Vocabulary and Writing in a First and Second Language

Albrechtsen, Dorte; Haastrup, Kirsten; Henriksen, Birgit

doi:10.1057/9780230593404

Cited by 46 publications

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“…Results have indicated that monolingual English‐speaking (MES) learners and ML learners at advanced proficiency levels use fewer high‐frequency words and more academic and uncommon words found in the low‐frequency bands in their compositions (Crossley & McNamara, ; Crossley, Salsbury, & McNamara, ; Douglas, ). This finding is validated by a number of studies that have yielded significant correlations between learners’ independent vocabulary size tests and measures of writing proficiency (Albrechtsen, Haastrup, & Henriksen, ; Stær, ). Furthermore, Meara and Bell () corroborate the use of lexical frequency to measure proficiency as “people with big vocabularies are more likely to use infrequent words than people with smaller vocabularies are” (p. 4).…”

Section: Overview Of the Literaturesupporting

confidence: 63%

The Contribution of Lexical Diversity to College‐Level Writing

González

2017

TESOL Journal

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This article reports on a study that investigated the extent to which lexical frequency and lexical diversity contribute to writing proficiency scores on monolingual English‐speaking writers’ and advanced multilingual writers’ academic compositions. The data consist of essays composed by 104 multilingual English learners enrolled in advanced second language writing courses at various intensive English programs and 68 monolingual English‐speaking university students in a first‐year composition course. Three independent raters evaluated the essays according to the TOEFL iBT independent writing rubric. Results from a binary logistic regression reveal that lexical diversity has a significantly greater impact on writing score than lexical frequency. Post hoc analyses show that lexical frequency has only a moderate relationship to lexical diversity, suggesting that diversity of mid‐frequency vocabulary may be more important to writing proficiency than the use of more sophisticated terms that occur less frequently in natural language. Implications for practice suggest that it is not enough to simply teach vocabulary words in the second language composition classroom, but also to guide learners in how to employ these words in a varied manner in their writing.

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Section: Overview Of the Literaturesupporting

confidence: 63%

The Contribution of Lexical Diversity to College‐Level Writing

González

2017

TESOL Journal

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“…Albrechtsen, Haastrup, and Henriksen () explored the effect of L2 vocabulary size (measured with the VLT) and depth of knowledge (measured with a word association task) on the lexical inferencing success of 90 Danish EFL learners from grades 7, 10, and 13. VLT scores correlated significantly with inferencing success in all three grade levels: r = .66 (grade 7), r = .60 (grade 10), and r = .48 (grade 13).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, there currently exists only one spoken vocabulary size test (Milton & Hopkins, ), which appears not to have been validated. The VLT has undergone an extensive validation process (Schmitt et al, ) and is used widely in the field, including in lexical inferencing research (Albrechtsen et al, ; Wesche & Paribakht, ).…”

Section: The Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Lexical Inferencing in First and Second Language Listening

Zeeland

2014

The Modern Language Journal

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Lexical inferencing is an important vocabulary learning strategy. Unfortunately, almost all research on this issue has been carried out in the reading context. This study is the first to directly measure lexical inferencing success in listening, by both native (N ¼ 47) and nonnative (N ¼ 30) speakers of English. It analysed the effects of contextual clue types, background knowledge, and L2 vocabulary knowledge on inferencing success. Results showed inferencing success rates of 59.6% (natives) and 35.6% (nonnatives), with success being significantly affected by the three variables. The study also measured L2 listeners' ability to notice unknown vocabulary in speech. This revealed limited noticing ability, indicating that a lack of noticing is likely to limit learners' inferencing opportunities and success.

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“…Numerous researchers have examined the relationship between VK (usually using measures of VS) and a variety of language proficiency measures, such as reading e.g. (Albrechtsen, Haastrup, & Henriksen, 2008), speaking e.g. (Daller, Van Hout, & Treffers-Daller, 2003), grammatical accuracy e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relationship between the Saudi Cadets’ Learning Motivation and Their Vocabulary Knowledge

Alqahtani¹

2020

ELT

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This paper is a report on the study of the relationship between foreign/second language (L2) motivation and vocabulary knowledge. The population of the study is the cadets of a military academy in Saudi Arabia who study English as a foreign language. The total number of participants is 195 Saudis. The author uses the L2 Motivational Self System to investigate the cadets’ L2 motivation and the vocabulary test “X-Lex” (Meara & Milton, 2003) to measure their vocabulary size (VS). The correlation analysis shows a positive moderate statistical correlation between the students’ L2 motivation and their VS because the Ideal L2 Self, the Language Learning Attitudes, and the Intended Learning Effort had a linear relationship with the VS. Nevertheless, the regression analysis reveals that none of these motivational scales is a predictor of the students’ VS. Finally, the correlation analysis and the regression analysis disclose a statistically significant correlation between the Saudi cadets’ self-perception as competent English users and their L2 motivation as well as their VS.

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Vocabulary and Writing in a First and Second Language

Cited by 46 publications

References 0 publications

The Contribution of Lexical Diversity to College‐Level Writing

The Contribution of Lexical Diversity to College‐Level Writing

Lexical Inferencing in First and Second Language Listening

The Relationship between the Saudi Cadets’ Learning Motivation and Their Vocabulary Knowledge

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