Vocabulary Size and Depth of Knowledge: A Study of Bahraini EFL Learners (original) (raw)
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THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE AND LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY
Abstrak Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji hubung kait antara penguasaan bahasa Inggeris dan pengetahuan perbendaharaan kata bahasa Inggeris reseptif/produktif pelajar diploma tahun pertama dari sebuah universiti awam di Malaysia. Kajian ini telah dijalankan dalam kalangan 136 pelajar Fakulti Seni Bina, Perancangan dan Ukur untuk menentukan hubung kait antara pengetahuan perbendaharaan kata reseptif / produktif mereka dengan penguasaan bahasa Inggeris mereka secara umum. Pengetahuan perbendaharaan kata reseptif pelajar yang terlibat telah diukur menggunakan Vocabulary Level Test Version 1 yang dibangunkan oleh Nation (1990) pada peringkat 2000-perkataan, 3000-perkataan dan 5000-perkataan manakala pengetahuan perbendaharaan kata produktif mereka telah diukur menggunakan Lexical Proficiency Profile (Laufer & Nation, 1995). Gred bagi mata pelajaran Bahasa Inggeris pelajar terlibat diperingkat Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia telah digunakan sebagai tanda aras penguasaan umum mereka. Hubung kait antara pengetahuan perbendaharaan kata reseptif /produktif pelajar dengan penguasaan bahasa Inggeris mereka secara umum telah ditentukan dengan menggunakan perisian SPSS version 23. Analisis regresi telah dijalankan untuk menentukan hubungan tersebut. Kata kunci: perbendaharaan kata reseptif, perbendaharaan kata produktif, penguasaan bahasa Abstract The present study intended to examine the relationship between English language proficiency and receptive/ productive vocabulary knowledge of first year diploma students from a public university in Malaysia. The study was conducted among 136 students from the faculty of Architecture, Planning and Surveying to determine this relationship. The students' receptive vocabulary knowledge was measured using Vocabulary Levels Test Version 1 by Nation (1990) at 2000-word, 3000-word and 5000-word levels while their productive vocabulary knowledge was measured using Lexical Frequency Profile (Laufer & Nation, 1995). The students' grade for English subject in Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia was used as the measure of general proficiency. The correlation between the students' receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge and their general English language proficiency was determined using the software SPSS version 23. Regression analysis was conducted for the purpose.
2021
Testing the breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge is needed to see its effect on the vocabulary size of EFL students. The study aims to know at the relationship between the breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge and the vocabulary size of EFL students. This research was conducted in the 8 grade of Trimulia Junior High School Jakarta. This research uses a correlational research design. The sample was 51 EFL learners. The Vocabulary Level Test (VLT) and the Words Associates Test (WAT) were administered in this study. The scores were presented with descriptive statistics for two tests of the breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge. The results showed that the breadth and depth of the vocabulary knowledge test had a negative correlation with the L2 vocabulary size of EFL students. Using Statistic Product moment, the correlation coefficients found at 0.01 for the breadth and 0.11 for depth is included in the very weak category. So, there is a very weak correlation between the te...
Vocabulary Development of EFL Undergraduates A Cross-sectional Study
Proceedings of COETIN, 2018
Vocabulary knowledge has been empirically proven to correlate with language skills; therefore, teachers usually make a rough estimate of the learners' language proficiency from the number of words that the learners know. For this reason, it is important for teachers to estimate the learners' vocabulary size continuously as a part of their efforts in assessing the learners' language proficiency. The present study attempted to find out the development of vocabulary size of EFL learners at the tertiary level using cross-sectional study as the research design. The subjects were 216 students in the first, second, third and fourth years at the English Department of Universitas Negeri Surabaya. They took Vocabulary Size Test to estimate how many words they knew. The results showed that the freshmen knew more than five thousand words (X ̅ = 5425), and in average the vocabulary size increased by 238.8 words every year so that the fourth-year students knew more than six thousand words (X ̅ = 6141.3). A similar study is being conducted by using longitudinal approach to validate the above results.
2016
Successful language learning depends crucially on a strong vocabulary. It is estimated that a vocabulary of 8000 word families is the necessary goal for English language learners who have to deal with unsimplified spoken and written texts. This study examined the English vocabulary size and vocabulary learning strategies of Mengubah Destini Anak Bangsa (MDAB) pre-diploma students at the Segamat Campus of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Johor. While some of these students had intermediate English language proficiency, the majority of them had low language proficiency. Data for the study were collected in three stages. Firstly, a Vocabulary Size Test was conducted to determine the students’ vocabulary size. Secondly, a Vocabulary Learning Strategies Questionnaire was used to investigate the vocabulary learning strategies employed by the students. Finally, a semi-structured interview was carried out with eight students as a form of triangulation that supplements the findings gleaned f...
After some years, vocabulary research has once again found its fundamental position in pedagogical studies as an inseparable component of language instruction. However, many studies conducted have focused more on vocabulary learning strategies rather than explicit instruction of these techniques. The present study, though, seeks to find out whether teaching vocabulary learning strategies is effective in enhancing the knowledge of EFL learners. Two vocabulary tests of Lex30 and Vocabulary Size Test were administered to 51 intermediate Iranian EFL learners. By employing a mixed method approach, five distinct semi-structured interview sessions were held. The results of independent samples t-tests revealed the effectiveness of teaching vocabulary learning strategies as the experimental group outperformed the control group. Moreover, the analysis of transcribed data suggested that learners showed positive attitude toward instruction of vocabulary learning strategies. Finally, some pedagogical implications for teaching vocabulary are offered.
International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature
INTRODUCTION Vocabulary is a cornerstone of every language, as are the skills that emerge as a result of the appearance of useful vocabulary. The goal of learning the target language will be hampered if vocabulary is not acquired, and knowledge of the projected language will be severely limited. Vocabulary development is essential for communication and skill development. There are various methods and strategies for learning vocabulary. In general, as language is a matter of micro-skills and competence in them, the expansion of vocabulary is the result of external forces and necessary elements of each skill for better comprehension, understanding and application. There is an indication of important strategies for acquiring vocabulary and therefore, vocabulary practice becomes familiar to the learners, resulting in putting a long-term effect on language pedagogy and other components of language. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW Paul Nation (2001a) recommends a comprehensive method of discursive attitude toward vocabulary in learning and teaching. By decoding the labyrinthine fallacies of the words, he went into great detail about the sources and procedures for learning vocabulary. He came up with the concept of style, planning, strategies, teaching methodologies and the lexical bar as elements that affect vocabulary development. The study finds mastery of a language is followed by excellence in vocabulary, linguistic expertise, and other features. Nation also stated that the range and volume of one's vocabulary can be used to assess for better comprehension, acquisition and application through a variety of tests and other cognitive output. According to James Milton (2009) the diverse range of frequency and good exposure to lexical variety matter to the learning process of the language and comprehension of the diversity of foreign language. It also demonstrates how lexical performance and authority influence vocabulary acquisition. Milton's discussion in his book covers a wide range of vocabulary learning methods and means. It also emphasizes word knowledge, frequency, inflection and derivation, which provide a fantastic technique to know the vocabulary better.
This study investigates Moroccan secondary school EFL learners’ receptive vocabulary size. It also examines how these learners’ receptive vocabulary knowledge develops after one year of instruction. The study used Meara’s (2010) edition of EFL Yes/No vocabulary test. The test was administered to two secondary school grades: the Common Core and 2nd year of the baccalaureate over two different periods. The first test was administered in October to total number of 460 students. The second test was administered in May to total number of 408 students. The students who took both the first and the second test were from intact groups of different secondary schools which were randomly selected. The results of the study show that the pattern of vocabulary learning adheres, in general, to word frequency patterns. Except in band 3, in which learners always performed slightly better than band 2, learners’ knowledge slopes down from band 1 to band 4 for the Common Core and from band 1 to band 5 for 2nd year bac. (Bac2). In terms of vocabulary size, the Common Core learners have been found to start the school year with a vocabulary size of approximately 793 and ended with 982 words. The results, however, show that not all Common Core majors gained the same amounts of vocabulary. For Bac2 learners, the results of the present study show that these learners increased their receptive vocabulary from 1,516 words at the beginning of the year to 1,789 at the end of the year. This indicates that Moroccan secondary school learners end their secondary school with a receptive vocabulary size which is less than 2,000 words. All the three majors of Bac2 developed their vocabulary size, though they performed significantly differently. The results of the present study did not show any statistically significant effect of gender on learners’ receptive vocabulary size. Both males and females appeared to develop their receptive vocabulary size in very similar ways. Finally, learners’ reported access to/use of the internet, however, was found to have some effect on learners’ receptive vocabulary size. Learners who reported having access to/using the internet in English language learning performed significantly better than learners who reported that they don’t have access to the internet. Keywords: receptive vocabulary size; secondary school; frequency; grade; gender; major; English as a Foreign Language.
Vocabulary Size of Students and Its Relationship to English Language Performance
American Journal of Educational Research, 2022
This study aimed to identify the relationship of vocabulary size of students to their English language performance. The respondents of this study were taken from B1 Plus students of the English Language and Preparatory Year Institute, Jubail Industrial College-Royal Commission for Jubail. The study used the descriptive correlation research design to establish the relationship of the students' vocabulary size to their performance in English. Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) was used to measure the strength of relationship between the two variables-vocabulary size and English performance. Vocabulary Level Test, adapted from Nation (1990) [1], was used to measure vocabulary size, and the final mark result in B1 Plus was used for the English performance of students. Based on the findings, vocabulary size has no significant relationship to listening and speaking skills of students. However, vocabulary size has a significant relationship to reading and writing, grammar, e-learning, and overall English language performance of respondents.