Stuart Webb

RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE VOCABULARY LEARNING: The Effects of Reading and Writing on Word Knowledge

This study investigates the effects of receptive and productive vocabulary learning on word knowledge. Japanese students studying English as a foreign language learned target words in three glossed sentences and in a sentence production task in two experiments. Five aspects of vocabulary knowledge—orthography, syntax, association, grammatical functions, and meaning and form—were each measured by receptive and productive tests. The study uses an innovative methodology in that each target word was tested in 10 different ways. The first experiment showed that, when the same amount of time was spent on both tasks, the reading task was superior. The second experiment showed that, when the allotted time on tasks depends on the amount of time needed for completion, with the writing task requiring more time, the writing task was more effective. If the second experiment represents authentic learning, then a stronger argument can be made to use productive vocabulary learning tasks over receptive tasks. I wish to acknowledge the generous input of the following people in the evolution of this paper: Paul Nation, Jonathan Newton, and Jim Dickie from Victoria University of Wellington, and the anonymous SSLA reviewers, for their helpful comments.

RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE VOCABULARY SIZES OF L2 LEARNERS

This study investigated the relationship between receptive and productive vocabulary size. The experimental design expanded upon earlier methodologies by using equivalent receptive and productive test formats with different receptive and productive target words to provide more accurate results. Translation tests were scored at two levels of sensitivity to measure receptive and productive knowledge of meaning and form. The results showed that total receptive vocabulary size was larger than productive vocabulary. When responses were scored for fuller knowledge, receptive vocabulary size was also found to be greater than productive vocabulary size in each of three word frequency bands, with the difference between receptive and productive knowledge increasing as the frequency of the words decreased. However, when responses were scored for partial knowledge, there was little difference among vocabulary sizes at each frequency band. The findings also indicated that receptive vocabulary size might give some indication of productive vocabulary size. Learners who have a larger receptive vocabulary are likely to know more of those words productively than learners who have a smaller receptive vocabulary.

Learning Word Pairs and Glossed Sentences: The Effects of a Single Context on Vocabulary Knowledge.

Previous research investigating the effects of contextualized and decontextualized tasks on vocabulary learning has focused on whether or not learners were able to gain knowledge of meaning and form. To date, research has generated little evidence indicating that context facilitates vocabulary learning. Decontextualized tasks tend to be equally or more effective than contextualized tasks at promoting knowledge of meaning and form. However, aspects of knowledge that would seem more likely to be gained through learning from context have rarely been measured. The present study examined the effects of context on grammatical functions, syntagmatic association, paradigmatic association, orthography, and meaning and form. Japanese EFL students learned target words in word pairs and a single glossed sentence. To measure the effects of each task on vocabulary learning each target word was tested in 10 different ways. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the scores of subjects who met target words in a single glossed sentence and those who learned word pairs. This suggests that a single glossed sentence context may have little effect on vocabulary knowledge. The effects each task had on the different aspects of vocabulary knowledge are discussed in detail.

The Effects of Receptive and Productive Learning of Word Pairs on Vocabulary Knowledge

■ English as a foreign language students in Japan learned target words in word pairs receptively and productively. Five aspects of vocabulary knowledge — orthography, association, syntax, grammatical functions, and meaning and form — were each measured by receptive and productive tests. The study uses an innovative methodology in that each target word was tested in ten different ways. The results showed that the direction of learning had a significant effect on the type and amount of knowledge gained. Productive learning led to larger gains in both receptive and productive knowledge of orthography, and productive knowledge of meaning, syntax, and grammatical functions. In contrast, receptive learning led to larger gains in receptive knowledge of meaning. The findings suggest that if only one method is used, productive learning of word pairs might be more effective. The effects of each learning task on the different aspects of vocabulary knowledge are discussed in detail.

Second Language Vocabulary Growth

The vocabulary knowledge of 166 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in Taiwan was measured annually over a five year period using a bilingual version of the Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) (Nation, 1983, 1990; Schmitt, Schmitt, and Clapham, 2001). The five years of data collection involved English language instruction in high school and university. Test scores were examined according to the amount of English language instruction the participants received. The results indicated that one group of participants learned as few as 18 words in one year, while another group learned as many as 430 words. The findings also revealed that in the final year of the study only 47% of the participants had mastered the 1,000 word level, and 16% had mastered the 2,000 word level. The results suggest that vocabulary learning within the institution could be greatly improved. Key features of a vocabulary learning plan within institutions are outlined.

Gauging the effects of exercises on verb–noun collocations:

Many contemporary textbooks for English as a foreign language (EFL) and books for vocabulary study contain exercises with a focus on collocations, with verb–noun collocations (e.g. make a mistake) being particularly popular as targets for collocation learning. Common exercise formats used in textbooks and other pedagogic materials require learners to establish appropriate matches between sets of verbs and nouns. However, matching exercises almost inevitably carry a risk of erroneous connections, and despite corrective feedback these might leave undesirable traces in the learner’s memory. We report four small-scale trials (total n = 135) in which the learning gains obtained from verb–noun matching exercises are compared with the learning gains obtained from a format in which the target collocations are presented to the learners as intact wholes. Pre-test to post-test gains turned out small in all of the conditions, owing in part to the learners’ substitution of initially correct choices by distracters from the exercises. The latter, negative side-effect was attested more often in the matching exercises than in the exercises where the learners worked with collocations as intact wholes.

New Directions In Vocabulary Testing

There have been great strides made in research on vocabulary in the last 30 years. However, there has been relatively little progress in the development of new vocabulary tests. This may be due in some degree to the impressive contributions made by tests such as the Vocabulary Levels Test (Nation, 1983; Schmitt et al., 2001) and the Word Associates Test (Read, 1993, 1998). In this report, an argument is made that there is a need for the development of new vocabulary tests. The justification for the development of new tests will be discussed and four new tests that are in different stages of development will be briefly introduced. The first two expand on the contributions of the Vocabulary Levels Test. One is a new version of the Vocabulary Levels Test and the other measures knowledge of the different sublists of Coxhead’s (2000) Academic Word List. The second two tests measure a different aspect of vocabulary knowledge, vocabulary learning proficiency. The Guessing from Context Test was designed to measure the ability to guess words in context and the Word Part Levels Test measures knowledge of affixes.

Second language vocabulary learning through extensive reading with audio support: How do frequency and distribution of occurrence affect learning?

This study investigated (1) the extent of vocabulary learning through reading and listening to 10 graded readers, and (2) the relationship between vocabulary gain and the frequency and distribution of occurrence of 100 target words in the graded readers. The experimental design expanded on earlier studies that have typically examined incidental vocabulary learning from individual texts. Sixty-one Taiwanese participants studied English as a foreign language (EFL) in an extensive reading program or in a more traditional approach structured around a global English course book. A pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest were administered to all participants. The results indicated that vocabulary gains through reading and listening to multiple texts were high. Relative gains were 44.06% after reading the 10 graded readers and 36.66% three months later. The relationships between vocabulary learning and frequency and distribution of occurrence were found to be non-significant, indicating that frequency was perhaps one of many factors that affected learning.

How Does Prior Word Knowledge Affect Vocabulary Learning Progress in an Extensive Reading Program

Sixty English as a foreign language learners were divided into high-, intermediate-, and low-level groups based on their scores on pretests of target vocabulary and Vocabulary Levels Test scores. The participants read 10 Level 1 and 10 Level 2 graded readers over 37 weeks during two terms. Two sets of 100 target words were chosen from each set of graded readers and were tested on three occasions. The results showed that the relative gains from pretest to immediate posttest were 63.18%, 44.64%, and 28.12% for the high-, intermediate-, and low-level groups, respectively. There was little decay in knowledge on the Term 1 three-month delayed posttest; relative gains ranged from 21.05% for the low-level group to 59.01% for the high-level group. The learning gains in Term 2 were consistent with those from Term 1. The results indicate that prior vocabulary knowledge may have a large impact on the amount of vocabulary learning made through extensive reading.

Lexical profiles of comprehensible second language speech: the role of appropriateness, fluency, variation, sophistication, abstractness and sense relations

This study examined contributions of lexical factors to native-speaking raters’ assessments of comprehensibility (ease of understanding) of second language (L2) speech. Extemporaneous oral narratives elicited from 40 French speakers of L2 English were transcribed and evaluated for comprehensibility by 10 raters. Subsequently, the samples were analyzed for 12 lexical variables targeting diverse domains of lexical usage (appropriateness, fluency, variation, sophistication, abstractness, and sense relations). For beginner-to-intermediate speakers, comprehensibility was related to basic uses of L2 vocabulary (fluent and accurate use of concrete words). For intermediate-to-advanced speakers, comprehensibility was linked to sophisticated uses of L2 lexis (morphologically accurate use of complex, less familiar, polysemous words). These findings, which highlight complex associations between lexical variables and L2 comprehensibility, suggest that improving comprehensibility requires attention to multiple lexical domains of L2 performance.