MbdA es la primera 3-metilbenzoato-CoA ligasa caracterizada

Below, another set of passages from subgroups I and III will be presented, this time taken from compositions with a low LFV. The aim is again to illustrate to what degree the students use lemmas from frequency bands 1 and 0, again referred to as VeryLFV. The passages in this section were all taken from the compositions with the lowest LFV in subgroups I and III, from each of the three sets (all numbers and ratios regarding composition length and LFV are displayed in Appendix 5). First, the passages from the compositions in subgroup I will be presented, followed by the passages from the compositions in subgroup III. As in the previous section, one passage from the NP class and one from the IB class, from the first and third sets of compositions, will be discussed.

As compared to the compositions referred to in 7.3.1, these compositions are all shorter and contain a lower number of low-frequency vocabulary

lemmas. In some compositions they are clustered, which can lead to difficulties in finding passages that are fully representative of the compositions in their entirety as regards the distribution of low-frequency vocabulary lemmas.

7.3.2.1 Passages from the first set of compositions

What characterises the vocabulary in compositions with a low LFV? To demonstrate how students with the lowest LFV make use of lemmas from the different frequency bands, I will here present four passages from the first set of compositions, beginning with compositions written by two students in subgroup I. The two compositions, NPC 87 and IBA 32, are similar both regarding their actual number of low-frequency vocabulary lemmas and their LFV.

NPC 87 (1), subgroup I, LFV 10.4; 23 ‘3-0’ lemmas: [3]:16, [2]:4, [1]:1, [0]:2 Suddenly I see myself, in the shape of and unknown [3] man, entering one of the shops. Inside it’s full of strange mashines, and it smells [3] funny [3]. I walk straight up to the man who seams to own the shop, and he must know me verry well, because he goes away to a smal desk in the back of the shop. After a lithel while he reenter [1] the room, holding somekind of mashine in his hands.

In the passage from NPC 87 (1), two of the low-frequency vocabulary lemmas belong to Thorén’s basic vocabulary: smells [3] and funny [3]. Unknown [3] and reenter [1] are derivations that are not specifically classified by Thorén. Their headwords, however, known and enter, are both classified as basic vocabulary words. The passage also contains two lemmas from frequency band 4 that are classified as beyond basic in Thorén’s word list: shape and machine. Compared with the composition as a whole, both in the passage and in the composition a majority of the low-frequency lemmas that this student uses are from frequency band 3. Qualitatively, this composition has a low proportion of VeryLFV (1.3).

The next composition has a similar result. It is taken from the IB composition with the lowest LFV in subgroup I.

IBA 32 (1), subgroup I, LFV 11.4; 26 ‘3-0’ lemmas: [3]:18, [2]:5, [1]:2, [0]:1 I went to the guy who was going to hypnotize [0] me, it was a usual Tuesday. When I saw him I was really surprised [3]. I had thought of an old man looking kind of stange, but instead there was this young, charming [2] guy. He

told me that it was not sure that anything would happen. I said I knew that but wanted to make a try. So we started.

Interestingly, all three low-frequency vocabulary lemmas in the passage from IBA 32 (1) are classified as basic in Thorén’s word list. In the case of hypnotize [0], its participle form, hypnotized, was given in the topic title. Guy from frequency band 4 is classified as beyond basic by Thorén. This is possibly an example of how the use of a word has changed over time. Today, guy is a colloquial word but in Thorén’s 1967 word list it is considered beyond basic. The composition has a low proportion of VeryLVF (1.3), qualitatively similar to that of NPC 87 (1) referred to above.

The next two passages are taken from the compositions with the lowest LFV in subgroup III. They are also very similar in terms of number of low- frequency vocabulary lemmas and LFV. The first passage comes from NPC 32 (1).

NPC 32 (1), subgroup III, LFV 9.9; 14 ‘3-0’ lemmas: [3]:11, [2]:3, [1]:0, [0]:0 Mary took very good care of me. One year after that my parent’s had past away, did Mary got marry to Robert. It was a very romantic [3] wedding [3]. I lived with them until I turned twenty, at that time I moved back to mine castle [3]. I didn’t live their along. I met a prince on Mary and Roberts wedding. His name is Jean, his is from france. We are going to get merry next summer. I am happy but I still think of mother an father, I miss them very much.

In the above passage, one of the low-frequency vocabulary lemmas, castle [3], is defined as basic by Thorén. Marry is used in the wrong form (get merry instead of get married) and is therefore not marked, even though married belongs to frequency band 3 in Collins Cobuild (2001).In the whole composition, there are no lemmas from frequency bands 1 and below, and the proportion of VeryLFV is thus as low as it can be (0.0). In fact, it is quite remarkable that a learner at the Common Reference Level B1 (Council of Europe, no date:26) writes a composition of 142 words without using one single lemma from frequency bands 1 and 0. It should be noted, however, that this composition was written by the NP student with the lowest score on the diagnostic test. Since there are no lemmas from frequency bands 1 and 0 to take into consideration, the passage very well mirrors the composition as a whole in that respect.

Below we can see the next passage, taken from IBA 45 (1). That composition has only one single lemma from frequency bands 1 and 0.

IBA 45 (1), subgroup III, LFV 7.3; 13 ‘3-0’ lemmas: [3]:12, [2]:0, [1]:0, [0]:1 We made a apointment [3] at his house next day. I came there early in the morning at eight o clock [3]. We went in to his room were he had made a fire. –“You can sit down in that chair over there”, he said. I did, and the hypnotizer told me to look in to the fire for a long time. After a while I started to go in some kind of a deep sleep.

In the passage from IBA 45 (1), one of the two low-frequency vocabulary lemmas is classified as basic by Thorén:o’clock [3]. Hypnotizer is not included in the Collins Cobuild (2001) and is therefore left out of the count. The representativeness of the passage is high, and the composition has a very low proportion of VeryLFV (0.6). Moreover, the vocabulary quality of the two compositions in subgroup III is similar. A comparison of the four passages (and the compositions from which they are taken) shows that the proportion of VeryLFV is lower in subgroup III than in subgroup I, something that could be expected.

7.3.2.2 Passages from the third set of compositions

Here I present passages from the third set of compositions, taken from the compositions with the lowest LFV. The first two are from subgroup I and they resemble each other both regarding number of low-frequency vocabulary lemmas and LFV.

NPC 14 (3), subgroup I, LFV 11.0; 21 ‘3-0’ lemmas: [3]:13, [2]:4, [1]:3, [0]:1 -Yes, you were once close to drowning [2]. I never thought you would remember it again. After the incident you never said anything about it. If we even mentioned it you sort of disappeared [3] inside of yourself. You looked straight ahead at nothing and you slowly rocked from one side to the other. It was scary [1]. But when we didn’t say anything you acted like normal, so we never mentioned it again.

In the passage from NPC 14 (3) one of the low-frequency vocabulary lemmas, disappear [3], is classified as belonging to Thorén’s basic vocabulary. Two lemmas from frequency band 4 are classified as beyond basic by Thorén: incident and ahead. The proportion of VeryLFV is higher in the passage than in the composition as a whole, which is sometimes unavoidable in texts with a low number of low-frequency vocabulary lemmas. Nevertheless, almost the whole

range of frequency bands is represented in the passage. Qualitatively, NPA 14 (3) holds a rather low proportion of VeryLFV (2.1).

Next we see the IB passage from subgroup III, written by IBA 32.

IBA 32 (3), subgroup I, LFV 12.2; 22 ‘3-0’ lemmas: [3]:14, [2]:4, [1]:1, [0]:3 While chatting [3] she asked me if I had read about the accident [3] in the newspaper. I said no, I had not have time to read anything this morning. So she told me about it. A car with a drunk driver [0] had hit a minivan [0 + 3] full of young children, between 8 and 12 years old. Two of them had died as well as the drunk driver, and some were injured [3].

Two of the low-frequency vocabulary lemmas in the above passage are classified as basic vocabulary by Thorén, namely accident [3] and the prefix mini- [0]. The latter is in fact one of the rare cases where a lemma from frequency bands 1 and 0 is classified as basic. Just as NPC 14 (3) in subgroup I, IBA 32 (3) has a rather low proportion of VeryLFV (2.2).

The remaining two passages are taken from NPC 32 (3) and IBA 7 (3), the compositions with the lowest LFV in subgroup III. In both text passages there are only lemmas from frequency bands 3 and 2.

NPC 32 (3), subgroup III, LFV 6.0; 8 ‘3-0’ lemmas: [3]:3, [2]:4, [1]:1, [0]:0 When I was 12 years old went me and my girlfriends to a lady who reads the future in hands.

I have never belived in things like that, but I wanted to go just for fun. My friend was scared [2] on the way to the lady, but I was not, because I didn’t belive it. I wrote didn’t because I have now changed my mind. The lady lived in a small apartment [3] near the “green garden”, a park. The lady looked nice, and I feelt very good, and happy with her.

Neither of the two low-frequency vocabulary lemmas in the above passage is considered basic by Thorén. In comparison to the full length composition, the passage is representative. Just like the passage, the NPC 32 (3) composition as a whole has a very low proportion of VeryLFV (0.7).

Finally, the IB composition with the lowest LFV, IBA 7, is presented.

IBA 7 (3), subgroup III, LFV 9.5; 14 ‘3-0’ lemmas: [3]:7, [2]:6, [1]:1, [0]:0 I think I was like 8 years old when this remarkable [3] thing happend. It was in the begining [3] of the summer vacation [2], the water was still a little bit to cold to go for a swim [3], but who cared about it anyway? All kids go for a swim, even before the vacation even has started and the water is even colder. Except for me. I’ve never learnt to swim, but this summer was going to be different from all the other summers.

In the passage from IBA 7 (3), two of the low-frequency vocabulary lemmas belong to Thorén’s basic vocabulary, namely beginning [3] and swim [3], words that cannot pose any difficulties for Swedish learners of English. Remarkable was given by me in the topic title. From a qualitative point of view, the IB composition has a very low proportion of VeryLFV (0.7), just like the NP composition in subgroup III. In a comparison of all the four compositions presented here, it is the compositions in subgroup III that have the lowest proportion of VeryLFV. In fact, it is quite remarkable that at Common Reference Level B2 (Council of Europe, no date:27), these students write compositions of about 140 lemmas that contain only one lemma each from the bands of least frequent words, 1 and 0.

In comparison with the compositions with a high LFV presented in 7.3.1, the compositions with a low LFV that were studied in this section tended to be shorter and to contain both a lower number and proportion of VeryLFV. Thus, in these compositions, a lower LFV also tended to mean a lower proportion of the least frequently used lemmas: lemmas from frequency bands 1 and 0. The classifications in Thorén and Collins Cobuild mostly differed when it came to a relatively small number of words, namely those on both sides of the dividing line between Thorén’s basic/beyond basic vocabulary and Collins Cobuild’s high frequency band 4 and low frequency band 3. Therefore, it appears that the proportion of VeryLFV would be unaffected if a contrastive approach were taken.