Abstract
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.
Highlights
Vocabulary is essential for communication because, without a sufficiently large vocabulary, any successful communication is difficult to accomplish. Wilkins (1972) thought that “without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” (p. 111)
Because L2 learners believe that vocabulary is an important component of their language learning, most of their struggles in this area arise from their lack of vocabulary knowledge (VK) (Nation, 1990)
Pallant (2010) asserted that obtaining the “0” value rarely occurs in social sciences studies
Summary
Vocabulary is essential for communication because, without a sufficiently large vocabulary, any successful communication is difficult to accomplish. Wilkins (1972) thought that “without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” (p. 111). Vocabulary is essential for communication because, without a sufficiently large vocabulary, any successful communication is difficult to accomplish. Wilkins (1972) thought that “without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” Vocabulary acquisition is significant in foreign/second language (L2) use because it plays a pivotal role in the formation of successfully completed written and spoken texts. A lack of sufficient vocabulary knowledge (VK) makes understanding a text an impossible task (Nation, 2011). According to Cortazzi and Jin (1996), L2 learners mainly focus on acquiring vocabulary over other aspects of language learning. Because L2 learners believe that vocabulary is an important component of their language learning, most of their struggles in this area arise from their lack of VK (Nation, 1990)
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