Korean EFL Learners’ L2 Mental Lexicon: Vocabulary Size and Word Association Types

2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 131-151
Author(s):  
Xinnian Lu ◽  
Jayeon Lim
Keyword(s):  
Word Association ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Korean Efl Learners

scholarly journals The Effect of Text Messaging on EFL Learners' Lexical Depth and Breadth

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-123
Author(s):  
Behnam Behforouz ◽  
Anca Daniela Frumuselu
Keyword(s):  
Text Messaging ◽  
Treatment Process ◽  
Word Association ◽  
Rank Test ◽  
Classroom Context ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Lexical Knowledge ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Signed Rank Test

Using technology in the classroom context can be an effective way to learn a foreign or second language. Vocabulary is considered one of the important skills for identifying a learner's performance in various academic and non-academic contexts. The present paper investigated the effect of text messaging on learners' lexical knowledge and vocabulary size by using mobile learning ( m-learning). After the administration of an Oxford Placement Test, a total of 37 EFL learners were selected as the sample of the study. Before the treatment process, a word association test (WAT) and the updated vocabulary level test (UVLT) were administered as pre-tests. The learners received six vocabulary items selected from their coursebook through SMSs three times a week in addition to the in-class instruction. After finishing the treatment process, the WAT and the UVLT tests were administered again as post-tests to assess the learners' achievement and the effectiveness of the treatment. Since the normality of data distribution was not confirmed, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was run for mean comparisons. The findings showed no meaningful difference between the pre-tests and post-tests regarding the vocabulary depth scores, while there was a statistically significant difference based on vocabulary breadth. Therefore, it can be claimed that text messaging via m-learning had a significant impact on learners' vocabulary breadth. Curriculum developers and EFL teachers can benefit from the findings of the current study by considering the significance of text messaging for teaching different aspects of lexical knowledge.

scholarly journals A Study on the Way in which Words Are Organized in Iranian EFL Learners’ Mental Lexicon

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 80
Author(s):  
Sedigheh Sharifi ◽  
Masoud Khalili Sabet ◽  
Abdorreza Tahriri
Keyword(s):  
Word Association ◽  
Vocabulary Learning ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
Association Test ◽  
Word Knowledge ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Word Association Test ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
The Way

Vocabulary learning in both L1 and L2 is considered important to master a language. Individuals need to learn the words in order to express ideas and to communicate. As a result, research into word knowledge is important as it provides useful information considering the way in which words are learned and organized in individuals’ mind; however different studies have been conducted in this regard, there is a long way to fully understand individuals’ mental lexicon. So, word association tests are used to examine the word knowledge, to study vocabulary learning process, and how it occurs in the language learners’ mind. Similarly, the aim of this paper is to investigate the way in which words are stored and organized in Iranian EFL learners’ mental lexicon through a word association test. To this end, a word association test was designed including eight prompt words from different word classes and was administered to 50 Iranian EFL learners. They were randomly selected and included 22 males and 28 females from Razi University and an institute in Kermanshah, Iran. After administering the test, to analyze the data, learners’ responses were classified and the frequency of each classification of word association was calculated and chi-square tests were run to compare responses. Results reveal that the participants displayed different patterns in their responses as syntagmatic and paradigmatic classification. Most of them made more syntagmatic responses than paradigmatic ones. As a result, it can be concluded that more participants make mental links with syntagmatic compared to others who make links with paradigmatic and there are significant differences between male and female learners in the use of syntagmatic and paradigmatic responses; on the other hand, it appears that there is no significant differences in learners’ word association regarding age. This study has useful implications for both EFL teachers and learners by helping them understand and improve the lexical acquisition process.

scholarly journals Probing into Native and Nonnative Students’ Mental Lexicon: a Case of Word Association Comparison

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-213
Author(s):  
Afrooz Marzban ◽  
Mohammad Sadegh Bagheri ◽  
Firooz Sadighi ◽  
Ehsan Rassaei
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Word Association ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Word Association Test ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
High Level

The present study compared British English speakers’ (native) and Iranian EFL learners’ (nonnative) mental lexicon structure focusing on how words are selected and used by the two groups. The types of word association links, syntagmatic and paradigmatic, more frequently applied by the two groups of the participants, were probed into. To this end, 40 native and 40 nonnative college students, both male and female, were compared as far as mental lexicon was concerned. Accordingly, through the Oxford Placement Test (OPT), the nonnative subjects were assigned to three ability levels; namely, high, mid and low. Next, the Word Association Test (WAT) was administered respectively to all native and nonnative participants. The comparison of the WAT results through a series of Chi-square tests and a test of Mann-Whitney indicated that the employed word association links varied among the native and nonnative participants. The findings revealed that the low and mid level nonnatives which comprised a majority of Iranian EFL learners employed the syntagmatic relation to a greater extent than the high level nonnatives. However, only one resemblance was observed between the natives and the high level nonnatives who frequently applied the paradigmatic link. Thus, it was concluded that the advanced Iranian learners performed in a similar way as that of the native English speakers; as a result, it was suggested that the improvement in the proficiency level could lead to a change in making mental links. The findings would contribute to the psychological concerns in language teaching and learning in most academic contexts of higher age ranges.

The Mental Lexicon of Low-Proficiency Korean Heritage Learners

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-35
Author(s):  
Mary Shin Kim
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Word Association ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
Heritage Learners ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Preliminary Study ◽  
Insight Into

Previous studies have examined word association behaviors of native speakers and non-native speakers, pointing out differences in the organization of their mental lexicon. This study investigates a relatively underexplored area in word association studies—the word association of heritage learners. The study compares word association behaviors of low-proficiency Korean heritage learners to those of native Korean speakers and non-heritage learners. Preliminary results indicate that heritage learners exhibit a great deal of variability in their word association patterns compared to native speakers and non-heritage learners. All three subject groups show an overall preference for meaning-based association over position-based association for nouns. However, in subcategories of meaning-based and position-based responses, the three groups show significant differences. Heritage learners tend, like native speakers, to produce more responses based on strong conceptual associations than non-heritage learners. Yet heritage learners, despite their larger vocabulary size and their exposure to the language in authentic socio-cultural contexts at home, show little difference from non-heritage learners in their weak collocation-based associations. This preliminary study provides insight into heritage learners’ mental lexicon in contrast to those of native speakers and non-heritage learners, and also discusses pedagogical implications for teaching vocabulary to heritage learners.

scholarly journals Vocabulary Size and Depth of Knowledge: A Study of Bahraini EFL Learners

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Adel W. Alqallaf ◽  
Madani O. Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Word Association ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Receptive Vocabulary ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
University Of Bahrain ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship

This study investigates the size and depth of vocabulary knowledge and its relationship to the general language proficiency of EFL learners. The study sample included 120 students from the University of Bahrain. The sample was randomly selected from the student population and split into two groups in terms of their level of English: intermediate and advanced. The study aims to answer four questions: (1) What is the effect of general language proficiency on the sizes of the receptive and productive vocabularies of learners of English at the University of Bahrain? (2) How does general language proficiency affect the depth of vocabulary knowledge of learners of English at the University of Bahrain? (3) What is the relationship between receptive and productive vocabularies and the depth of vocabulary knowledge? and (4) What is the relationship between vocabulary size and the nature of lexical networking? All the students in the sample completed three vocabulary tasks. The first two tasks were Meara and Jones’s Eurocentres Vocabulary Size Test (1990) and Meara and Fitzpatrick’s Lex30 word association task (2000), which were used to measure the sizes of receptive and productive vocabularies. The third task was Gyllstad’s COLLEX test (2007), which was used to investigate the depth of vocabulary knowledge. A quasi-experimental approach was adopted using a quantitative approach to analyze the data. The data of the study were analyzed by comparing the results of the two groups in relation to the three tasks using SPSS 16.0. The findings of the study have revealed that general language proficiency has a positive effect on learners’ receptive vocabulary size, a moderate effect on learners’ productive vocabulary size, and a very low effect on the depth of vocabulary knowledge. In addition, no relationship was shown between the size of vocabulary and the nature of lexical networking. With reference to these results, pedagogical and future research recommendations are made.

Word Class Influence upon L1 and L2 English Word Association

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Xiaosa ◽  
Wang Wenyu
Keyword(s):  
Word Association ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
English Word ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Word Class ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Word Association Test ◽  
Word Classes ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
L1 English

AbstractThis study explores word class influence upon L1 and L2 word association. The participants included 26 L1 English speakers and 28 advanced EFL learners who finished an English word association test that involved three types of stimuli: nouns, verbs and adjectives. Response words to the stimuli were classified into paradigmatic, syntagmatic, encyclopedic and form-based categories. Results show that: 1) L2 mental lexicon largely resembled that of L1 English speakers in that both were dominated by paradigmatic association, but L2 syntagmatic association was obviously weaker than that of L1 across the three word classes; 2) Verbs and adjectives demonstrated a greater potential to elicit syntagmatic responses than nouns in both L1 and L2 association; 3) Compared with verbs and adjectives, nouns were more paradigmatically challenging to L2 learners.

scholarly journals Comparing Two Measures of L2 Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge Using the Association With Vocabulary Size

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Dabbagh ◽  
Mostafa Janebi Enayat
Keyword(s):  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Word Association ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Word Association Test ◽  
Vocabulary Depth ◽  
Two Measures ◽  
Knowledge Scale

Abstract This study compared two tests of second language (L2) depth of vocabulary knowledge, namely the word association test (WAT) and vocabulary knowledge scale (VKS), with respect to their associations with vocabulary size. The same relationships were further examined separately for the five word-frequency bands of the vocabulary size test. To this end, 115 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners took the WAT, VKS, and Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT). Results of multiple linear regression analyses indicated that: (a) while both measures of vocabulary depth were predictive of the VLT, the WAT had a higher association with the dependent variable; (b) both the WAT and VKS were predictive of the high-frequency vocabulary, with the relationships being more significant for the WAT; (c) the WAT could significantly predict the mid-frequency vocabulary, whereas the VKS had no significant contribution; and (d) while the VKS was significantly associated with the low-frequency vocabulary, the WAT had no significant contribution to the prediction of this level. The findings are interpreted with reference to the suitability of both the WAT and VKS depending on the type of input, expected response, and desired frequency of the target words.

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