbook is much more appropriate than those of the other two.The findings obtained from the study have some implications for College English vocabulary teaching and textbook development. Teachers are suggested to make flexible use of the Text As of different new word density to help students increase their vocabulary and develop their vocabulary learning skills. Equal importance is expected to be attached to the Curriculum words of Basic Requirement in Text As, Text Bs and Text Cs. As for high-frequency words, teachers are suggested to make up for the deficiency of the textbooks by supplying students with more typical collocations of these words. Moreover, more attention should be given to the typicality of collocations and the appropriateness of new word density in textbook compilation.