Vocabulary Research Articles

Examining Dutch children's vocabularies across infancy and toddlerhood: Demographic effects are age-specific and task-specific.

Limited studies have examined demographic differences in children's vocabulary in longitudinal samples, while there are questions regarding the duration, direction, and magnitude of these effects across development. In this longitudinal study, we included over 400 Dutch children. Caregivers filled out N-CDIs when children were 9-11 months (measuring word comprehension, word production, and gestures) and around 2-5 years of age (measuring word production). At 2-5 years, we also administered a receptive vocabulary task in the lab. We examined demographic effects on vocabulary size across infancy and toddlerhood. We found a disadvantage for males in infants' gestures and toddlers' vocabulary production. We found a negative effect of maternal education on infants' caregiver-reported vocabulary, but a positive effect on toddlers' lab-administered receptive vocabulary. Lastly, we found a negative effect of multilingualism - but only for the lab-administered task. Examining predictors in large, longitudinal samples ensures their robustness and generalisability across development.

Which components of word knowledge do EFL learners learn?

Abstract Vocabulary research provides valuable information on the construct of word knowledge (WK), and suggests ways to develop language learners’ lexicon, arguably, the backbone of communication. The present study explores EFL students’ vocabulary learning behavior; more specifically, the aspects of WK components they intentionally focus on when learning new words. Data was collected from 536 undergraduate students in an EFL context. Our findings revealed that EFL students’ vocabulary size was roughly 5,000 word families, considerably less than the number advocated for academic studies. Regarding the various aspects of WK, the top three components that the participants with larger vocabulary sizes primarily focus on were a word’s meaning in L2, spelling, and pronunciation, whereas for those students with a smaller vocabulary size, the top three choices were meaning in L1, spelling and meaning in L2. This intentional focus on separate aspects of WK, especially the meaning-form link in L2, might instigate further progress for the former group, and the lack thereof may inhibit learning opportunities for the latter. Exploration of the processes of vocabulary learning will guide teaching practice, and materials design. It may also call for adjustments in curricula as our understanding of vocabulary acquisition processes evolves.

Emotion-specific vocabulary and its relation to emotion understanding in children and adolescents

ABSTRACT Among children and adolescents, emotion understanding relates to academic achievement and higher well-being. This study investigates the role of general and emotion-specific language skills in children’s and adolescents’ emotion understanding, building on previous research highlighting the significance of domain-specific language skills in conceptual development. We employ a novel inventory (CEVVT) to assess emotion-specific vocabulary. The study involved 10–11-year-old children (N = 29) and 16–17-year-old adolescents (N = 28), examining their emotion recognition and knowledge of emotion regulation strategies. Results highlight the ongoing development of emotion-specific vocabulary across these age groups. Emotion recognition correlated with general vocabulary in the younger group. In the older age group, emotion recognition was related to emotion-specific vocabulary size, but this effect only became apparent when controlling for the depth of emotion-specific vocabulary. Against expectation, there were no significant contributions of general or emotion-specific vocabulary to knowledge of emotion regulation strategies in either age group. These findings enhance our comprehension of the nuanced interplay between language and emotion across developmental stages.

How does social contingency facilitate vocabulary development?

Previous research shows that infants of parents who are more likely to engage in socially contingent interactions with them tend to have larger vocabularies. An open question is how social contingency facilitates vocabulary growth. One possibility is that parents who speak in response to their infants more often produce larger amount of language input, which accelerates vocabulary growth. Another possibility is that the simplicity of contingent language input is especially suitable to support early word learning. A third possibility is that more evidence of the communicative nature of language, achieved through frequent contingent responses, helps infants build a link between their own words or vocalizations and others' behaviors. This link may lead to a better understanding of the communicative nature of language and further language advances, including vocabulary growth. To distinguish between these hypotheses, we analyzed the relations between parent-infant interactions when infants were 9 months and their vocabulary size at 12 months, using a naturalistic corpus. Our findings show that the frequency of parents' verbal contingent responses predicts receptive vocabulary size at 12 months and this predictive relation is unlikely to be due to the amount of language input or the simplicity of language within socially contingent interactions. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Infants of parents who respond to their vocalizations more often during the first year of life tend to have larger vocabularies in the second year. It is an open question what drives the predictive relation between parents' responsiveness and infants' vocabulary; we tested three hypotheses that offer competing explanations. More responsive parents might provide (1) more language input, (2) simpler language input, (3) more evidence of the communicative nature of language (via frequent responses). We find support for the third hypothesis; the frequency of parents' responses predicts infants' vocabularies above and beyond the amount and simplicity of language input.

Sensitivity to Subphonemic Differences in First Language Predicts Vocabulary Size in a Foreign Language

AbstractSome listeners exhibit higher sensitivity to subphonemic acoustic differences (i.e., higher speech gradiency). Here, we asked whether higher gradiency in a listener's first language (L1) facilitates foreign language learning and explored the possible sources of individual differences in L1 gradiency. To address these questions, we tested 164 native Spanish speakers with different linguistic profiles. Speech gradiency was assessed via a Visual Analogue Scale task, and foreign language proficiency was assessed via an English vocabulary test. Possible sources of gradiency included domain‐general auditory acuity, overall exposure to spoken language (indexed by age), and exposure to phonological diversity. Control measures were collected to account for variables such as phoneme categorization consistency, working memory, and musical training. The results revealed a positive link between L1 speech gradiency and vocabulary acquisition in a foreign language over and above all other variables. L1 speech gradiency itself was predicted by domain‐general auditory acuity and overall exposure to spoken language.

Reading against all odds: creative coping strategies of international students in HE

ABSTRACT Many overseas students in Higher Education in the UK struggle to understand the compulsory texts for their course, and obtain lower scores for their modules than their monolingual peers. While the existence of this achievement gap is well established in the literature, little is known about the ways in which overseas students in HE with limited English language and literacy skills meet the challenges posed by the compulsory reading on their course. The current study is novel because we focus on a postgraduate Law module and use a mixed methods approach to study the relationship between students’ language and literacy profiles and their academic achievement. The results show that students’ vocabulary sizes did not provide enough lexical coverage for them to understand the set texts and that the language and literacy profiles of our students did not correlate with their module scores. In-depth interviews revealed that students with IELTS scores of 6.0 or lower used ‘creative reading’ strategies such as machine translation, to pass assignments, while staff used ‘compassionate marking’ strategies in the case of struggling writers, which means module scores for some students were likely inflated. Implications for admissions tutors and teachers in HE are formulated at the end.

The Contribution of Vocabulary Knowledge to Summary Writing Quality: Vocabulary Size and Lexical Richness.

Vocabulary knowledge plays an important role in writing. Previous research has examined the relationship between various aspects of vocabulary knowledge and independent writing performance and limited attention has been given to integrated writing such as summary writing. Our study investigated the contribution of two aspects of vocabulary knowledge (vocabulary size and lexical richness) to summary writing quality. In addition, we examined the extent to which lexical richness measures relate to summary writing quality among students who have smaller vocabulary sizes and students who have larger vocabulary sizes. We addressed these questions by administering a lexical decision test called the LexTALE and analyzing lexical richness and writing quality in the summary writing of 73 Arabic English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners of English. The results revealed a strong positive correlation between vocabulary size and summary writing quality, indicating that a larger vocabulary size is associated with higher-quality summaries. . However, most measures of lexical richness did not show a significant correlation with summary writing quality. Interestingly, the relationship between lexical richness measures and summary writing quality varied when learners were put in two groups with different vocabulary sizes.. Implications of the findings of the study for language teaching pedagogy and for research on the complex relationship between vocabulary knowledge and summary writing are discussed.

EFL reading strategies used by high school students with different English proficiency

This study examines EFL students' reading strategy use and explores the differences between the factors affecting the use of the reading strategies by high and low proficiency EFL learners. The participants consisted of students from a high school in Taiwan. Their reading strategy usage and the influencing factors were assessed using the Survey of Reading Strategy (SORS), think-aloud protocols, and semi-structured interviews. The findings reveal no significant disparities in problem-solving strategies and supporting reading strategies between high and low proficiency learners. However, no table differences were observed in the employment of global reading strategies. In addition, learners' vocabulary size and syntactic knowledge emerged as influential factors in the utilization of reading strategies. The results also indicate that high proficiency learners employ top-down reading strategies, while low proficiency learners rely on bottom-up reading strategies to approach their reading tasks. Detailed results of the reading strategies used by the two groups of students and factors affecting the strategy results are shown and discussed, followed by pedagogical implications. At the end, suggestions for the future research will be presented.

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Fake news can cause not only individual but also national damages. In this study, we aim to select artificial intelligence techniques for identifying fake news and compare and analyze these techniques based on the results obtained by applying them to the news dataset. To achieve this, we analyzed the characteristics of the news dataset and implemented models for discriminating fake news using six artificial intelligence techniques: logistic regression, naive bayes, random forest, support vector machine, perceptron, and recurrent neural network. Finally, through analysis of the experimental results, we investigated the importance of various factors such as sentence length, vocabulary size, hyper parameters of the artificial intelligence models, and the ratio of training data to test data in influencing the performance of the models after natural language processing during training.

The relationship between L2 grit and vocabulary knowledge in first-year Moroccan university students

The present study aimed at examining the role of L2 grit in the vocabulary knowledge of English major freshmen in Morocco. A hypothesized model was specified in which two correlated factors of L2 grit, namely perseverance of efforts (PE) and consistency of interest (CI), contribute to vocabulary knowledge measured in terms of vocabulary size, associations, and collocations. This model was tested against data collected from 157 first-year university students. The L2 Grit Scale was used to measure students' PE and CI in language learning. The Yes/No test was used to estimate the vocabulary size of the participants across the most frequent 5000 words in English. The Word Association Test and COLLEX Test were employed to tap into students' depth of vocabulary knowledge. The assessment of the validity of the constructs indicated that the two correlated-factor model of L2 grit was acceptable, while a single-factor model of vocabulary knowledge construct excellently fit the data. Concerning the role of L2 grit, the estimates showed that both factors, PE and CI, statistically significantly contributed to students’ vocabulary knowledge. To this end, recommendations were suggested to encourage the exploration of L2 grit in the realm of language learning, specifically vocabulary learning.

A longitudinal investigation of the impact of code-switching versus target language only on Saudi EFL students' written receptive vocabulary knowledge development in terms of breadth

This longitudinal research was conducted to investigate the effect of code-switching versus target language only on Saudi students' written receptive vocabulary knowledge development in terms of breadth. A total of sixty male samples were randomly chosen from the population of Saudi EFL students at Jouf University in Saudi Arabia who enrolled in extensive English courses. This course is provided for those who scored less than the direct admission score of 2.5 out of 5 in the English replacement test. Samples were equally divided and allocated into two classrooms. In the first class (i.e., C1), thirty students were instructed by a non-native English speaker who employed code-switching as a pedagogical strategy. Students in the second class (i.e., C2) were instructed by non-native English speakers who employed the target language only as a pedagogical strategy due to the different language backgrounds between the instructor and participants. Data were collected from samples of both classes using the Vocabulary Size Test developed by Nation and Beglar (2007) at four different intervals and over four months (i.e., one academic semester). Results revealed that Saudi students' vocabulary knowledge in terms of breadth had developed significantly at four different intervals in both classes. However, the development in C2 where the instructor employed the target language only, was significantly higher than in C1 where code-switching is employed. Moreover, results also indicated that samples in C1 where code-switching is employed experienced a newly coined linguistic status called Receptive Vocabulary Recission (RVR) which indicates the act of avoiding the acquisition of new English vocabulary since they were habituated to be given an additional explanation for new vocabulary using their first language knowledge. This rescission was very tangible from the mean difference between C1 and C2 score averages.

Algorithm Design and Implementation of Automatic Assessment and Expansion of English Vocabulary

Automatic assessment and expansion of English vocabulary play a crucial role in language learning and proficiency evaluation. In this paper, we propose the use of an Optimized Bi-directional Long Short-Term Memory Deep Learning (Obi-LSTM-DL) model for these purposes. We conduct experiments using a comprehensive vocabulary dataset and evaluate the model's performance across various scenarios. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the Obi-LSTM-DL model in accurately assessing vocabulary proficiency levels and expanding vocabulary knowledge. Through optimization experiments, we show that increasing the vocabulary size leads to improved model performance. Additionally, the model's proficiency level assessment capability allows for tailored instruction and support for language learners. Comparative analysis with baseline models further confirms the superiority of the Obi-LSTM-DL model. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the Obi-LSTM-DL model in accurately assessing vocabulary proficiency levels and expanding vocabulary knowledge. Through optimization experiments, we show that increasing the vocabulary size leads to improved model performance, with an average increase in accuracy of 1.5% for every 1,000 words added to the vocabulary. Additionally, the model's proficiency level assessment capability allows for tailored instruction and support for language learners. Comparative analysis with baseline models further confirms the superiority of the Obi-LSTM-DL model, with an average increase in accuracy of 3.2% over traditional models.

Exploring the Influence of Word Exposure via Facebook on Young EFL Learners’ Written Form of Word Knowledge

This quantitative study aimed to investigate the impact of word exposure via Facebook on thevocabulary knowledge of Thai EFL primary school learners. Additionally, it sought to examinedifferences in receptive and productive written forms of word knowledge between differenteducation levels. It explored the relationship between participants’ vocabulary size and wordknowledge. Forty students from grades four and six participated in the study, which involveddesigning and validating tests to measure receptive and productive written forms of wordknowledge. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to analyze quantitative data.The findings indicated significant improvements in students’ receptive and productivevocabulary knowledge, with noticeable development in their understanding of word spelling.Furthermore, grade six learners performed better than grade four learners on receptive andproductive written form measures. Correlational analysis revealed a relationship betweenvocabulary size and knowledge of written forms, indicating their interdependency. Overall, thisstudy suggests that exposure to words through Facebook positively influences vocabularyacquisition, underscoring the importance of word exposure experiences in learning vocabulary.Additionally, it highlights the predictive role of vocabulary size in the written form of wordknowledge. This study offers implications for practitioners and provides suggestions for futureresearch directions.

The Impact of ChatGPT on the Development of Vocabulary Knowledge of Saudi EFL Students

This research was piloted to systematically compare the impact of ChatGPT-generated exercises versus traditional exercises on Saudi EFL students’ vocabulary size and the strength of word families. It aimed to answer the following questions: 1) To what extent does the integration of ChatGPT-generated exercises impact Saudi EFL students’ vocabulary size of word families? 2) To what extent does the integration of ChatGPT-generated exercises impact Saudi EFL students’ vocabulary size and strength of word families? This research holds significance because it provides educators with empirical results of the impact of ChatGPT’s role and function on the second language vocabulary development process. Sixty male Saudi students at Jouf University were selected by stratified random sampling. The design of this research is experimental. Consequently, samples were randomly assigned to different experimental conditions and groups (i.e., control and treatment groups). Computer-Adaptive Test of Size and Strength, as developed by Laufer and Goldstein (2004), was administered to both groups at the beginning and end of their studies in the IELP course with an interval of four months. The collected results from all participants (N=60) from both groups and in both intervals (i.e., pre-test and post-test) were clearly and concisely imported to Statistical Package for the Social Sciences SPSS. Multivariate Analysis of Variance was conducted. Results revealed that Saudi EFL students’ vocabulary development improved significantly in both groups. However, participants in the experimental group who experienced ChatGPT-generated exercises notably surpassed that of the control group in terms of vocabulary size and strength of word families.

Cognitive Classifier of Hand Gesture Images for Automated Sign Language Recognition: Soft Robot Assistance Based on Neutrosophic Markov Chain Paradigm

In recent years, Sign Language Recognition (SLR) has become an additional topic of discussion in the human–computer interface (HCI) field. The most significant difficulty confronting SLR recognition is finding algorithms that will scale effectively with a growing vocabulary size and a limited supply of training data for signer-independent applications. Due to its sensitivity to shape information, automated SLR based on hidden Markov models (HMMs) cannot characterize the confusing distributions of the observations in gesture features with sufficiently precise parameters. In order to simulate uncertainty in hypothesis spaces, many scholars provide an extension of the HMMs, utilizing higher-order fuzzy sets to generate interval-type-2 fuzzy HMMs. This expansion is helpful because it brings the uncertainty and fuzziness of conventional HMM mapping under control. The neutrosophic sets are used in this work to deal with indeterminacy in a practical SLR setting. Existing interval-type-2 fuzzy HMMs cannot consider uncertain information that includes indeterminacy. However, the neutrosophic hidden Markov model successfully identifies the best route between states when there is vagueness. This expansion is helpful because it brings the uncertainty and fuzziness of conventional HMM mapping under control. The neutrosophic three membership functions (truth, indeterminate, and falsity grades) provide more layers of autonomy for assessing HMM’s uncertainty. This approach could be helpful for an extensive vocabulary and hence seeks to solve the scalability issue. In addition, it may function independently of the signer, without needing data gloves or any other input devices. The experimental results demonstrate that the neutrosophic HMM is nearly as computationally difficult as the fuzzy HMM but has a similar performance and is more robust to gesture variations.

The impact of loanwords on the English–Japanese version of vocabulary size test

The Vocabulary Size Test (VST) measures English learners’ decontextualised receptive vocabulary knowledge of written English and has nine bilingual versions with multiple-choice options written in other languages. This study used the English–Japanese version of the VST to investigate the extent to which loanword items were answered correctly by Japanese first language (L1) university students compared to non-loanword items, and whether it was easier to answer these loanword items when the correct answer option was written in loanwords rather than Japanese-words. Paired t-tests showed a significant difference in correct response rates between the loanword and non-loanword items, and the loanword options and Japanese-word options, with a large effect size. The results suggest the relative ease of learning English loanwords compared to non-loanwords for L1 Japanese users, and the need to consider the use of loanwords in vocabulary tests to measure test-takers’ vocabulary size more accurately.

Model text as corrective feedback in L2 writing: the role of working memory and vocabulary size

Abstract Recent research highlights model texts as a form of written corrective feedback (WCF) for enhancing L2 writing skills. This study, conducted at a South Asian university, assessed the impact of model texts on the argumentative writing skills of 71 undergraduate ESL students. Divided into treatment and control groups, assessments at various stages employed an analytic rubric and CALF metrics (complexity, accuracy, fluency, lexical richness). Additionally, regression analysis was used to gauge the effect of working memory capacity (WMC) and vocabulary size on the success of the method. The findings revealed that the treatment group exhibited significant improvements, particularly in vocabulary use and structural aspects of their writing. Both WMC and vocabulary size were found to influence the efficacy of model texts. This study underscores the potential of model texts in WCF and highlights the role of individual learner attributes in determining its effectiveness.

Madesa or books! Using a Coverage Comprehension Model to Assess University Students’ Ability to Comprehend Reference Books

Studies on reading in a foreign language report that meaningful reading comprehension is determined by an individual's vocabulary size. A conclusion from these studies is that a vocabulary threshold of 8000–9000 words is compulsory for the reader to comprehend 98% of running words in academic texts and consequently achieve optimal comprehension of the materials. A threshold of 4,000–5,000 words can only assist readers to understand 95% of running words, which guarantees minimal comprehension. This study examines the relationship between the vocabulary size of undergraduate university students and the vocabulary coverage of reference books sampled from among those listed in their course outlines. This corpus-based and descriptive study used the Vocabulary Level Test (VLT) to assess the vocabulary size of 774 participants and a vocab profiler to analyze the vocabulary coverage of the nine sampled reference books. The results showed that, on average, the participants’ vocabulary size would enable them to comprehend 95% of the running words in most of the books in the sample, but that size would not help them to understand 98% of the running words in any of the sampled books. These results suggest that, on average, no student in the sample could have optimal comprehension of the sampled reference books. Therefore, our study calls for the need to introduce serious reading programmes at the primary and secondary school levels so as to promote students' vocabulary size and reading comprehension ability.

The longitudinal relations between mental state talk and theory of mind

BackgroundPrevious investigations of associations between children’s Theory of Mind (ToM) and parents’ use of words relating to mental states (or mental state talk; MST) have predominantly been performed using cross-sectional designs and false belief tasks as indicators of ToM.MethodsWe here report a longitudinal study of 3–5 year-olds (n = 80) investigating ToM development using the ToM scale and three different parental MST types: the absolute frequency of words, the proportions of words, and the vocabulary size.ResultsOur results revealed significant relations between all parental MST types and later child ToM. Proportions of parental MST were most often related to the children’s ToM at 4 years of age. However, the rate at which the children developed ToM from 3 to 5 years of age was associated with the other two parental MST type measures, namely, absolute frequency and vocabulary size. Additionally, our analyses revealed that parents’ use of cognitive MST words (e.g., think, or know) were most frequently associated with children’s ToM at 4 years of age compared to emotion and desire-related MST words.ConclusionsWe conclude that the parental ability to capture the thoughts, beliefs, and knowledge present in different scenarios is associated with children’s ability to understand other minds. Moreover, parents’ way of talking about the mental states of others is associated with their children’s ability to understand and further develop ToM.

Exploring the Effects of Early Extramural English Exposure on the Vocabulary Size of University Students

Research has shown that current informal extramural (out-of-class) activities can be an important predictor of second language (L2) vocabulary knowledge, but less is known about the relationship between language proficiency and activities earlier in life, which could have contributed to L2 acquisition. This exploratory study investigated Norwegian university students’ reported exposure to English through extramural activities at an early age and how this related to their current vocabulary size in L2 English. Participants (N = 40) completed an online survey comprising items from the Vocabulary Size Test (VST) and questions about the earliest extramural activity they felt made an important contribution to their knowledge of L2 English and the age at which they engaged in this activity. Participants’ mean English vocabulary size, as measured by the VST, was 11,246 words, and regression analysis found that the age of reported earliest extramural exposure was a significant predictor for L2 vocabulary size but that the current age of participants was not a significant predictor of VST scores. The results suggest that investigating early exposure to extramural input could be an important avenue for future research.