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

Abstract

Abstract-Vocabulary knowledge has always been considered crucial in reading comprehension. This paper aims to link Chinese learners' performance on Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) to the profiling of their textbook so as to draw pedagogical implications on English teaching. The participants were 108 freshmen in Jiangsu University of Technology, China. All of them took part in the VLT, and their English textbook was profiled to see the lexical level of the vocabulary. Results showed that 81.48% of the participants had mastered the 2,000-word level, and the vocabulary of the textbook was within the vocabulary knowledge of the participants. However, results also indicated that no participants had reached the mastery level of the K-3, K-5 and AWL words. Based on the findings of the research, it was suggested that the language teacher could make use of the textbook to consolidate the participants' K-1 to K-2 words and at the same time give them more exposure to K-3 to K5 words as well as academic words by exposing them to some extra materials.

Assessing the relationship between Vocabulary Level Test (VLT) and reading comprehension

“…Some research has been done on the role of vocabulary size in reading comprehension, yet only a few studies correlated participants' performance on VLT with textbook profiling to investigate whether some pedagogy implications could be found. Liu (2016) reveals the result of VLT and English textbook profiling with Chinese undergraduate students at Jiangsu University of Technology in PRC, China. Her research showed that 81% of the participants had mastered a 2000-word vocabulary, hence most of the students had no significant difficulties in understanding the texts used.…”

“…Some studies have reported the reliability, e.g. 0.94 or 0.91 (Liu, 2016;Read, 2009) and this test has been examined by other experts (Gyllstad, 2007;Teng, 2015;Webb & Sasao, 2013). As the measurement of VLT correlates with the level of reading comprehension, it is used to assess the reading texts chosen for undergraduate students and is the initial input to the teachers about the level of their students' ability before their lessons begins.…”

“…The only relevant research in foreign language learning comes from research done in other countries: China, Singapore, and Sweden (Gyllstad, 2007;Liu, 2016;Teng, 2014Teng, , 2015Zhang & Anual, 2008). Therefore, it is a pioneering work to do research to measure the VLT of students and to find out their vocabulary level compared to the profile of their reading textbook in Indonesia.…”

The Teaching of Vocabulary: A Perspective

“…The result is linear with (Liu 2016) research toward undergraduate students of JiangzuChina. Liu (2016) indicated that no participants had reached the mastery level of the 3000, 5000 and academic word category, but 2000.…”

“…Liu (2016) indicated that no participants had reached the mastery level of the 3000, 5000 and academic word category, but 2000. Hence both Rinaldi et al (2013) and Liu (2016) suggest the language learners to explore more approach on vocabulary skill such as vocabulary learning strategies and more independent in learning.…”