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Abstract-The focus of the study reported in this article was vocabulary size attained in two learning environments, i.e. in regular mainstream instruction and in CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning). Receptive and productive vocabulary sizes of sixth-graders from both environments were compared with the respective vocabulary sizes of corresponding ninth-graders using the Vocabulary Levels Test and the Productive Vocabulary Levels Test. It was hypothesized that CLIL would produce larger vocabularies, as it offers learners more extensive and versatile exposure to the target language. This turned out to be the case, as did the previously attested phenomenon that receptive vocabularies are larger than productive vocabularies. However, the development of the productive-receptive ratio was not uniform across the frequency levels, even though it was at its highest at the third frequency band (3000 most common English words).

This article reports the results of a study on the relationship between second language vocabulary breadth, vocabulary depth, and reading comprehension. A special aim was to discover the role of vocabulary depth in the prediction and explanation of L2 learners’ reading comprehension. Two proficiency levels, intermediate and advanced, were compared. Vocabulary breadth was measured with the Vocabulary Size Test (Nation & Beglar, 2007), vocabulary depth with the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (Wesche & Paribakht, 1996), and reading comprehension with a test compiled of sections from two former matriculation examination tasks. The three constructs showed strong positive correlations in both groups of subjects. However, based on the results, vocabulary breadth and depth seem to be stronger predictors of reading comprehension skills in lower levels of proficiency than on the advanced level.

Abstract-The study reported in this article examined Finnish EFL learners' ability to search for lexical items and information in online dictionaries and on websites. The study was conducted as part of a project investigating upper secondary school students' digital skills in relation to language learning. The motivation behind the study was that in Finland, the high-stakes school-leaving examinations, including foreign language tests, are currently being digitalized. The aim of the study was to uncover the relationship between word recognition skills and the learners' ability to find lexical items and information in a series of online vocabulary tasks when the choice of the digital sources was not controlled. The results showed, for example, that overall word recognition skills and recognition of low-frequency vocabulary correlated positively with success rates in finding individual words in online dictionaries and factually accurate information on webpages, but not with finding appropriate collocations. Moreover, to succeed in 50% of the look-ups required scoring a minimum of 60% in the vocabulary levels test.