Vocabulary Level Research Articles

Aural vocabulary, orthographic vocabulary, and listening comprehension

Abstract Vocabulary is a key variable to successful listening comprehension. Research has explored the relationship between aural and orthographic vocabularies and listening comprehension. This current study examined the relationships among aural vocabulary, orthographic vocabulary, and listening comprehension within the same Japanese cohort in an integrated manner. The test data of 155 Japanese EFL students, who took identical aural and orthographic vocabulary tests (the listening vocabulary levels test [LVLT] and new vocabulary levels test [NVLT], respectively) and a high-stakes listening test (Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) for Parts I and II), were analyzed. The results indicated that aural and orthographic vocabulary are closely related but not identical. Moreover, orthographic vocabulary is more connected to the word- and propositional-level understanding of extended texts than to aural vocabulary for the Japanese group. More specifically, the 2,000-word and 4,000-word level and the academic vocabulary of the orthographic vocabulary predicted 27% of the variance of the listening comprehension test performance, whereas only the academic words of the aural vocabulary predicted 8%.

The linguosophy of the opposition “own — foreign” in the texts of the period of Russian-Ukrainian war

The article carries out a cognitive-textual analysis of artistic (mainly poetic and song) and journalistic texts of 2022 — the beginning of 2023, primarily taking into account their nature as linguistic imprints of today’s objective reality and linguistic consciousness of Ukrainians. It was determined that the contrast between one’s own and another’s as­sessments occurs most clearly in the thematic segments language, space, society. It has been established that in the conditions of Russian aggression, the evaluations of “own” and “foreign” are sharply polarized: the linguistic description of “own” takes place in the coordinates of heroization, on the other hand, the language strategy of de­humanization is maximally actualized in relation to “foreign”. The potentially neutral semantic zone “another” (as an intermediate, connecting link between “own” and “fo­reign”) in the texts of the war is leveled, erased. Within the framework of the analysis of the thematic segment “language”, it is em­phasized that in 2022 there was a radical expansion of the Ukrainian-speaking com­municative space. This expansion is motivated by the awareness of the importance of language as a symbol of national identity. Axiological polarization in assessments of one’s space (Ukraine — Russia) and so­ciety (Ukrainians — Russians) is manifested at the level of vocabulary, phraseology, grammar, trope creation. Keywords: linguosophy, opposition “own — foreign”, war texts, evaluability, time-marked axio­logical norm.

Integrating Coding and Artificial Intelligence in English Language Teaching: A Study at Cihan University-Duhok

Coding and language acquisition are highly valued in the present world, not only in the educational system but also in daily life and earning a living. In terms of Artificial intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Deep Learning, etc., coding is becoming more and more integrated into daily life. Applying coding to increase the visualization of English learning by smart systems employing AI in the classroom, in the context of English Language Teaching (ELT), may have a significant influence on how students learn. Any civilization needs language to facilitate social interaction because it allows people to communicate their ideas, opinions, and feelings to others while also advancing their knowledge. English is a language that everyone may use to communicate with one another. As a result of the growing tendency of linguistic globalization, bilingualism is becoming a fairly common phenomenon in today's world. This paper will investigate the potential effects of coding on undergraduate students' academic performance and English language comprehension. It tries to assess both levels of learning English and vocabulary by coding using the survey data by SPSS. Additionally, it will make an effort to link the teacher's study level and outside-the-classroom teaching methods. A thorough literature review has been done and a research gap has been found. Then for the study, 60 undergraduate students from the Department of English, Cihan University- Duhok were chosen, and they were requested to take a pre-test to gauge their level of English proficiency. Additionally, the faculty were picked to gauge how easy it was for the students to grasp the language. After introducing coding and smart systems into the learning process, a post-test was conducted, and the outcomes were evaluated. The AI and smart system in the ELT can enhance the way and interest of learning. This study has led to the conclusion that coding can be added to ELT to enhance learning.

EXPLORING STUDENTS` VOCABULARY LEVEL

The objective of this research is to identify the vocabulary level of grade VIII students at SMP Al-Azhar Mandiri Palu. This research is descriptive qualitative method which the results are tabulated and described. Data collection techniques are test and interview. The steps to analyze the data are to calculate the average score of each level and then the percentage of the average score. The results show that the percentage of average score on 2000 word level is 83.6%, 3000 word level is 81%, 5000 word level is 63%, 10000 word level is 21.6% and AWL (Academic Word List) is 77%. In conclusion, the grade VIII students at SMP Al-Azhar Mandiri Palu mastery vocabulary in high frequency word at 2000 and 3000 words level. The vocabulary most students have is nouns.

Measuring the Academic Vocabulary Size of University Students in Nepal

Students’ knowledge of academic vocabulary is a crucial aspect of learning English as a second or foreign language at the university level. Using academic vocabulary lists could be a valuable resource in teaching and learning vocabulary. This study measured the academic vocabulary size of Nepalese university students using Schmitt’s (2010) Academic Vocabulary Level Test Version 2 as a data collection tool. The participants were 62 adult EFL students. The data were collected online via Google Forms. The results showed that the average academic vocabulary size of the students was 435 (76.3%) words out of 570 word-families in the academic vocabulary word list. The results also showed that the students had heterogeneous knowledge with varying degree of academic vocabulary achievement (M = 22.02, SD= 8.6 and Coefficient of Variation = 39.1%). The results of the study suggest that English education students at the university level in Nepal need explicit instruction, concentration, and practice to gain mastery over academic vocabulary with less variation of knowledge in their academic vocabulary achievement.

Integration of Virtual Reality (VR) Technology into Vocabulary Teaching in Primary School English Lessons

Language consists of words, so it is important to increase the level of vocabulary in any foreign language learning to a certain extent in order to be able to communicate in that language. As for VR, it is seen that this technology is a new research field in education, the use of which in language teaching is closely related to the principle of proximity to life, one of teaching principles. While learning a foreign language, learners should experience situational learning experiences, recognize real-life contexts, and be able to use the language communicatively in these environments, which is a difficult goal to be attained by 2nd-grade primary school students who have not yet reached full proficiency in their native language but started learning a foreign one. In this direction, this study, a pre-test – post-test research with the control group, examined VR’s effect on vocabulary levels and student engagement. The study was conducted in the English lessons of 2nd-grade students from six of the state primary schools in the central district of Çanakkale, Turkey. The results indicated that instruction with VR did not show any significant difference in vocabulary levels compared to current teaching method but encouraged more student engagement in the classroom. Although more extensive research into the topic is essential, it is hoped that the study will shed light on future research on the use of VR technology, which still has leeway to progress and may form the basis of future education in the coming years.

Cochlear Implants or Hearing Aids: Speech Perception, Language, and Executive Function Outcomes.

We aimed to determine whether children with severe hearing loss (HL) who use hearing aids (HAs) may experience added value in the perception of speech, language development, and executive function (EF) compared to children who are hard of hearing (HH) or children who are deaf and who use cochlear implants (CIs) and would benefit from CIs over HAs. The results contribute to the ongoing debate concerning CI criteria. We addressed the following research question to achieve this aim: Do children who are HH or deaf with CIs perform better than children with severe HL with HAs with respect to auditory speech perception, and receptive vocabulary and/or EF? We compared two groups of children with severe HL, profound HL or deafness, with CIs or HAs, matched for gender, test age (range, 8 to 15 years), socioeconomic status, and nonverbal intelligence quotient. Forty-three children had CIs (pure-tone average at 2000 and 4000 Hz >85 dB HL), and 27 children had HAs (mean pure-tone average: 69 dB HL). We measured speech perception at the conversational level (65 dB SPL) and the soft speech perception level (45 dB SPL). We established receptive vocabulary using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III-NL. We tested EF using the Delis Kaplan Executive Function System battery and the Dutch Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. We employed the Mann-Whitney U test to compare data between the CI and HA groups. We used Chi-square goodness of fit tests to contrast the CI and HA group distributions with the norm data of children who are typically developing (TD). We harnessed Kendall's Tau-b to investigate relationships between the study variables. Both groups of children, with CIs and Has, obtained ceiling scores for perception of speech on a conversational level. However, the HA group exhibited significantly lower perception on a soft speech level scores (68 %) than the CI group (87%). No difference was present between the receptive vocabulary distributions of the CI and HA groups. The median receptive vocabulary standard scores for both groups were well within the normal range (CI group: 93; HA group: 96). In addition, we did not find any difference in EF between the CI and HA groups. For planning and verbal memory, the distributions of observed scores for children with CIs were different from the expected distributions of children who are TD. In both groups, a large proportion of children obtained below-average scores for planning (CI: 44%; HA: 33%) and for long-term verbal memory (CI: 44%; HA: 35%). In the HA group, perception at a soft speech level was associated with receptive vocabulary and planning. In the CI group, we did not find any associations. Both groups of children with severe and profound HL with HAs exhibit less favorable auditory perception on the soft speech level, but not at a conversational level, compared to children who are HH or deaf with CIs. Both groups, children with CIs and HAs, only exhibit more problems in planning and verbal memory than the norm groups of children who are TD. The results indicate that to obtain age-appropriate levels of receptive vocabulary and EF, the perception at the soft speech level is a necessary but not sufficient prerequisite.

Video game play as a meaningful online social activity – a virtual zone for integrative L2 learning and practice

The video game play provides meaningful social interactions through which the participants’ vocabulary can frequently benefit because it utilizes both implicit and explicit learning occasions. The play carries phrases, necessity of communication and task completion where there is an emerging opportunity of integrative learning. Grammar may be deduced from practicing sentence patterns which thus can be anchored into one’s lexicon. Following the latest research data, we attempt to find an answer to which type of video game presents an effective environment for vocabulary acquisition. In our study, we compared 646 video gamer students from five Hungarian secondary schools who completed a receptive vocabulary levels test. It was proven that the action video games have the most significant effect on the participant’s lexical advancement.

IMPROVE STUDENTS' ENGLISH VOCABULARY WITH THE MEMRISE MOBILE APPLICATION

Developing learner’s vocabulary is one of the most important keys to learning English because vocabulary is the foundation of learning English. With Internet, students have many opportunities to use online tools to apply advanced skills and expand their vocabulary. Recently, with the proliferation of devices, the possibility of Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) is being considered. This research is based on Mnemonics, a vocabulary building application. The authors also investigated changes in the vocabulary levels of English learners in foreign language schools and their attitudes towards using the mobile app to improve their vocabulary. Additionally, our research shows how students rate the quality of their apps. Furthermore, the article provides specific advice on using her Memrise for students with different levels of English.

Prosodic Transfer in English Literacy Skills among Chinese Elementary-Age Students: Controlling for Non-Verbal Intelligence.

Building upon the prosodic transfer hypothesis, the current study aims to examine the intermediary effect of English stress on the relation between Chinese lexical tone awareness and English word-level literacy (reading and spelling) as well as the moderating effect of English oral vocabulary proficiency on the cross-linguistic association. Grade 4 Chinese learners of English (N = 224) participated in this study and were assessed for their tone and stress sensitivity, English oral vocabulary, English word reading, and English word spelling. Mediated multivariate analyses with moderation were used to explore: (1) whether the influence of lexical tone perception on L2 word reading and spelling was mediated by English stress as posited in the prosodic transfer hypothesis; (2) whether the effects of tone on English word reading and spelling performance varied as a function of oral vocabulary levels. The findings revealed a direct positive relationship between Chinese tone and English word reading and spelling, and the relationship was mediated by English stress awareness. Furthermore, the direct pathway from tone to English word-level literacy skills were moderated by oral vocabulary and the relationship between tone and English word-level skills became stronger as oral vocabulary levels increased; however, such strength reached a plateau among children without adequate oral vocabulary skills. These findings suggest the necessity to incorporate word spelling as an outcome in the cross-suprasegmental phonological transfer models of early literacy development. Additionally, the current study endorses the complexity of cross-language prosodic transfer. It points to a precise threshold for sufficient L2 oral vocabulary skills to enable tone transfer in English word-level literacy attainment.

Valoda Artura Heniņa vēsturiskajos romānos: teksta arhaizācija un stilizācija

The article aims to reveal the characteristic traits of the language in historical novels by Arturs Heniņš and characterise the role and means of archaization of the texts. Four novels of the sandhills cycle, historical novels about Riga of the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century („Es, smilšu kalnu jātnieks” (2002), „Smilšu kalnu virpuļos” (2003), „Pastardiena smilšu kalnos” (2005) un „Smilšu pulkstenī birst cits laiks” (2012)) and the novel „Teiksma par Kursas Dižmežu” (2006), a historical fantasy about ancient Kursa. Desriptive method has been used. It has been concluded that all novels are written in a comparatively intensively archaized language, mostly on the level of vocabulary in order to characterise the novels’ setting. However, the language of the sand hills cycle is significantly disparate from the language of „Teiksma par Kursas Dižmežu” because the language in the sandhill cycle is created by imitating the language of the press and fiction, but in the historical fantasy, the language imitates that of the Latvian folklore.

The Impact of Morphological Awareness Intervention in Enhancing L2 Postgraduate Students’ Productive Vocabulary Breadth

The significance of vocabulary knowledge in academic development and having a sufficient vocabulary in language learning cannot be overstated. Research has shown that postgraduate students studying English as a second language (L2) lack vocabulary and require improving it. This research study was conducted to investigate the role of morphological awareness and its relation to productive vocabulary breadth and explore the function of teaching L2 postgraduate students in intervention for improving their productive vocabulary breadth. Thirty L2 postgraduate participants were involved in an intervention. The intervention included 11 sessions of morphological awareness instructions. The students’ morphological awareness was tested using the Morphological Identification Test (MIT) and the Morphological Structure Awareness Test (MSAT), while productive vocabulary breadth was tested using the Productive Vocabulary Level Test (PVLT). A significant relationship was found between morphological awareness and productive vocabulary breadth. The synthetic aspect of morphological awareness was more closely related to the participants’ productive vocabulary breadth than the analytic aspect. The morphological awareness intervention was effective and beneficial in increasing the students’ productive vocabulary breadth. The results may indicate the benefits of teaching and learning morphology to L2 postgraduate students, especially for effective vocabulary building.

EVALUATION OF CONTEXTUAL CLUES: EFL PROFICIENCY IN READING COMPREHENSION

The present research evaluated EFL perspectives about contextual clues in reading comprehension at different proficiency levels. The data analysis using qualitative descriptions with frequencies and percentages was employed for 38 intermediate-level students and 25 advanced-level students in the university level through teaching contextual clues in reading comprehension with an experimental design. The results proved that students' proficiency in reading ability could be demonstrated by their use of idiomatic expressions, indirect language, direct language, series of words, comparison, synonym, tone, situation, mood, reference, restatement, preposition, cause-effect, modification, and example. Advanced students with a high level of vocabulary, grammar, and decoding skills were better able to utilize many contextual clues than intermediate students. Thus, reading ability was strongly correlated with the ability to infer word meaning from contextual clues.

Characteristics of Early Expressive Vocabulary in Mandarin-Speaking Children With Cochlear Implants.

The aim of this study is to evaluate whether Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants (CIs) demonstrated early lexical composition similar to their hearing peers who were at the same vocabulary level and the extent to which children with CIs were sensitive to linguistic and conceptual properties when developing early lexicon. Participants were 77 Mandarin-speaking children with CIs who received CIs before 30 months of age. Their expressive vocabulary was documented using the Infant Checklist of the Early Vocabulary Inventory for Mandarin Chinese 9 or 12 months after CI activation. Percent social words, common nouns, predicates (verbs, adjectives), and closed-class words in total vocabulary were computed for children at different vocabulary levels. Common nouns and verbs were further coded for their word class (noun, verb), word frequency, word length, and imageability to predict how likely a given noun or verb would be produced by children with CIs. Like children with typical hearing, social words were the most dominant category when vocabulary size in children with CIs was smaller than 20 words; common nouns became the most dominant category when the vocabulary size reached 21 words. The difference in percent common nouns and percent predicates (i.e., noun bias) was similar in children with CIs and their hearing peers. In addition, verbs, common words, monosyllabic words, and more imageable words were more likely to be produced by children with CIs than their counterparts. Mandarin children with CIs showed language-specific patterns in early lexical composition like their hearing peers. They were able to use multiple linguistic and conceptual cues when approaching early expressive vocabulary despite perceptual and processing constraints. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.21357723.

Development of Kosbarab Learning Media to Improve Arabic Vocabulary Mastery of Elementary Level Students Based on Android Construct 2

In this current metaverse era, Arabic learning containing mufradat has not applied construct 2 media in the learning process so far. When viewed from the media, it will certainly match to the current metaverse era, and its application is also accessible. This study aims to design an Arabic vocabulary learning medium and to determine the feasibility of developing an android-based KOSBARAB learning medium to be applied in Arabic subject for 5D MI Bahrul' Ulum Tambakberas Jombang students. The research method used is Research and Development (RD) with a development model from Borg and Gall, which consists of 10 stages. Research instruments include observation, interviews, questionnaires, and trials. Data from experts’ and respondents' questionnaires were examined using assessment indicators. The study results in 1) the success of developing KOSBARAB learning media, 2) the "very valid" quality of KOSBARAB product based on the assessment by a media expert and two material experts, 3) the "very valid" quality of KOSBARAB product based on the assessment of classification trials on a small and large scale. It shows that students are curiously interested in using KOSBARAB product, and it certainly can increase the basic level of Arabic vocabulary of 5D students of MI Bahrul' Ulum Tambakberas Jombang.

Early Identification of Children with Dyslexia: Variables Differentially Predict Poor Reading Versus Unexpected Poor Reading.

Definitions of dyslexia typically make reference to unexpected poor reading, although how best to operationalize unexpected remains an issue. When operationally defined as reading below expectations based on level of oral language, cases of unexpected poor reading make up fewer than half of cases of poor reading, and cases of unexpected poor reading occur throughout the range of reading proficiency. An implication is that what optimally predicts poor reading may not optimally predict unexpected poor reading. The goal of the three presented studies was to test this implication empirically. In Study 1, a model-based meta-analysis, phonological awareness accounted for 40% of the variance in decoding but only 1% of the variance in decoding that was unexpected based on level of vocabulary. Conversely, unexpected phonological awareness accounted for 34% of the variance in unexpected decoding but only 1% of the variance in decoding. An analogous pattern of results occurred for reading comprehension. In Study 2, a study of 766 children in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade, latent variables were used to represent oral vocabulary, phonological awareness, and decoding. As was seen in Study 1, unexpected decoding was better predicted by unexpected phonological awareness than by phonological awareness. In Study 3, a longitudinal study of 1,025 children followed from preschool through grade 2, the pattern of results mirrored those of Studies 1 and 2. An important implication of these studies is that typical assessments may be better at identifying poor reading than they are at identifying unexpected poor reading or dyslexia.

Academic achievements and brain volume development in children and adolescents.

Children are expected to acquire both basic and numeric skills. Achievement of higher levels of reading, writing, arithmetic, and vocabulary are favorable and desirable. The relationship between each literacy skill and neural development has been investigated; however, association between brain development and the 4 literacy skills has not been examined. This longitudinal, structural, neuroimaging study explored the contribution of higher academic achievement in reading, writing, arithmetic, and vocabulary to neural development. The brain volumes of children and adolescents aged 9-16years were measured in the first test. Approximately 2.6years later, the brain volumes and 4 academic achievement scores of 77 participants were measured in the second test. Changes in the gray matter volume in the left fusiform gyrus were associated with vocabulary scores, whereas those in the left striatum were associated with arithmetic scores. The reading and writing scores showed no statistically significant relationship with changes in brain volume. The current vocabulary score correlated with current gray matter volume, while brain volumes in the first test showed no association with any achievement scores. These results suggest that academic achievement may modulate brain plasticity in various ways.

외국인 유학생의 관점에서 본 대학 내 공공 언어 실태와 개선 방안 연구

This study is to analyze the use of public language in universities from the perspective of foreign students and to seek improvement measures for efficient communication. To this end, the concept and analysis standards of public language were re-established within the university, and the status of public language use in terms of accuracy and communication was analyzed according to the analysis criteria. Data collection was conducted through the website of K University in Gwangju, and as a result of the analysis, there were many errors in the order of spacing, spelling, grammar, and foreign word notation at the level of language regulation. It can be seen that there is a relatively lack of understanding among university members. In the area of communication, there were many parts that were difficult to understand information or grasp the meaning because the level of vocabulary was not considered, and it was found that it would be very difficult to understand the public language. Through the results of the study, if members recognize the importance of public language in universities in the future and make efforts to improve it, the difficulties of foreign students can be solved to some extent.

A Study on the Correlation Between English Vocabulary Learning Strategies and Breadth of Vocabulary Knowledge on Elementary Chinese English Learners

Vocabulary is the basic building block of language, and the acquisition of any language relies heavily on vocabulary knowledge. The use of vocabulary learning strategies is one of the main factors affecting vocabulary learning. In view of this, this study is an attempt to examine the correlation between the use of vocabulary learning strategies and breadth of vocabulary knowledge on elementary Chinese English learners. By ways of analyzing the data of the questionnaire and vocabulary level test, the author finds out that social/ affective strategy is the most popular strategy and is followed by metacognitive and cognitive strategies. A positive and significant correlation exists between these two variables and cognitive strategies have the most significant correlation among these three strategies. Based on these findings, elementary English learners are recommended to frequently use a variety of vocabulary learning strategies to increase vocabulary knowledge, especially cognitive strategies.

Early predictors of language outcomes in Down syndrome: A mini-review.

As children with Down syndrome (DS) typically manifest significant delays in language development, the research has pointed out the predictors of later language skills for this clinical population. The purpose of this study was to systematically explore the evidence for early predictors of language outcomes in infants and toddlers with DS from studies published between 2012 and 2022. After the search, nine studies met the inclusion criteria. The results indicated that maternal educational level, adaptive level of functioning, cognitive function, attention skills, communicative intent of the child, early vocalizations, gestures, baby signs, parents’ translation of their children’s gestures into words, and vocabulary level are significant predictors of language outcomes in children with DS. These findings provide a timely and warranted summary of published work that contributes to current understanding of the development of language and communication in DS. They are therefore useful to researchers, clinicians, and families.