Investigating the Relationship Between Vocabulary Knowledge and Academic Reading Performance: An Assessment Perspective

Abstract

The present study was conducted in the context of Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) 2000 research to conceptually validate the roles of breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension in academic settings and to empirically evaluate a test measuring three elements of the depth dimension of vocabulary knowledge, namely, synonymy, polysemy, and collocation. A vocabulary size measure and a TOEFL vocabulary measure were also tested. The study found that the dimension of vocabulary depth is as important as that of vocabulary size in predicting performance on academic reading and that scores on the three vocabulary measures tested are similarly useful in predicting performance on the reading comprehension measure used as the criterion. The study

Role of Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) in Chinese Undergraduate Students’ Comprehension of Textbooks

“…Similarly, Hu & Nation (2000) created four coverage groups (80%, 90%, 95%) by replacing some words in the text with words beyond participants' vocabulary knowledge, and found that most L2 English learners would need 98% text coverage to achieve adequate comprehension of a particular text. Qian (2002), by administering Vocabulary Levels Test to a group of Chinese and Korean L2 learners, concluded that the participants' reading comprehension score was highly correlated to the score of VLT. Zhang & Annual (2008) conducted a research study among a group of secondary students in Singapore by using the Vocabulary Levels Test, and found that the students' vocabulary knowledge at the 2K and the 3K word levels was highly correlated to their reading comprehension.…”

“…Vocabulary breath is very important for second language learners in that when they attempt to understand a certain text, how many words they know in the text is likely to influence their comprehension. Many researchers and scholars have conducted research to investigate the relationship between learners' vocabulary size and their performance on reading comprehension (Hu & Nation, 2000;Nation, 2001; Qian, 2002;Zhang & Annual, 2008). It is claimed that most second language learners need to know at least 95% of words in a particular text in order to achieve an adequate understanding of the text (Hu & Nation, 2000;Nation, 2001), and learners' vocabulary size, in most cases, significantly correlates to learners' reading comprehension (Qian, 2002;Zhang & Annual, 2008;Alavi & Akbarian, 2012).…”

“…Many researchers and scholars have conducted research to investigate the relationship between learners' vocabulary size and their performance on reading comprehension (Hu & Nation, 2000;Nation, 2001; Qian, 2002;Zhang & Annual, 2008). It is claimed that most second language learners need to know at least 95% of words in a particular text in order to achieve an adequate understanding of the text (Hu & Nation, 2000;Nation, 2001), and learners' vocabulary size, in most cases, significantly correlates to learners' reading comprehension (Qian, 2002;Zhang & Annual, 2008;Alavi & Akbarian, 2012). Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) (Nation, 2001) is a validated and reliable test, which aims to measure language learners' receptive knowledge of vocabulary at particular lexical levels.…”

Receptive vocabulary knowledge and motivation in CLIL and EFL

“…Schmitt, 2000;Qian, 2002, López Mezquita, 2005Nation, 2006). Central to the investigation within foreign language vocabulary knowledge is the distinction between productive and receptive vocabulary knowledge types.…”

Dynamics of Fluency, Lexical Resources and Language Awareness: Investigating the Role of Pre-speaking Strategies Instruction

“…While researchers generally agree with the multi-componential nature of vocabulary knowledge, various proposals have been put forward regarding what exactly constitutes vocabulary knowledge (Meara, 2005; Schmitt, 2010) (as cited in Koizumi & In'nami, 2013). One classification commonly used involves the size and depth of vocabulary (e.g., Qian, 2002) (as cited in Koizumi & In'nami, 2013). Size, or breadth, of vocabulary knowledge expresses a quantitative dimension involving a word form and a primary meaning which a learner has some knowledge of meaning, and also described as the form-meaning link.…”