2. Review of the Literature
In reviewing the studies on Business English vocabulary, two main types of language
materials — business letters and business English textbooks — were used to identify this kind
of grouping of words. Examples of the first type of materials are Mellinger (1970),
Matsumoto (1982), and Tribble (2004), all of which analyzed written business
communications. Examples of the second type of materials are Kadota & Kamewari (1976)
and Ishikawa et al. (1987), all of which analyzed Business English textbooks. Most of these
studies collected texts in order to create word lists, some of them comparing the completed
lists to school textbook vocabulary for the purpose of distinguishing Business English vocabulary from ordinary vocabulary use. As for TOEIC vocabulary, Chujo (2003) researched
the type of words used in TOEIC practice tests and selected two sets of specialized
vocabulary through a conventional method using ‘frequency’ and ‘range.’ This study also
used ‘percentage of text coverage’ as an indicator to determine how the two sets of specialized
vocabulary affect the language learning goal, particularly the number of words that need to be
known in order to be able to comprehend the test questions effectively. As for the research
concerning the vocabulary of educational programs broadcast on the airwaves, Hasegawa
(1971) examined the spoken vocabulary used in twelve monthly TV English program texts.