Exploring the relationships between various dimensions of receptive vocabulary knowledge and L2 listening and reading comprehension

Hung Tan Ha

doi:10.1186/s40468-021-00131-8

Abstract

The article presents an empirical study that investigates the single- and cross-modality relationships between different dimensions of receptive vocabulary knowledge and language skills, as well as the importance of academic vocabulary knowledge in academic listening and reading comprehension. An Updated Vocabulary Levels Test (UVLT), a Vietnamese version of the Listening Vocabulary Levels Test (LVLT), an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) listening test and an academic IELTS reading test were administered to 234 tertiary level Vietnamese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). Research findings showed that (1) orthographic and aural vocabulary knowledge were strongly correlated (r = .88) and of equal significance to L2 listening and reading comprehension, (2) receptive vocabulary knowledge was a very powerful and reliable predictor of learners’ receptive language proficiency, (3) knowledge of academic vocabulary strongly correlated with academic listening (r = .65) and reading (r = .60) comprehension and the mastery of the Academic Word List (AWL) could suggest a band score 6.0 in both the IELTS listening and academic reading tests.

Highlights

Background of the studyVocabulary is a fundamental aspect of language (Nation, 2006, 2013; Webb, 2020)
Results from the analyses indicated that students’ scores on the academic level in the Levels Test (LVLT) could predict up to 42% and 35% of the variance in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) listening and reading test scores correspondingly
The analyses found that the correlations between knowledge of the 1000- and 5000-word levels and academic listening comprehension were lower than the correlation between the IELTS listening test scores and students’ scores on the whole LVLT

Summary

Introduction

Background of the studyVocabulary is a fundamental aspect of language (Nation, 2006, 2013; Webb, 2020). Most discussions in the field of vocabulary study concluded that in order to gain adequate comprehension in reading and listening, the learners should be familiar with at least 95% and preferably 98% of the running words in the text (Laufer, 2013; Nation, 2006; Schmitt et al, 2011). Regarding the relationship between lexical coverage and comprehension, two things have been repeatedly suggested, the first one is that 98% is the desirable threshold for adequate comprehension while 95% is only the acceptable threshold for minimal comprehension (Hu & Nation, 2000; Laufer & RavenhorstKalovski, 2010). The second suggestion is that the 98% coverage can only be considered to be the requirement for optimal reading comprehension and that the same threshold should not be applied to listening comprehension (Laufer & Ravenhorst-Kalovski, 2010; van Zeeland & Schmitt, 2013)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion