Types of words identified as unknown by L2 learners when reading

Abstract

In determining which words are likely to cause problems for learners in reading, the computer-based lexical profiling of texts has become routine. This study investigates the nature of items marked as unknown by two groups of learners (n = 46) when reading, with reference to the assumptions behind lexical profiling. The first assumption, that less frequent items are likely to be unknown, is supported by the results in that significantly more low frequency words were marked as unknown. The second assumption, regarding the use of the word family as the unit of counting for lexical profiling, is shown to be problematic. A significantly greater proportion of the higher frequency words marked were found to be inflected or derived forms. The third assumption, that few problems stem from the fact that computers can only recognise strings of characters, may be warranted. Relatively few of the higher frequency words that were marked occurred in the reading texts in ways likely to be unfamiliar to the participants. The study thus concludes that in using computer-based profiling of texts to judge which words cause problems for learners, the primary issue is the use of the word family as the unit of counting.