Diagnosing L2 Listeners’ Difficulty Comprehending Known Lexis

Abstract

Current second language (L2) listening research has lacked detailed accounts of L2 listeners’ difficulties comprehending texts comprisingorthographically known lexis. In the current study, 15 first language (L1) Japanese English language learners of three English proficiency levels listened to sentences and a narrative text. A two‐task diagnostic procedure using L1 recalls and L2 repetitions was employed to understand how orthographically known lexis was often misinterpreted over the course of multiple listening opportunities. Evidence from transcripts showed that the factors likely causing listening comprehension difficulty were L1 phonological influence, English connected speech modifications, and misinterpretation of top‐down contextual information. The study results show that even texts comprising high‐frequency vocabulary or other orthographically known lexis can be persistently difficult for L2 listeners to comprehend. The results thus challenge some current assumptions in L2 listening literature about the comprehensibility of texts with high‐frequency vocabulary or orthographically known lexis.

Exploring the relationships between L2 vocabulary knowledge, lexical segmentation, and L2 listening comprehension

“…Rather than only judging vocabulary to be "known" when a learner can establish a form-meaning link for written words, educators are encouraged to reexamine vocabulary learning in terms of learners' aural recognition and comprehension of words in connected speech as well. Limited development of aural vocabulary knowledge and lexical segmentation ability could result in poorer listening ability for even high-frequency words (Carney, 2020). In addition, instructional approaches should be developed that improve learners' familiarity with the phonological form of words as they occur in connected speech and which also enhance learners' ability to comprehend chunks of lexis under time constraints.…”

Exploring Links Between Aural Lexical Knowledge and L2 Listening in Arabic and Japanese Speakers: A Close Replication of Cheng, Matthews, Lange and McLean (2022)

“…Such testing will help make clear students' current levels of ALK and thus provide useful data that can inform interventions to improve ALK as required. In the early stages of L2 language development, it is particularly important for learners to develop robust ALK of the highest frequency words, as even learners at the tertiary level in EFL contexts may lack adequate ALK of words within the first thousand frequency range (Carney, 2021; Lange & Matthews, 2020; Uchihara & Harada, 2018). Again, there are resources that are freely available that can be used to good effect in the classroom to build learners' ALK, even from the earliest stages of L2 language development.…”