Abstract This study sheds light on the vocabulary complexity of various physics genres and how it affects reading and listening comprehension of the science of physics. We analysed the vocabulary frequency profile of seven physics genres: research articles, textbooks, lectures, magazines, popular books, TV documentaries and TED talks, to determine the presence of general-purpose, academic and technical vocabulary in them, as well as their vocabulary level and variation. The main research question was whether the vocabulary level of these genres could pose an impediment to typical native and non-native speakers of English in terms of their reading/listening comprehension, and, in general, how accessible these genres are vocabulary-wise. The results suggest that typical native speakers will struggle reading physics research and magazine articles, whereas typical non-native speakers will not read/listen to any of the genres at an optimal level, but will be able to read/listen to four of them at an acceptable level.

中文翻译：

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各种物理类型的词汇复杂性和阅读和听力理解

摘要 本研究阐明了各种物理类型的词汇复杂性以及它如何影响物理科学的阅读和听力理解。我们分析了七种物理类型的词汇频率分布：研究文章、教科书、讲座、杂志、流行书籍、电视纪录片和 TED 演讲，以确定它们中通用、学术和技术词汇的存在，以及它们的词汇水平和变化。主要的研究问题是，这些体裁的词汇水平是否会对典型的英语母语和非英语母语人士的阅读/听力理解造成障碍，以及总的来说，这些体裁在词汇方面的可及性。