This study investigated the learnability of multiple word knowledge aspects and the relationship between the word knowledge aspects. A total of 261 Thai high school students were measured on receptive and productive word knowledge aspects: word parts, the form-meaning link, and collocations. The current findings indicated that word parts are acquired first, followed by the form-meaning link and collocations, which suggest the receptive and productive continuum of learning word knowledge aspects. The present results also indicated an interdepended association between word knowledge aspects. Overall, the findings suggest receptive and productive knowledge of word knowledge aspects is an essential underpinning for vocabulary knowledge growth. Recommendations for future studies are also discussed.
The present study explored vocabulary knowledge as a multi-aspect construct by examining the acquisition order of different vocabulary aspects and the relationships between these aspects. A battery test of receptive and productive vocabulary aspects, based on Nation’s (2013) framework, was administered to 156 Thai EFL learners in tenth (n = 84) and twelfth (n = 72) grades. Two different grades of Thai EFL learners were used to better describe the vocabulary acquisition process. The results indicated that scores on the tests assessing receptive knowledge of an aspect were higher than scores on the productive knowledge tests, for both grades. However, overall, the twelfth-grade learners performed better than the tenth-grade learners. The findings also revealed significant correlations between knowledge of the different aspects. Furthermore, the Implicational Scaling (IS) analysis revealed that the two grades had distinct implicational patterns of vocabulary aspects. These results provide empirical evidence for the vocabulary acquisition pattern. The results also suggest that vocabulary knowledge is an incremental learning process and that exposure to vocabulary knowledge has positive effects on vocabulary acquisition.
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