This study invcstis,ated he relatiQnship among word frequency, learner perfbmiance, and teacher i... more This study invcstis,ated he relatiQnship among word frequency, learner perfbmiance, and teacher intuition about difficult words. It was expected that gaining deeper insights into such relationship would demonstrate the frequency of words reflected on the difficulty of them. Firstly, by employing a vQcabulary size test that takes learner confiden ¢ e into account, 180 university learners' vocabulary size was measured. The results of thc test confirmed that the sceres corrected by the degree ofconfidcnce "'ere more sensitive to frequency levels than the raw scores, Secondly, when the distribution of difficult words judged by tcachers xny,ere investigated across frequency levels, thc nuniber of difficult words were in accordance with the i}equency levels, LastlM the relat'ionship betw,een learner performance in vocabulary size test and teacher intuition about word ditficulty was investigated. As a result, a strong correlation was revealed. The result is intcrpreted to ...
This study developed a vocabulary size test for Japanese learners of English as a foreign languag... more This study developed a vocabulary size test for Japanese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) using the New JACET List of 8,000 Basic Words (VST-NJ8). Data from the vocabulary size tests were interpreted to assess, diagnose, and predict learners' lexical proficiency. Yet, existing tests for Japanese EFL learners involve two critical issues regarding unrepresentative contents and inflated estimation of vocabulary size due to methodological restrictions. For these reasons, a large-scale item bank was created in Study 1 by sampling 800 target words and 2,400 distractors from the New JACET List of 8,000 Basic Words. The data from 2,155 test-takers were analyzed using the three-parameter logistic (3PL) model of the item response theory to obtain the invariant parameters of difficulty, discriminability, and pseudo-guessing probability for every item. In Study 2, an automatic test assembly was conducted in consideration of the number of items to be included, the distribution of parts of speech, and the test information functions estimated by the 3PL model. The item characteristics were argued for validation in terms of the content, substantive, structural, generalizability, and external aspects of construct validty. The administration, scoring, and interpretation methods of the VST-NJ8 are fully provided.
This study invcstis,ated the relatiQnship among word frequency, learner perfbmiance, and teacher ... more This study invcstis,ated the relatiQnship among word frequency, learner perfbmiance, and teacher intuition about difficult words. It was expected that gaining deeper insights into such relationship would demonstrate the frequency of words reflected on the difficulty of them. Firstly, by employing a vQcabulary size test that takes learner confiden ¢ e into account, 180 university learners' vocabulary size was measured. The results of thc test confirmed that the sceres corrected by the degree ofconfidcnce "'ere more sensitive to frequency levels than the raw scores, Secondly, when the distribution of difficult words judged by tcachers xny,ere investigated across frequency levels, thc nuniber of difficult words were in accordance with the i}equency levels, LastlM the relat'ionship betw,een learner performance in vocabulary size test and teacher intuition about word ditficulty was investigated. As a result, a strong correlation was revealed. The result is intcrpreted to show that the teachers were in fact capable o £ ' predicting diiiElcult words. Combining all the results together, this study confirmed a close relationship betw'een the frequency ofwords and their dit]ficulty.
Although lexical access is considered as a dimension of vocabulary knowledge, a test of such know... more Although lexical access is considered as a dimension of vocabulary knowledge, a test of such knowledge has yet to be developed and validated. In this study, an attempt was made to develop and validate a test that measures lexical access speed. A tota1 of' 303 Japanese university students and English teachers took the test and the results were compared with overall English proficiency, Further, a questionnaire was conducted with teachers to find out if they considered the test a measure of lexical access speed. The results revealed that although what the newly developed test measured shovved moderate correlations with English proticiency, the test tended to show shorter response times fbr participants with higher proficiency, It was also revealed that the majority of the teachers felt that the test measured their lexical access speed or word recognition speed, even theugh they were not infbrmed of the purpose of the test, 'I'he potential of the test as a measure of lexica...
Ax knowledge plays an important part in reading and vocabulary development. L1 studies show that ... more Ax knowledge plays an important part in reading and vocabulary development. L1 studies show that learners increase their ax knowledge incrementally through fourth grade to high school. However, little is known as to how L2 ax knowledge develops. This study investigates the relationship between L2 learners' vocabulary size and their ax knowledge and attempts to ®nd out the order of ax acquisition. The results show that L2 learners' ax knowledge correlated with their vocabulary size and that axes could be ranked in terms of accuracy order. Five factors might be responsible for the order: loan words, instruction, frequency of axes, frequency of words that contain a particular ax, and the polyfunctional nature of axes.
Cell phones are now widespread in many countries including Japan where we teach, and are particul... more Cell phones are now widespread in many countries including Japan where we teach, and are particularly popular among university students. Although they can be a distraction in the classroom, functions such as Internet access and e-mail capability have transformed them into sophisticated communication tools. But are they also potentially useful in language learning? While task-based approaches (Nunan, 1989) adapted to desktop e-mail are now a growing area of research in CALL (Greenfield, 2003; Gonzalez-Lloret, 2003), cell phones have yet to receive much attention. This paper reports on a classroom research project aimed at evaluating the use of mobile phones as tools for classroom learning. Freshman university students in intact EFL classes (2 elementary classes, 2 lower intermediate) were first surveyed regarding their cell phone use and pre-tested to assess their knowledge of certain target learning structures. Following this they were subdivided into three groups: (a) using cell ph...
The present study aims to demonstrate how the estimation of vocabulary size might be affected by ... more The present study aims to demonstrate how the estimation of vocabulary size might be affected by two neglected factors in vocabulary size tests. The first factor is randomization of question sequence, as opposed to the traditional high-to-low frequency sequencing. The second factor is learners' confidence in choosing the correct meaning for a given target word. A new online vocabulary size test was developed for the purpose of the study with the two factors in mind. The results of the test revealed that (1) randomizing question sequences did not have significant effects on the score of the vocabulary size test and (2) even though the learners who had a mastery level of 8000 words showed higher confidence in high frequency words than the learners with a smaller vocabulary, such confidence faded as early as 4000 frequency level of JACET 8000. The findings are discussed in detail in terms of the scale or the length of vocabulary size tests as well as the need for incorporating confidence in the estimation of vocabulary size.
This paper is designed to address three research questions underlying the relationship between le... more This paper is designed to address three research questions underlying the relationship between learners' vocal)ulary size and their rcading comprehension. The first question investigated whether prospective test writers can agree on which reading skill was being tested by each question item. The second question explored which particu]ar reading skill was difficult or easy fbr leamcrs, The final question estimated the minimum vocabulary size needed to answer the reading questions on the National Center lest. The results of the first question showed that the judges had dienculty in reaching agreement on the skills purportedly being tested by particular items. For the sccond question item analyses were conducted on those test items with which judges had agreed on in the previous sumrey. The results revealed that a close relationship was not fbund between item diraculty and the type of reading ski11s tested by the question item. The results of the tltird question found that there wa...
This study investigated the relationship between Iearners' vocabulary size and reading compre... more This study investigated the relationship between Iearners' vocabulary size and reading comprehension of academic texts, A reading comprehension test based on the TOEFL and an online receptive vocabular>T size test were administered to 175 pre-interrnediate Japanese EFL university students. The findings showed that (1) TOEFL texts could actually be considered academic, (2) 5000 to 5500 words of the JACET 8000 basic words covered 959'h of the words used in the TOEFL reading section, (3) the estimated vocabulary size of6500 is needed,to score more than 60% on the reading comprehension section ofthe TOEFL, and (4) there were no strong relationships between vocabulary knowledge and reading sub-skills. This paper argues that the rerationship between learners' vocabulary sizc and reading success is not so straightforward.
This study invcstis,ated he relatiQnship among word frequency, learner perfbmiance, and teacher i... more This study invcstis,ated he relatiQnship among word frequency, learner perfbmiance, and teacher intuition about difficult words. It was expected that gaining deeper insights into such relationship would demonstrate the frequency of words reflected on the difficulty of them. Firstly, by employing a vQcabulary size test that takes learner confiden ¢ e into account, 180 university learners' vocabulary size was measured. The results of thc test confirmed that the sceres corrected by the degree ofconfidcnce "'ere more sensitive to frequency levels than the raw scores, Secondly, when the distribution of difficult words judged by tcachers xny,ere investigated across frequency levels, thc nuniber of difficult words were in accordance with the i}equency levels, LastlM the relat'ionship betw,een learner performance in vocabulary size test and teacher intuition about word ditficulty was investigated. As a result, a strong correlation was revealed. The result is intcrpreted to ...
This study developed a vocabulary size test for Japanese learners of English as a foreign languag... more This study developed a vocabulary size test for Japanese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) using the New JACET List of 8,000 Basic Words (VST-NJ8). Data from the vocabulary size tests were interpreted to assess, diagnose, and predict learners' lexical proficiency. Yet, existing tests for Japanese EFL learners involve two critical issues regarding unrepresentative contents and inflated estimation of vocabulary size due to methodological restrictions. For these reasons, a large-scale item bank was created in Study 1 by sampling 800 target words and 2,400 distractors from the New JACET List of 8,000 Basic Words. The data from 2,155 test-takers were analyzed using the three-parameter logistic (3PL) model of the item response theory to obtain the invariant parameters of difficulty, discriminability, and pseudo-guessing probability for every item. In Study 2, an automatic test assembly was conducted in consideration of the number of items to be included, the distribution of parts of speech, and the test information functions estimated by the 3PL model. The item characteristics were argued for validation in terms of the content, substantive, structural, generalizability, and external aspects of construct validty. The administration, scoring, and interpretation methods of the VST-NJ8 are fully provided.
This study invcstis,ated the relatiQnship among word frequency, learner perfbmiance, and teacher ... more This study invcstis,ated the relatiQnship among word frequency, learner perfbmiance, and teacher intuition about difficult words. It was expected that gaining deeper insights into such relationship would demonstrate the frequency of words reflected on the difficulty of them. Firstly, by employing a vQcabulary size test that takes learner confiden ¢ e into account, 180 university learners' vocabulary size was measured. The results of thc test confirmed that the sceres corrected by the degree ofconfidcnce "'ere more sensitive to frequency levels than the raw scores, Secondly, when the distribution of difficult words judged by tcachers xny,ere investigated across frequency levels, thc nuniber of difficult words were in accordance with the i}equency levels, LastlM the relat'ionship betw,een learner performance in vocabulary size test and teacher intuition about word ditficulty was investigated. As a result, a strong correlation was revealed. The result is intcrpreted to show that the teachers were in fact capable o £ ' predicting diiiElcult words. Combining all the results together, this study confirmed a close relationship betw'een the frequency ofwords and their dit]ficulty.
Although lexical access is considered as a dimension of vocabulary knowledge, a test of such know... more Although lexical access is considered as a dimension of vocabulary knowledge, a test of such knowledge has yet to be developed and validated. In this study, an attempt was made to develop and validate a test that measures lexical access speed. A tota1 of' 303 Japanese university students and English teachers took the test and the results were compared with overall English proficiency, Further, a questionnaire was conducted with teachers to find out if they considered the test a measure of lexical access speed. The results revealed that although what the newly developed test measured shovved moderate correlations with English proticiency, the test tended to show shorter response times fbr participants with higher proficiency, It was also revealed that the majority of the teachers felt that the test measured their lexical access speed or word recognition speed, even theugh they were not infbrmed of the purpose of the test, 'I'he potential of the test as a measure of lexica...
Ax knowledge plays an important part in reading and vocabulary development. L1 studies show that ... more Ax knowledge plays an important part in reading and vocabulary development. L1 studies show that learners increase their ax knowledge incrementally through fourth grade to high school. However, little is known as to how L2 ax knowledge develops. This study investigates the relationship between L2 learners' vocabulary size and their ax knowledge and attempts to ®nd out the order of ax acquisition. The results show that L2 learners' ax knowledge correlated with their vocabulary size and that axes could be ranked in terms of accuracy order. Five factors might be responsible for the order: loan words, instruction, frequency of axes, frequency of words that contain a particular ax, and the polyfunctional nature of axes.
Cell phones are now widespread in many countries including Japan where we teach, and are particul... more Cell phones are now widespread in many countries including Japan where we teach, and are particularly popular among university students. Although they can be a distraction in the classroom, functions such as Internet access and e-mail capability have transformed them into sophisticated communication tools. But are they also potentially useful in language learning? While task-based approaches (Nunan, 1989) adapted to desktop e-mail are now a growing area of research in CALL (Greenfield, 2003; Gonzalez-Lloret, 2003), cell phones have yet to receive much attention. This paper reports on a classroom research project aimed at evaluating the use of mobile phones as tools for classroom learning. Freshman university students in intact EFL classes (2 elementary classes, 2 lower intermediate) were first surveyed regarding their cell phone use and pre-tested to assess their knowledge of certain target learning structures. Following this they were subdivided into three groups: (a) using cell ph...
The present study aims to demonstrate how the estimation of vocabulary size might be affected by ... more The present study aims to demonstrate how the estimation of vocabulary size might be affected by two neglected factors in vocabulary size tests. The first factor is randomization of question sequence, as opposed to the traditional high-to-low frequency sequencing. The second factor is learners' confidence in choosing the correct meaning for a given target word. A new online vocabulary size test was developed for the purpose of the study with the two factors in mind. The results of the test revealed that (1) randomizing question sequences did not have significant effects on the score of the vocabulary size test and (2) even though the learners who had a mastery level of 8000 words showed higher confidence in high frequency words than the learners with a smaller vocabulary, such confidence faded as early as 4000 frequency level of JACET 8000. The findings are discussed in detail in terms of the scale or the length of vocabulary size tests as well as the need for incorporating confidence in the estimation of vocabulary size.
This paper is designed to address three research questions underlying the relationship between le... more This paper is designed to address three research questions underlying the relationship between learners' vocal)ulary size and their rcading comprehension. The first question investigated whether prospective test writers can agree on which reading skill was being tested by each question item. The second question explored which particu]ar reading skill was difficult or easy fbr leamcrs, The final question estimated the minimum vocabulary size needed to answer the reading questions on the National Center lest. The results of the first question showed that the judges had dienculty in reaching agreement on the skills purportedly being tested by particular items. For the sccond question item analyses were conducted on those test items with which judges had agreed on in the previous sumrey. The results revealed that a close relationship was not fbund between item diraculty and the type of reading ski11s tested by the question item. The results of the tltird question found that there wa...
This study investigated the relationship between Iearners' vocabulary size and reading compre... more This study investigated the relationship between Iearners' vocabulary size and reading comprehension of academic texts, A reading comprehension test based on the TOEFL and an online receptive vocabular>T size test were administered to 175 pre-interrnediate Japanese EFL university students. The findings showed that (1) TOEFL texts could actually be considered academic, (2) 5000 to 5500 words of the JACET 8000 basic words covered 959'h of the words used in the TOEFL reading section, (3) the estimated vocabulary size of6500 is needed,to score more than 60% on the reading comprehension section ofthe TOEFL, and (4) there were no strong relationships between vocabulary knowledge and reading sub-skills. This paper argues that the rerationship between learners' vocabulary sizc and reading success is not so straightforward.
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