영어과 교육과정의 어휘 목록과 규정 분석: 초등영어를 위한 주제적 분류와 시사점

An analysis of the English curriculum vocabulary lists and regulations: a thematic clustering for primary English education

This study conducts a thematic clustering of the vocabulary list from the 2022 revised English curriculum, drawing on key concepts from non-English elementary school subjects and primary-level themes proposed by content-based language learning theories. To this end, the trends in vocabulary guidelines within the national English curricula are reviewed before implementation. The results are as follows. First, regulations on lexical variants in the national curriculum have relied heavily on morphological (formal) similarity, unintentionally neglecting word meaning and use. Second, primary-level themes in content-based language learning correspond to about 30% of secondary-level words in the 2022 curriculum, while key concepts from elementary subject areas align with about 17%, suggesting that 17–30% of secondary words may be mis-classified. Third, analysis of communicative functions in the national curriculum reveals an elementary-to-secondary word ratio of 10:1; 10% of target language patterns could change through vocabulary list adjustments.