Exploring Lexical Density in English Reading Passages for Senior Vocational High School Students

Abstract

This study explores the lexical density of an English reading text designed for 11th-grade vocational high school students, with the aim of evaluating its suitability for educational use. Lexical density refers to the ratio of content words to the total number of words in a text, which serves as an indicator of text complexity and information load. The study uses a qualitative descriptive approach, supported by content analysis, to measure lexical density in four paragraphs discussing historical topics: the Black Death, the Industrial Revolution, and the First World War. The findings indicate a consistently high lexical density across all four paragraphs, ranging from 51.05% to 53.13%. This indicates that the text contains a significant proportion of content words, reflecting an appropriate level of academic rigor for vocational high school students. Despite the high lexical density, the text remains clear and easy to read due to its manageable grammatical structure. These results align with previous research, which suggests that a lexical density between 40% and 60% is suitable for learning texts. The study concludes that the analyzed reading text is a valuable educational resource. This reading effectively balances information richness with accessibility, supporting vocabulary development, reading comprehension, and academic literacy. These findings highlight the importance of lexical density as a linguistic feature and pedagogical tool in the evaluation and design of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) reading materials.