Re: Vocabulary size

Mike987 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> 
> This is completely misleading.  With 3000 words one would not be able
> effectively to communicate - though most native British speakers use
> far fewer than this in day to day communication.
> 
> One needs approximately 100,000 lexical phrases to communicate
> effectively and naturally.  However, bear in mind Krashen's
> observation that a vocabulary of 100,000 items does not imply either
> 100,000 fill-in exercises or 100,000 trips to the dictionary.  We have
> acquired, rather than formally learned, most of the vast mental
> lexicon which we carry prefabricated and ready for use (see "The Power
> of Reading" by Stephen Krashen, publ. Libraries Unlimited, Inc.).

Thanks for that Mike. Looking at some lists I have been sent, I have
gathered that it is not as simple as it seems.

By the way, is Krashen's book worth buying from an EFL teaching
viewpoint, or is it more for parents etc?
William