A Study of L2 Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition

A Study of L2 Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition AbstractL2 second language vocabulary acquisition, as an important component in second language acquisition, has called scholars increasing attention. In resent years, studies mainly focus on various dimensions of an individual word (depth of vocabulary knowledge), which failed to receive due attention in the past.The present study, based on Qian (1999)s framework of vocabulary knowledge, attempts to investigate the relationship between breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension in ESL for junior high school students.In the study, 72 second-year junior high school students are considered as participants of the study. They were required to do two tests to measure their vocabulary size and depth of vocabulary knowledge respectively. Their scores of reading comprehension in the past week were also documented for the representation of their reading proficiency. Within one weeks data collection, the raw data were analyzed with Pearson correlation and multiple regression as dominant statistical techniques. After that, the analyses were conducted with SPSS 13.0 with further discussion made and conclusion drawn.The result of the study showed that the correlation among the scores of the three tests were highly and positively associated and especially scores on depth of vocabulary knowledge made a notable contribution to the prediction of reading comprehension. Based on the empirical evidence, conclusion could be drawn that reading proficiency is affected more by depth of vocabulary knowledge than by vocabulary size and the two dimensions of vocabulary knowledge are strongly associated. This indicates that vocabulary acquisition is more than mere memorization of a words form and meaning, but rather, it is a complex process of comprehending all aspects of vocabulary knowledge.This study is instructive to vocabulary acquisition in the way that it lays a empirical foundation for learners recognition of importance of improving depth of vocabulary knowledge, and provides motives for both learners and teachers to make joint efforts in ESL learning and teaching process. Introduction0.1 The brief description of the studyThe lexicon of a language is assumed to be centralproves a unique window on the process of acquisition for language as a whole. (Harley, 1995) The present study is an attempt to describe the impact of vocabulary knowledge on reading comprehension in ESL. The theoretical framework on which the study is based is the word knowledge proposed by Qian(1999), which considers breadth and depth as two primary dimensions in vocabulary knowledge. In this study, a quantitative design was employed towards 72 second-year junior high school students. The scores were c to language acquisition as it ollected and analyzed with the aid of SPSS 13.0 with the results discussed, conclusion drawn and recommendations made for further research.0.2 Significance of the studyL2 vocabulary acquisition, an important component in second language acquisition, has recently received much attention in the field. The traditional opinion about vocabulary acquisition is that learning a word means learning its form and meaning. As a matter of fact, it involves a complex network in our mental lexicon. More and more researchers have realized that vocabulary and its acquisition should be regarded as a continuum composed of various dimensions and levels.In recent years, one of the new trends of vocabulary research is theoretical exploration and empirical studies on L2 vocabulary knowledge. There are many influential scholars like Richards, Nation, Schmitt, Qian etc and they shed light on the study of vocabulary knowledge, among which Qians division of breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge is accepted by many scholars and adopted by the thesis as its theoretical framework. Among the empirical studies on vocabulary knowledge, only a few have been conducted on the relationship between depth of vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension with most focusing on the breadth of vocabulary knowledge. Furthermore, of the studies that touched upon the depth of vocabulary knowledge, their empirical studies put emphasis on advanced English learners rather than junior high school students. On account of little exploration in this aspect, the present thesis, inspired by a large number of previous studies, attempts to make the empirical exploration on assessing the relationship between middle school students vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension.0.3 Layout of the thesisAltogether the whole thesis consists of three chapters. Introdution briefly introduces the significance of the paper and sketches the main structure of the thesis.Chapter one presents a review of the main theories and empirical researches in the filed of vocabulary knowledge.Chapter two illustrates the methodology of the thesis. It states the research questions, the subjects, the instruments data collection and data analysis.Chapter three is the analyzing chapter. With the aid of statistical software SPSS, it demonstrates the correlation between vocabulary size (VS), depth of vocabulary knowledge (DVK) and reading comprehension (RC) and the predictive power of VS and DVK on reading comprehension. Conclusion and Implication discussed the implication of this study for language teaching and learning as well the limitation of the thesis. Chapter one Literature Review1.1 Theoretical background of vocabulary knowledge1.1.1 Defining vocabulary knowledgeAs for the definition of the vocabulary knowledge, different scholars have different definitions from different angles. Chiefly, they could be classified into two types. The first type is to define the knowledge of a word from a developmental approach, that is, to define it according to different levels of learners command of the vocabulary knowledge. Dale (1965) give a definition of vocabulary knowledge according to his division of four levels of acquisition: (1) havent seen the word before (2) have seen or heard before, but do not know its meaning (3) could recognize it with regard to a certain meaning (4) know its meaning . He further proposes the fifth level, that is, be able to distinguish the word, that is the exact recognition of the word. In this approach, Paribakht &Wesche (1993)s view is better accepted. (1) havent seen before (2) have seen it yet could tell its meaning (3) could tell its meaning and equivalent in mother language (4) realize the word meaning in context (5) use the word in context without grammar mistakes. To conclude, there is still irregular gap between the different level, which need further revising and improving.The second type is to define knowledge of a word from a dimensional approach.Cronbach (1942) points out that the knowledge of a word always consists of five aspects: (1) generalization, i.e. to give a definition of the word (2) application, i.e. is to choose the appropriate usage for the word (3) the breadth of meaning, i.e. to know the multiple meanings of the word (4) the precision of meaning, i.e. be able to use the word in different context (5) availability, to use the word productively. Apparently, Cronabchs definition of the word knowledge doesnt touch upon other aspects of the word, namely spelling, pronunciation, collocation, morphological and syntactic features of the word.Richards (1976) gives a more comprehensive definition of the word knowledge, which covers frequency, register, syntactic and derivational properties, semantic features and polysemy, but he still ignored the pronunciation, spelling and collocation.Nation (2001) revised his early framework of word knowledge and further defined the word from both receptive and productive aspects, he classified the word knowledge into three aspects: (1) form, which includes spoken form, written form and part of speech (2) meaning, which includes morphology, semantics, conception, denotation and connotation (3) usage, which includes function, collocation etc.Qian (1999) suggests that the word knowledge consists of two aspect, namely the breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge. He further states that the breadth of knowledge refers to as vocabulary size, that is, the number of the words for which a learner has at least some minimum knowledge of meaning and the depth of vocabulary knowledge refers to a learners level of various aspects of a given word, that is, how well could learners acquire the vocabulary knowledge. Qians definition of the vocabulary knowledge is highly accepted by many scholars and is instructive to many researches afterwards concerning the word knowledge, where lie the theory basis of the thesis.As is studied by former researchers, it assumes that the word meaning, register, frequency, syntactic properties are central components of depth of vocabulary knowledge while pronunciation, spelling and morphological properties are also considered primary aspects of vocabulary depth. The different understanding of the word knowledge shed influence on the text of vocabulary knowledge. Presently, tests are often conducted in the aspects of the breadth and depth of knowledge, which correspond with Qians definition. The test concerning the breadth of vocabulary knowledge, i.e. vocabulary size (VS) is to test the total number of a learners vocabulary while the test concerning depth of vocabulary knowledge (DVK) deals with the main aspects namely, meaning, form, collocation of a given word, where lie the difficulty of the test.1.1.2Theories of word knowledge development in SLASince 1980s, acquisition of vocabulary knowledge began to draw increasing attention from researchers and a systematic theory took into shape. It is agreed that lexical knowledge involves degrees of knowledge, but disputes still exist in the characteristics of the degrees. As different views on the degrees of lexical knowledge development would consequently lead to the types of tests required to measure them, it is worth mentioning different views concerning the vocabulary acquisition.Investigating the process of learners vocabulary knowledge can be of considerable value to language research and pedagogy. Some topics related to increase in vocabulary size are: the relationship between vocabulary growth and different input conditions, the effect of language learning context on vocabulary growth, and similarities and differences between the developments of passive and active vocabulary, etc. There are different models proposed concerning the process of learners vocabulary knowledge. In most models, it is acknowledged that learning of a word usually progresses from receptive to productive knowledge. In Laufers model (1998), passive vocabulary size is considered to be larger than the active size even though no substantiated specification is provided as to how much larger it is. Vanniarajan (1997) made an attempt to explain how L2 vocabulary develops and what variables are involved in the acquisition of vocabulary. He proposes an interactive model of vocabulary acquisition, which highlights the interactive role of external and internal factors in the process of language acquisition and the encyclopedia nature of vocabulary knowledge. According to him, vocabulary acquisition involves many factors. It starts from the initial mapping and moves through various dimensions before reaching a complete mastery of words. Henriksen (1999) placed more emphasis on the need for more precise specification of the various dimensions of lexical competence. He proposed three dimensions of lexical competence: partial to precise knowledge, depth of knowledge and receptive to productive use ability. As he suggested, vocabulary acquisition should focus on the progression or development of interlanguage semantic networks and clarify the relationship among the continuum and find ways of operating lexical development along the continuum. Being a strong challenger of the continuum approach, Meara proposed a multi-state model of vocabulary acquisition, a new approach to modeling vocabulary acquisition. (Meara, 1997) He criticized the receptive-to-productive idea that words once acquired, move along the continuum from recognition knowledge to active production. He worked out the so-called multi-scale model of vocabulary acquisition, and he proposed five independent states, in which words move from one state to any other. His model implies a shift from individual words and insists on a more global description on lexicon growth and development.Jiang (2000) proposed a psycholinguistic model of L2 vocabulary acquisition in the classroom setting. He suggests that the use of L2 words is based on the lemma information of their L1 translations and the appropriate selection of morphological forms is endowed with a conscious process.The overview of previous theories of L2 vocabulary development and acquisition indicates that L2 vocabulary acquisition is opening up a new prospect of multi-theories and empirical studies. The following is the review of empirical studies done by former researchers on vocabulary knowledge.1.2 Previous empirical studies on the vocabulary knowledge1.2.1 Previous studies on the relationship between vocabulary size (VS )and depth of vocabulary knowledge (DVK) Although a few studies have been documented on the relationship between breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge, there is support for a possible strong link between the two dimensions in some studies.Nurweni and Read using a self-made translation-based vocabulary size test of 200 items and a depth of vocabulary knowledge test, found a relatively high overall correlation between the scores on the two tests, although the size of correlation between the same two tests varied considerably when the sample was split into three proficiency level groups.Schmitt and Meara carried out a study to examine the English vocabulary of 88 Japanese young adults. The result reported that, the correlation between two elements examined namely word association and VS, were fairly high.Qians (1999) study explored the relationship between depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension in English as a second language. Using multivariate analysis, the study examined the roles of depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge in assessing the performance of a group of young adult ESL learners with a minimum vocabulary size of 3000 word families in carrying out general academic reading comprehension tasks. The results reported a high and positive correlation between VS and DVK and his study in 2002 also showed a fairly strong correlation between the two.According to the previous studies, it reasons that breadth and depth are two interconnected dimension of vocabulary and the development of them are interdependent to a substantial extent. While the issue of vocabulary size matters a great deal in assessing the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension, the place of depth of vocabulary knowledge should deserve equal attention.1.2.2 Previous studies on the relationship between vocabulary size (VS) and reading comprehension (RC)With the development of studies within the scope of vocabulary knowledge, it is gradually realized that reading comprehension is related, to a certain extent, to the vocabulary knowledge. Although there is theoretical ground to believe that there is strong tie between the two, only a few empirical studies have been done on the role vocabulary knowledge plays in L2 reading comprehension, most of which were focused on the relationship between vocabulary size and reading comprehension.Schimitt and Meara (1997) found that word association knowledge and suffix knowledge do have some relationship with overall RC and general knowledge proficiency, as is measured by the TOEFL test. Laufer found good correlation between the vocabulary size tests and reading comprehension tests, namely .50(p<.05).Kodas (1989) study of 24 college students learning Japanese as a foreign language found equally strong correlations between a self-made vocabulary test and two reading tests, a cloze and a paragraph comprehension test. Koda reported a correlation of.69 (P<.01) between the learners scores on the vocabulary test and their scores on the cloze test and a correlation of .74(P<.01) between vocabulary test and their paragraph comprehension test scores.In the attempt to understand the aspects of vocabulary knowledge, a number of L1 researchers have noted the depth of vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension. However, with regard to L2 research, the conclusion doesnt necessarily hold water, and even fewer empirical studies have been conducted on it. As is mentioned above, Qians (1999) study is among the few studies concerning the relationship between DVK and RC. His studies explored the relationship between English majors depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension in ESL and found these three elements are in high and positive correlation. Other Chinese scholars such as Zhang Xuebin (2006), Li Jun (2002) and Lv changgong (2004) also did similar researchers. In spite of the slight conflicts in the degree of correlation between them, all of them prove the depth of vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension enjoys a close positive relationship.1.2.3 Summary and evaluation of previous studies As is mentioned above, various researches both home and abroad have been done concerning the relationship between VS and DVK within the scope of vocabulary knowledge as well as that between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension.To sum up, the studies mainly bear following characteristics:First, the studies are mostly based on former definitions of vocabulary knowledge, and most of them focus on meaning and collocation of words, which is due to the difficulty in dealing with other aspects of vocabulary knowledge.Second, most of the studies deal with the correlation at a certain time, and few longitudinal studies have been done, which is more difficult to control.Third, as for the participants of the studies, most of them are advanced learners, who have a better mastery of the vocabulary knowledge, while the research on lower-level learners is relatively limited.All in all, the importance of vocabulary knowledge attached to reading comprehension is commonly accepted. This study intends to explore how much are they interrelated with each other for junior high students, who are neglected by many former researchers, and make further analysis to see if the result is tenable as that in Qians studies.Chapter Two Methodology2.1 Research questionsThe main purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationship between breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge as well as vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension in EFL, with a special emphasis on the role of depth of vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension. It is designed to answer the following questions:(1) How do scores on breadth, depth of knowledge and reading comprehension correlate with each other?(2) To what extent do scores on breadth of vocabulary knowledge contribute to predicate learners performance in reading comprehension?(3) To what extent do scores on depth of vocabulary knowledge contribute to predication learners performance in reading comprehension?2.2 SubjectsThe participants of the study are 121 junior high students of two intact classes from Junior High School Attached to Shandong University, who have just finished their second year in junior high school. Among the tests collected, 72 are valid, the other 50 are excluded because some of the participants forgot to write their names and others conducted an expl