Abstract
This paper investigates the role of bottom-up and top-down processing of Iraqi EFL learners’ vocabulary comprehension. The researcher conducts two vocabulary tests to university level students. The first test is the Academic Word List test that is used to assess bottom- up vocabulary comprehension while the second one is the Academic Vocabulary Size test that is employed to assess learners’ top-down vocabulary comprehension abilities and to find out whether proficient learners make use of the top-down approach to understand a specific lexical item more than the bottom-up approach. Analysis of the test scores reveals that the bottom-up group slightly outperforms the top-down group. The researcher concludes that employing a specific approach, whether top-down or bottom- up, depends on the level of proficiency and the nature of L2 vocabulary acquisition. The results also refute the aforementioned hypothesis of the study i.e. proficient learners make use of the top-down approach to understand a specific lexical item, while poor learners depend more on the bottom up approach to figure out the meaning of a given lexical item. The study further concludes that Iraqi EFL learners need an intensive and adequate training in top-down processing and bottom up processing to develop their comprehension skills.
Highlights
Comprehension is one of the subjects that are of crucial importance in measuring Iraqi EFL learners‟ proficiency and level of language development
Ranter and Gleason (1993:3) elaborate on the levels of interpretation i.e., and structural processing: The comprehension process is investigated at many levels, including investigation of how speech signals are interpreted by listeners, how the meanings of words are determined, how the grammatical structure of sentences is analysed to obtain larger units of meaning and how longer conversations or text are appropriately evaluated
The objective of this study is to find out which processing approach, bottom-up or top down, is more effective in vocabulary comprehension of Iraqi EFL learners
Summary
Comprehension is one of the subjects that are of crucial importance in measuring Iraqi EFL learners‟ proficiency and level of language development. Crystal (2003:97) gives a general definition of comprehension by focusing on the ability to interpret language. In order for successful language processing (comprehension) to take place, hearers sometimes start with the semantic representation of words and go through the abovementioned stages while other times they do the opposite and start with the context so as to comprehend the meaning. These two approaches will be illustrated (ibid.). In grammar, models which begin with morphemes or words are „bottom-up grammars‟; those which begin with sentence, clause, or some discourse unit are top-down grammars” (Crystal, 2003: 58)
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