College English Vocabulary Full Explanation for the New Syllabus 1-4 Levels

Author: Wang Changxi, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-02-01
Features:
- The first book in the country to provide full-word meaning explanations for 6,674 words of the new syllabus.
- The first book in the country to compare vocabulary changes between the new and old syllabi.
- The first book in the country to distinguish between college and high school English entries and definitions.
- The first book in the country to address new requirements for college English teaching reform.
- The first book in the country to reflect the new content of the College English Test Band 4 and 6 (CET-4 and CET-6).
In response to the reform of college English teaching and the College English Teaching Requirements, which were officially implemented in January 2004, the new "Reference Vocabulary List for College English Teaching Requirements" (also known as the syllabus vocabulary list, hereinafter referred to as "the Vocabulary List") was also published. The "Vocabulary List" adheres to the concept of "personalization" and clearly categorizes the vocabulary students should master at different levels during their university studies, holding significant guiding importance. However, the "reference" nature of the "Vocabulary List" means it only provides "naked" vocabulary without any part-of-speech or meaning range explanations, making it difficult for college teachers and students to assess their mastery of the vocabulary. Determining the part of speech and meaning range of the listed words in the "Vocabulary List" has become a key challenge.
We believe that vocabulary serves the communicative functions of language. The scope of vocabulary to be mastered (which words to learn) and the depth of meaning mastery (how many meanings of a word to learn) should be based on the practical application of language rather than the vocabulary and definitions listed in any single or few "authoritative" dictionaries. In other words, we adopt a pragmatic approach to the selection of vocabulary and their meaning ranges. For Chinese college students, a practical vocabulary list should help them effectively solve vocabulary problems encountered in textbooks, exams, and practical reading materials (such as common newspapers, magazines, and books). To this end, we conducted a comprehensive statistics of part-of-speech frequencies in over ten current mainstream college English textbooks, college English CET-4 and CET-6 test papers, and recent three years' editions of common English newspapers such as The China Daily, The 21st Century, and Beijing Week, with particular emphasis on the part-of-speech frequencies in CET-4 and CET-6 test papers (marked in the upper right corner of each word, e.g., absorb,"10" for total word frequency and "2" for vocabulary question frequency), thus compiling this set of College English Vocabulary Full Explanation for the New Syllabus (Levels 1-4) and College English Vocabulary Full Explanation for the New Syllabus (Levels 1-6). This is a first-of-its-kind effort in the country.
The books mainly include the following content:
1. The CET-4 and CET-6 volumes of this series provide full-word meaning explanations for all 4,538 CET-4 words and 6,674 CET-6 words (including 1,055 post-CET-6 words) listed in the new syllabus, known as "full-word full-explanation." Words of different levels (high school, CET-4, CET-6) and different categories (e.g., active vocabulary) are clearly marked with symbols, and the meanings of these symbols are printed at the foot of each page for easy identification and reference. Considering the current usage of college English vocabulary, the 1,055 post-CET-6 words are arranged separately. In addition to explaining meanings, the books also provide collocation examples after each meaning explanation to highlight the word's important usage and the key meanings targeted by CET-4 and CET-6 exams, reflecting the book's clear toward these exams.
2. The series also marks newly added vocabulary during this syllabus revision for users to compare the changes between the new and old syllabi. Words included in the old syllabus but not listed in the new syllabus are excluded due to their minimal quantity and lack of practical value.
3. The revision of the syllabus also considers the alignment between college English teaching requirements and the new high school English curriculum requirements. To reflect the differences between college and high school entries and definitions, the series marks not only the differences in entries but also the distinctions in meaning mastery levels between college and high school vocabulary. Meanings required to be mastered in high school are underlined; if a word has meanings both underlined and not underlined in the same entry, the ununderlined meanings are the new ones required to be mastered in college.
Based on the above content and various symbol distinctions, this series comprehensively reflects the new requirements of college English teaching reform and the CET-4 and CET-6 reforms, holding significant reference value for current and future college students' English learning and exam preparation.