Vocabulary Depth Research Articles

Relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension of South African EFAL high school learners

This paper is based on a study that used a quantitative method research design to investigate the impact of English academic vocabulary on the reading comprehension ability of Grade 11 English First Additional Language (EFAL) learners in the Fezile Dabi district of the Free State province, in South Africa. Three tests were administered, namely, a Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) which measured vocabulary breadth, and a Word Associate Test (WAT) which measured vocabulary depth and a reading comprehension test. The results obtained from the analysis of the data indicate that while both depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge played an important role in the participating learners' reading comprehension performance, depth of vocabulary knowledge seemed to be a better predictor of comprehension ability than breadth of vocabulary knowledge. The results further reveal that depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge are positively correlated.

Narrative dialogic reading with wordless picture books: A cluster-randomized intervention study

Shared reading has the potential to promote a wide range of language skills that are important for reading acquisition. Dialogic reading interventions in preschool facilitate the acquisition of vocabulary and narrative production skills, but it is unclear (a) whether dialogic reading can also foster inferential and literal narrative comprehension and (b) whether intervention effects are maintained until the beginning of formal reading instruction. To close these two gaps, we designed and conducted a low-dose narrative dialogic reading intervention with wordless picture books. On the child care center level, 201 German preschoolers (Mage = 5;5 years) were randomly assigned to the dialogic reading group, an alternative treatment group, or a no treatment group. Hierarchical linear models showed positive effects of dialogic reading on inferential and literal narrative comprehension and on vocabulary depth and breadth. The effect on inferential narrative comprehension was maintained five months after posttest. Overall, our findings indicate that even a small amount of narrative dialogic reading has small, albeit mostly short-term effects on narrative comprehension and vocabulary skills. We conclude that narrative dialogic reading is a promising approach for supporting the development of preschoolers’ inferential skills. Long-term intervention studies are needed for the evaluation of long-term effects.

Correlates of Listening Comprehension in L1 and L2: A Meta-analysis

The present meta-analysis aimed to explore the correlates of listening comprehension in first (L1) and second language (L2). In this regard, the overall average correlation scores, obtained from several primary studies retrieved from several databases, between linguistic (vocabulary size, vocabulary depth, syntactic knowledge), cognitive (working memory, metacognitive skills), and affective factors (anxiety and self-concept) and oral comprehension were measured. The results of the analysis revealed that in terms of strengths of association with listening comprehension, linguistic correlates were superior to cognitive correlates in L2 listening comprehension. There existed positive correlations with large effect sizes between vocabulary and grammar knowledge and listening comprehension while working memory yielded a positive correlation with a small effect size. Metacognitive skills, on the other hand, demonstrated a positive correlation with L2 listening comprehension with a large effect size. A similar pattern was observed in L1 listening comprehension with smaller strengths of association. Vocabulary and grammar knowledge yielded positive correlations with L1 listening comprehension and the effect size was medium while working memory weakly correlated with listening comprehension. An important distinction between L1 and L2 listening comprehension was observed in the affective domain. Anxiety and self-concept which were not reported to correlate with L1 listening comprehension were found to display large correlations with listening comprehension in L2. Overall, it was found that listening comprehension in both L1 and L2 is a multi-faceted process with different types of components involved.

Inference making in young children: The concurrent and longitudinal contributions of verbal working memory and vocabulary.

Inference making is fundamental to the construction of a coherent mental model of a text. We examined how vocabulary and verbal working memory relate to inference development concurrently and longitudinally in 4- to 9-year-olds. Four hundred and twenty pre-kindergartners completed oral assessments of inference making, vocabulary breadth, vocabulary depth, and verbal working memory each year until grade 3. Concurrently, hierarchical regressions revealed that a greater proportion of total variance in inference making was explained by vocabulary and verbal working memory for younger than older children. Vocabulary breadth was a stronger predictor of inference than verbal working memory but the opposite pattern was found for vocabulary depth and verbal working memory. The longitudinal relations between inference making, vocabulary and verbal working memory were investigated in two separate cross-lagged models: one with vocabulary breadth and a second with vocabulary depth. Both vocabulary breadth and depth explained subsequent inference making and verbal working memory throughout the early grades. Inference making also predicted subsequent vocabulary depth. The results highlight the critical role of vocabulary knowledge in the development of inference ability both within and across time, the importance of vocabulary in supporting the development of verbal working memory, and the changing dynamics between language and memory in early development.

The Impact of Vocabulary Depth and Breadth to the TOEFL Reading Subtest in IAIN Kediri

TOEFL has been provided as a standardized test to measure the English proficiency of non-native speakers. However, one thing should be considered that TOEFL is still a big challenge for non-native English learners, especially for EFL learners. This is one of the factors, related to how proficient the vocabulary knowledge which students have. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate to what extent the relation between vocabulary knowledge, breadth and depth, and TOEFL test, especially reading subtest session. Participants of this study were undergraduate English students who never took a TOEFL preparation course. To help analyze data, IBM SPSS 24 version with Spearman rank correlation analysis was used to make it more precise. The result of Spearman rank correlation analysis revealed that there was a significant correlation among the variables. This result supports some previous studies focusing on the same topic.

The Impact of Vocabulary Knowledge on the Reading Comprehension of Saudi EFL Learners

Vocabulary knowledge is the building block of learning a second language and the degree of success for learning any language depends on the amount of vocabulary a learner possesses. Vocabulary knowledge contributes to mastering language skills (reading, listening, writing, and speaking). Therefore, the present study aims at determining the role of vocabulary size in reading comprehension among Saudi EFL learners. The participants of this study included 64 male students who studied at the first level in the academic year 2018/2019 at King Khalid University. Both the Vocabulary Size Test developed by (Schmitt et al.) and reading comprehension test taken from the TOEFL preparation manual were used to collect the necessary data for the study. The results of the study revealed that the overall vocabulary size of Saudi EFL learners was 2025 word families. This amount helps students to comprehend 90% of written texts as pointed out by many researchers in this field. The results also showed a significant relationship between vocabulary size and reading comprehension. Vocabulary knowledge is an important predictor for comprehending written texts. The study provides some implications for educational stakeholders such as putting more emphasis on teaching vocabulary and using different teaching strategies that assist in the acquisition of vocabulary in general and academic vocabulary in particular. 
 Keywords: vocabulary knowledge; vocabulary depth; vocabulary breadth; reading comprehension; Saudi EFL learners.

Linear Mixed-Model Analysis to Examine Longitudinal Trajectories in Vocabulary Depth and Breadth in Children Who Are Hard of Hearing.

Purpose Children who are hard of hearing (CHH) tend to have reduced vocabularies compared to children with normal hearing (CNH). Prior research on vocabulary skills in children with hearing loss has focused primarily on their breadth of knowledge (how many words are known). Depth of vocabulary knowledge (how well words are known) is not well documented for CHH. The current study used linear mixed models (LMMs) to investigate growth trajectories of vocabulary depth and breadth in CHH relative to age-matched CNH. Method Participants for this study included 155 children (93 CHH, 62 CNH) enrolled in a longitudinal study. Examiners administered a standardized measure of vocabulary knowledge at ages 7, 8, and 9 years. We constructed multiple LMMs with fixed effects for group and age. The models included various combinations of random intercepts for subject and item and random slope for age. Results For depth, CHH showed significant and stable deficits compared to CNH over time. For breadth, CNH showed greater vocabulary breadth, but the group differences diminished with age. For CHH, higher aided audibility, age, and maternal educational level were associated with greater vocabulary breadth and depth. Age at hearing aid fitting was not. Conclusions A major advantage of using LMM is that it allowed us to cope with missing data points while still accounting for variability within and across participants. Assessment of both vocabulary breadth and depth may be useful in identifying school-age CHH who are at risk of delays in language outcomes.

The Role of Vocabulary vs. Syntactic Knowledge in L2 Reading Comprehension

Research in literature reports the importance of L2 vocabulary and syntactic knowledge on the learners’ reading comprehension. In this regard, the current study investigated the role of vocabulary knowledge that is disunited into depth and breadth dimensions and syntactic knowledge in the reading comprehension scores of an advanced cohort of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. In particular, this study examined the relationship of vocabulary knowledge (with its two dimensions) and syntactic knowledge with reading comprehension scores of 30 Turkish EFL learners and the extent to which these knowledge types explain the variance in reading comprehension scores. Measures of vocabulary breadth, vocabulary depth, syntactic knowledge and reading comprehension were used. The data analysis procedure included the descriptive statistics, Pearson product-moment correlations and multiple regression analysis. The results showed that the depth of vocabulary knowledge predicts the L2 reading comprehension the best when the effect of vocabulary size and syntactic knowledge is controlled. These findings are discussed at the end of the study with future research suggestions and limitations.

4 - 6 Yaş Grubu Çocuklar İçin Sözcük Derinliği Testinin Geliştirilmesi

The purpose of this study is to develop a Vocabulary Depth Test (VDT), which assesses the depth trait of the semantic knowledge and to analyze the vocabulary depth performance of the typically developing children aged between 4 and 6. It is based on a cross-sectional design. In the designation of the study group, stratified sampling included in random sampling is used at the first stage and 3 schools from lower, medium and higher socio-economic level are designated. The study group contains in total 201 children who attend public or private pre-school education institutions in Izmir. The VDT contains 24 question words in syntagmatic relations, meronymy and paradigmatic relations in total presented in third sections with eight questions in each and all the illustrated question words in VDT, corresponding to one correct answer included in four alternatives in total, are presented verbally. The results obtained show that there is a developmental order from the words with syntagmatic relations to words with paradigmatic relations. When the VDT performances of children at different socio-economic levels are considered, there is a significant difference in the average of the children from lower socio-economic level when compared to those from medium or higher socio-economic level.

Breadth or depth: the role of vocabulary in Chinese English-Language beginning writers’ development

ABSTRACT This study examines the relationship between developing writer’s vocabulary breadth, vocabulary depth, and writing abilities. Participants were EFL Chinese junior-high students, of whom there were 120 Grade 8 and 147 Grade 9 students. Measures included tests of vocabulary size, word association, and morphological awareness. Students’ writing samples were coded with a five-point rubric covering six categories: focus and idea generation, organization, word choice, grammar, sentence fluency, and length of writing samples. Standard multiple regression analyses showed that vocabulary breadth made a bigger contribution to writing performance among the EFL 8th and 9th graders, whether the outcome variable was the overall writing quality or individual groups of scoring components. In addition, some aspects of vocabulary depth such as adjective synonyms were only related to the 9th graders’ writing performance, suggesting that depth of vocabulary may exert a growing impact on EFL learners’ writing development. These findings support the need for systematic vocabulary instruction in EFL classrooms, as it can optimize the strong relationship between vocabulary breadth and depth and their impact on writing development.

Empirical Research on Construction of Flipped Classroom Model for Vocabulary Teaching

To Measure its effectiveness, the flipped classroom model of vocabulary teaching was constructed. A 16-week teaching practice illustrated that the flipped classroom teaching strategy can facilitate improvements in vocabulary teaching, especially on the depth of vocabulary.

The effect of lexical inference strategy instruction on Iranian EFL learners’ vocabulary depth and breadth

The current study was an attempt to investigate the possible effects of lexical inference strategy training on Iranian upper-intermediate EFL learners’ vocabulary depth and breadth. This quasi-expe...

Probing the depths: Can both size and depth of productive vocabulary predict academic performance?

This study investigates the link between breadth (or size) and depth of vocabulary knowledge, and the relationship between the latter and academic proficiency. Breadth of vocabulary knowledge was measured using a productive version of the Vocabulary Levels Test (Laufer & Nation, 1995), while depth was operationalised by productive knowledge of collocations. A small sample of 60 university students of English whose examination scores were closest to the 25 th , 50 th and 75 th percentiles was selected. Relationships were determined between breadth of vocabulary knowledge and depth of vocabulary knowledge on the one hand, and between depth of vocabulary knowledge and academic proficiency (represented by examination scores) on the other. While a relationship between breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge was found, suggesting a link between smaller vocabulary size and the production of deviant multiword units for the group as a whole, the relationship between depth of vocabulary knowledge and academic performance was not proved conclusively. It should, however, be kept in mind that numbers were relatively small. Further investigations using larger samples might find a more robust relationship.

Measuring Breadth and Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge of Chinese EFL Learners at Different Learning Stages

An updated Vocabulary Levels Test and an updated Word Associates Test are conducted to measure the breadth and depth of vocabulary Knowledge of Chinese EFL learners from junior middle school to senior middle school to college respectively in this research. The ANOVA analyses of the test results show that Chinese learners’ breadth knowledge at any learning stage is insufficient and does not meet the requirements of corresponding English teaching syllabus although there is significant development from junior middle school to senior middle school to college. With the rise of learning stages, the difference of the acquisition of lower level words gradually disappears and the difference of higher level words appears. Compared to breadth knowledge, Chinese learners perform worse in the test of depth of vocabulary knowledge. Although there is a significant rise from lower stages to higher stages, the development of depth of vocabulary knowledge is very slow and dissatisfied. The main reason for it is that Chinese students value the expansion of vocabulary size and neglect the establishment of semantic and collocational relationship among words. The results of the Pearson correlation analysis show that there is little correlation between Chinese learners’ breadth of vocabulary knowledge and depth of vocabulary knowledge.

The Effect of Learning Environments on Thai Speakers' English L2 Vocabulary Depth

The Effect of Learning Environments on Thai Speakers' English L2 Vocabulary Depth

A Study of Relationship Between Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge and Semantic Set in Iranian EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Used in Writing

This study investigated the Relationship between Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge and Semantic Set in Iranian EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Used in Writing. The purpose of this study was to see the role of depth of vocabulary knowledge in making appropriate choices among words in a semantic set in EFL learners’ writing performance. 70 lower-intermediate and upper-intermediate learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) from the language learners of English institute in Bandar Abbas, Iran participated in this study. Instruments for the data collection include Word Association Test (WAT), Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS), and four writing tests. In the first phase, using MANOVA statistical procedure for data analysis, the role of depth of vocabulary knowledge in writing performance and appropriate use of words in a semantic set in overall writing quality was investigated. The second part of the study attempted to explore the role of appropriate use of words in a semantic set in the participants’ overall writing performance using independent sample t-test. Finally, attempts were made to identify the role of depth of vocabulary knowledge and appropriate use of words in a semantic set in the overall use of words in the participants’ writings using a two-way ANOVA as the data analysis technique. The results of the data analysis provided empirical evidence supporting that: a) depth of vocabulary knowledge played a fundamental role in appropriate use of words in a semantic set in lower-intermediate level but not in upper-intermediate level, b) depth of vocabulary knowledge has a significant role in overall writing performance only in upper-intermediate level, c) using words appropriately in a semantic set played a significant role in writing performance of the lower-intermediate participants, while the opposite was revealed for the upper-intermediate group, d) the upper-intermediate learners could benefit from their knowledge of depth of vocabulary in using words, in general, correctly and appropriately. The findings promise some pedagogical implications for vocabulary and writing curriculum development, material development, and course designing.

Examining second language vocabulary growth: Replications of Schmitt (1998) and Webb & Chang (2012)

There has been extensive research in the last 20 years on the effectiveness of different instructional interventions and learning conditions on the acquisition of vocabulary. However, very few attempts have been made to explore how vocabulary knowledge develops over time. This paper argues for the need to conduct more longitudinal studies on vocabulary learning and teaching and provides suggestions for important replication studies in the area. In particular, this paper calls for the replication of the studies by Schmitt (1998) and Webb & Chang (2012). Unlike most studies on vocabulary learning and teaching, these two follow a longitudinal approach and study vocabulary growth from two main perspectives, i.e. the development of vocabulary depth and vocabulary breadth. The approximate replications suggested here would constitute an important contribution to the field of vocabulary learning and teaching.

Success in learning similar-sounding words predicts vocabulary depth above and beyond vocabulary breadth.

In lexical development, the specificity of phonological representations is important. The ability to build phonologically specific lexical representations predicts the number of words a child knows (vocabulary breadth), but it is not clear if it also fosters how well words are known (vocabulary depth). Sixty-six children were studied in kindergarten (age 5;7) and first grade (age 6;8). The predictive value of the ability to learn phonologically similar new words, phoneme discrimination ability, and phonological awareness on vocabulary breadth and depth were assessed using hierarchical regression. Word learning explained unique variance in kindergarten and first-grade vocabulary depth, over the other phonological factors. It did not explain unique variance in vocabulary breadth. Furthermore, even after controlling for kindergarten vocabulary breadth, kindergarten word learning still explained unique variance in first-grade vocabulary depth. Skill in learning phonologically similar words appears to predict knowledge children have about what words mean.

Literature Review of the Breadth and Depth of Vocabulary

As the basic element of language, vocabulary is the cornerstone of language communication. However, the majority of English learners just remember vocabulary by rote-learning and could not put them into practical use. As a result, their efficiency in vocabulary learning is still not unsatisfactory. Many effective approaches have been proposed in the foreign language teaching field so as to enhance L2 learners’ English Proficiency. This paper aims at exploring the essence of the breadth and depth of vocabulary for the sake of promoting learners’ competence of vocabulary learning.

Lexical Frequency Effect on Reading Comprehension and Recall

The present study investigates the effect of lexical difficulty, as measured by frequency, on reading comprehension and recall. It also estimates the relationship between vocabulary size, vocabulary depth, reading comprehension, and recall. To this end, 80 English as a foreign language (EFL) undergraduate university students are administered three standardized instruments including two vocabulary tests and a reading comprehension test. The latter comprises two similar passages (in terms of length and topic) one of which is adjusted by replacing 18% of its words by their low-frequent synonyms, and both passages are estimated lexically to measure their difficulty. Paired samples t-test results show that comprehension and recall are significantly low (p<.001) in the modified passage. This finding further confirms that lexical frequency measure is an effective estimate in determining reading material difficulty. Furthermore, for the second objective, Pearson product-moment analysis reveals a significantly high correlation between size and comprehension, a moderate to low correlation between depth and comprehension, and a moderate correlation between depth and recall tasks. Consequently, the study sugguests estimating the complexity of EFL reading academic material with lexical difficulty measure using frequency criterion to cope with students’ reading deficiencies, and encourage explicit lexical instructions at EFL undergraduate university levels mainly.