The Relationship Between Vocabulary Size and Lexical Automaticity

2016

Successful language learning depends crucially on a strong vocabulary. It is estimated that a vocabulary of 8000 word families is the necessary goal for English language learners who have to deal with unsimplified spoken and written texts. This study examined the English vocabulary size and vocabulary learning strategies of Mengubah Destini Anak Bangsa (MDAB) pre-diploma students at the Segamat Campus of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Johor. While some of these students had intermediate English language proficiency, the majority of them had low language proficiency. Data for the study were collected in three stages. Firstly, a Vocabulary Size Test was conducted to determine the students’ vocabulary size. Secondly, a Vocabulary Learning Strategies Questionnaire was used to investigate the vocabulary learning strategies employed by the students. Finally, a semi-structured interview was carried out with eight students as a form of triangulation that supplements the findings gleaned f...

Important note about size and levels tests Measuring vocabulary size and interpreting vocabulary size test scores Vocabulary size tests are intended to estimate the total number of words a learner knows. This estimate can be useful when comparing groups of learners, measuring long-term vocabulary growth, or providing “one kind of goal for learners of English as a second or foreign language” (Nation, 2013, p. 522). The Vocabulary Size Test (VST) (Nation & Beglar, 2007), for example, is a measure of written receptive word knowledge based on word family frequency estimates derived from the spoken subsection of the BNC (Nation, 2006). Each item on the VST presents the target word first in isolation followed by a non-defining context sentence, with four answer-choices presented in either English or in the learners’ L1. Results of the VST among samples with a wide range in ability have shown that the test is able to reliably distinguish between learners of different vocabulary proficiency...

2021

This study compared two tests of second language (L2) depth of vocabulary knowledge, namely the word association test (WAT) and vocabulary knowledge scale (VKS), with respect to their associations with vocabulary size. The same relationships were further examined separately for the five word-frequency bands of the vocabulary size test. To this end, 115 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners took the WAT, VKS, and Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT). Results of multiple linear regression analyses indicated that: (a) while both measures of vocabulary depth were predictive of the VLT, the WAT had a higher association with the dependent variable; (b) both the WAT and VKS were predictive of the high-frequency vocabulary, with the relationships being more significant for the WAT; (c) the WAT could significantly predict the mid-frequency vocabulary, whereas the VKS had no significant contribution; and (d) while the VKS was significantly associated with the low-frequency vocabulary, the WAT ...

2012

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...

The present study addressed the role of speed as a factor in tests of second language (L2) vocabulary knowledge, presupposing that speed of performance is important in actual language use. Research questions were: (a) Do learners with a larger vocabulary size answer faster on an L2 vocabulary breadth test than smaller vocabulary sized learners?; (b) Are there systematic increases in response time (RT) as word frequency decreases in an L2 vocabulary breadth test?; and (c) Do RTs of correct responses on an L2 vocabulary breadth test predict accurate and quick L2 reading? Participants were 24 Japanese university students. Results indicated that (a) vocabulary size facilitated lexical accessibility, (b) high frequency words were accessed more quickly but this was only observable after reaching a certain threshold of vocabulary size, and (c) vocabulary score (accuracy) alone was not associated with accurate and quick reading but vocabulary RT (accuracy + speed) was.

2016

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk meneliti jumlah rata-rata vocabulary size siswa, menyelidiki startegi yang paling sering digunakan dan paling efektif, dan mengetahui apakah ada perbedaan yang signifikan dari vocabulary size diantara penggunaan strategi yang berbeda-beda. Populasi dari penelitian ini adalah siswa kelas pertama di salah satu SMAN Bandar Lampung. Instrumen yang digunakan dalam mengumpulkan data pada penelitian ini adalah kuesioner berdasarkan penelitian terdahulu yang dirancang oleh Schmitt's (1997) dan uji pengukuran kosakata yang dicapai yang dirancang oleh Sutarsyah (2006). Hasil analisis data menunjukan bahwa jumlah rata-rata vocabulary size siswa adalah 2166 kata. Perhitungan Anova menunjukkan bahwa strategi sosial adalah strategi yang paling sering dan paling efektif untuk digunakan. Sementara itu, semua Fhitung < Ftabel, dan semua signifikansi > 0,05. Hal ini berarti H0 diterima sehingga tidak ada perbedaan yang signifikan dari vocabulary size diantara ...

The Language Teacher, 2016

This paper provides and explains the criteria by which the first eight 1,000-word frequency bands of the Japanese bilingual Vocabulary Size Test (VST) were revised. The VST (Nation & Beglar, 2007) was designed as a measure of vocabulary size for language learners. It was originally produced and validated in a monolingual format, but in recent years several bilingual versions have also been made. These variants may yield more accurate results, because they avoid conflating vocabulary knowledge with ability to decode answer choices in the L2. However, they have received little scrutiny beyond initial piloting and may therefore benefit from further examination and refinement (Nguyen & Nation, 2011). This paper describes the revision of the first eight 1,000-word frequency bands of the Japanese bilingual VST with the goal of increasing the test’s unidimensionality and accuracy. The revisions (a) removed English loanwords from the answer choices to prevent examinees from correctly responding through phonological matching alone, (b) ensured that the parts of speech of each answer choice were identical, and (c) matched the lengths of answer choices.

Vocabulary Learning and Instruction, 2014

The purpose of this paper is to review each of the following four vocabulary studies: (1) Estimations of Japanese University Learners' English Vocabulary Sizes Using the Vocabulary Size Test (VST), by Stuart McLean, Nicholas Hogg, and Brandon Kramer; (2) Local Item Dependence on the Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) Revisited, by Tadamitsu Kamimoto; (3) Test Taking and DK Use on the VST, by Dawn Lucovich; (4) Estimating Learners' Vocabulary Size under Item Response Theory (IRT), by Aaron Gibson.

Vocabulary Learning and Instruction, 2014

Measuring students' lexica is time-consuming, as one sitting of the Vocabulary Size Test (VST) usually takes 40Á60 minutes. As a result, teachers would benefit from being able to make reasonable estimates from commonly available information. This paper aims to investigate: (1) What are the mean vocabulary sizes of students at Japanese universities as a whole, and by university department (hensachi)? and (2) Are a university's department standardized rank scores (hensachi) a useful proxy for English vocabulary size? This study used a cross-sectional design where 3,449 Japanese university students were tested using Nation and Beglar's VST. The results showed an average score of 3,715.20 word families and that VST scores were significantly higher for students in higher department hensachi programs. This current department hensachi was also found to have a stronger correlation with VST scores than with other covariates when the entire sample was considered. Lastly, there appears to be a lack of consistent knowledge of the most frequent words of English, suggesting that curriculum designers at Japanese universities should focus on teaching high-frequency English words. Although the findings support the use of the VST for comparing receptive written vocabulary knowledge between learners, they perhaps do not support its use in establishing a vocabulary size to decide lexically appropriate materials.

Language Testing 21: 202-226, 2004

This article describes the development and validation of a test of vocabulary size and strength. The ® rst part of the article sets out the theoretical rationale for the test, and describes how the size and strength constructs have been conceptualized and operationalized. The second part of the article focusses on the process of test validation, which involved the testing of the hypotheses implicit in the test design, using both unidimensional and multifaceted Rasch analyses. Possible applications for the test include determining the status of a learner's vocabulary development as well as screening and placement. A model for administering the test in computer adaptive mode is also proposed. The study has implications both for the design and delivery of this test as well as for theories of vocabulary acquisition.