<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV><DIV>On Oct 1, 2006, at 8:49 PM, Su-hsun Tsai wrote:</DIV><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV id="mb_0"><P>I would like to know how many words of English vocabulary required for a high school graduate entering a college/university program? Do you have a similar requirement for students entering into high schools?</P></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV>Leaving aside the question of what it means to "know" a word...</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV>In Ontario, Canada, I know of no school that gets as specific as to have a minimum number of known words as an entry requirement. However, from a practical viewpoint, you should have a look at Paul Nation's work with word families. Paul's results suggests that the 2000 most common word families, plus the 570 word families of Averil Coxhead's Academic Word List would be a minimum for most non-native speakers of English to begin tertiary education.</DIV><BR> <SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; -khtml-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -khtml-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "></SPAN><FONT class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Best,</SPAN></FONT><DIV><FONT class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Brett</SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV><FONT class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Monaco" size="2"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px;"><<A href="http://english-jack.blogspot.com">http://english-jack.blogspot.com</A>></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV><FONT class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Monaco" size="2"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px;"><BR></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></FONT><DIV> <SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">-----------------------</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Brett Reynolds</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">English Language Centre</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Toronto, Ontario, Canada</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="mailto:brett.reynolds@humber.ca">brett.reynolds@humber.ca</A></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN> </DIV><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>