The Relationship Between Vocabulary Size and Vocabulary Depth: A Study of IELTS Test Takers in Pakistan

Main Article Content

Shumaila Aman
Aleem Shakir
Hafsa Tazeen

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between the vocabulary size and the vocabulary depth of Pakistan's undergraduate college and university IELTS test-takers. It follows the correlation study. The receptive vocabulary size and the vocabulary depth were accumulated from one hundred ninety-one undergraduate IELTS test takers. It focused on the correlations between two language assessments: the vocabulary size test (VST) and the Word Associations Test (WAT). Receptive vocabulary size was calculated by using the VST by Nation and Begler and the Word WAT by Read (1993) and used for the depth of student vocabulary. The correlation and linear regression were analyzed using SPSS. The independent sample t-test was used to analyze the difference between male and female significant and minor city scores on the VST and WAT. The results reveal a strong and high relationship between vocabulary size and vocabulary depth. The group comparison results revealed no difference in the scores of males and females or major and minor cities on the VST. There was a minor difference in the scores of males and females or major and minor cities on the WAT. Teachers should teach many related vocabulary items as profoundly as feasible.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Article Details

How to Cite
Aman, S., Shakir, A., & Tazeen, H. (2022). The Relationship Between Vocabulary Size and Vocabulary Depth: A Study of IELTS Test Takers in Pakistan . Linguistic Forum - A Journal of Linguistics, 4(2), 6–14. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14799871
Section
Articles
Author Biographies

Shumaila Aman, MPhil, Department of Applied Linguistics, Government College University, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.

Shumaila Aman is a visiting lecturer at the department of English in Ghazi university Dera Ghazi Khan. She completed M.Phil. in Applied Linguistics from Government College University Faisalabad. Her research interests are Linguistics, English Language Teaching and Language Testing.

Aleem Shakir, Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Linguistics, Government College University, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.

Dr. Aleem Shakir is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Linguistics, Government College University, Faisalabad. His areas of interests are ELT, Phonetics and Phonology, ESP, Testing and Evaluation and Corpus Linguistics.

Hafsa Tazeen, MPhil, Department of Applied Linguistics, Government College University, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.

Hafsa Tazeen is a MPhil Scholar and a lecturer at IGC Sargodha. She has recently completed her MPhil applied linguistics from Government College University, Faisalabad. Her area of interest is Language testing.

References

Agustín Llach, M. P. (2009). Gender Differences in Vocabulary Acquisition in the Foreign Language in Primary Education: Evidence from Lexical Errors, Biblioteca de Investigación no 54, Logroño: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de La Rioja.

Akbarian, I. H. (2010). The relationship between vocabulary size and depth for ESP/EAP learners. The system, 38(3), pp. 391-401.

Alfatle, A. B. M. (2016). Investigating the growth of vocabulary size and depth of word knowledge in Iraqi foreign language learners of English.

Al-Nujaidi, A. H. (2003). The relationship between vocabulary size, reading strategies, and EFL learners’ reading comprehension in Saudi Arabia. Oklahoma State University.

Boyle, J. P. (1987). Sex differences in listening vocabulary. Language learning, 37(2), pp. 273-284.

Brantmeier, C. (2003). Does gender make a difference? Passage content and comprehension in second language reading.

Catalán, R. M. J., & Alba, J. O. (2009). Girls’ and boys’ lexical availability in EFL. ITL-International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 158(1), pp. 57-76.

Catalán, R. M. J., & Gallego, M. T. (2005). The receptive vocabulary of English foreign language young learners. Journal of English Studies, (5), pp. 173-192.

Chen, C. (2020). The role of vocabulary breadth and depth in IELTS academic reading tests.

Chiang, H. H. (2018). English vocabulary size as a predictor of TOEIC listening and reading achievement among EFL students in Taiwan. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 8(2), pp. 203-212.

Coxhead, A. (2000). A new academic word list. TESOL quarterly, 34(2), pp. 213-238.

D'Anna, C. A., Zechmeister, E. B., & Hall, J. W. (1991). Toward a meaningful definition of vocabulary size. Journal of Reading Behavior, 23(1), pp. 109-122.

Elmasry, H. I. (2012). Depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge: assessing their roles in reading comprehension of high-school EFL learners in the UAE (Doctoral dissertation, The British University in Dubai.

Farhady, H. (1982). Measures of language proficiency from the learner's perspective. TESOL quarterly, 16(1), pp. 43-59.

Goulden, R., Nation, P., & Read, J. (1990). How large can a receptive vocabulary be?. Applied linguistics, 11(4), pp. 341-363.

Haastrup, K., & Henriksen, B. (2000). Vocabulary acquisition: Acquiring depth of knowledge through network building. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 10(2), pp. 221-240.

Harkio, N., & Pietilä, P. (2016). The role of vocabulary breadth and depth in reading comprehension: A quantitative study of Finnish EFL learners. Journal of Language teaching and research, 7(6), p. 1079.

Hellekant, J. (1994). Are multiple-choice tests unfair to girls? System, 22(3), pp. 349-352.

Horst, M., Cobb, T., & Meara, P. (1998). Beyond a clockwork orange: Acquiring second language vocabulary through reading.

Jiménez Catalán, R. M., & Ojeda Alba, J. (2008). ‘The English vocabulary of girls and boys: Similarities or differences? Evidence from a corpus-based study, in Language and Gender Research Methodology. Harrington, K., Litosseliti, L., Saunton, H. and Sunderland, J. (eds) London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kolb, B., Whishaw, I. Q., & Teskey, G. C. (2001). An introduction to brain and behavior (p. 608). New York: Worth. Laufer (eds.), Vocabulary in a second language: selection, acquisition, and testing. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 209–227.

Lee, S., Chiu, M. Y., Tsang, A., Chui, H., & Kleinman, A. (2006). Stigmatizing experience and structural discrimination associated with the treatment of schizophrenia in Hong Kong. Social Science & Medicine, 62(7), pp. 1685-1696.

Li, M., & Kirby, J. R. (2015). The effects of vocabulary breadth and depth on English reading. Applied Linguistics, 36(5), pp. 611-634.

Macmillan. Schmitt, N. (2014). Size and depth of vocabulary knowledge: What the research shows. Language Learning, 64(4), pp. 913–951.

Meara, P. (2002). The rediscovery of vocabulary. Second Language Research, 18(4), pp. 393-407.

Mehrpour, S., Razmjoo, S. A., & Kian, P. (2011). The Relationship between Depth and Breadth of Vocabulary Knowledge and Reading Comprehension among Iranian EFL Learners. Journal of English language teaching and learning, 2(222), pp. 97-127.

Milton, J. (2009). Measuring second language vocabulary acquisition (Vol. 45). Multilingual Matters, (20).

Moghadam, S. H. (2012). The relationship between Breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge And Reading Comprehension (Doctoral dissertation, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia).

Moinzadeh, A., & Moslehpour, R. (2012). Depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge: which matters in reading comprehension of Iranian EFL learners? Journal of Language Teaching & Research, 3(5).

Moreno. (2005). Can PLex accurately measure lexical richness in the written production of young learners of EFL Nation I. S. P. 1983. Testing and teaching vocabulary. Guidelines 5(1), pp. 12-25.

Nation I. S. P. 1990. Teaching and Learning Vocabulary. New York: Newbury House.

Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge University Press.

Nation, P., & Waring, R. (1997). Vocabulary size, text coverage and word lists. Vocabulary: Description, acquisition and pedagogy, 14, pp. 6-19.

Nurweni, A., & Read, J. (1999). The English vocabulary knowledge of Indonesian university students. English for Specific Purposes, 18(2), pp. 161-175.

Qian, D. D. (1999). Assessing the roles of depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension. Canadian Modern Language Review, 56, pp. 282–308.

Qian, D. D. (2002). Investigating the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and academic reading performance: An assessment perspective. Language Learning, 52(3), pp. 513-536.

Qian, D. D., & Schedl, M. (2004). Evaluation of an in-depth vocabulary knowledge measure for assessing reading performance. Language Testing, 21(1), pp. 28-52.

Rahman, Z. U., & Iqbal, Z. (2019). Relationship of Breadth and Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge and Reading Comprehension in Learning English. Bulletin of Education and Research, 41(3), pp. 89-100.

Rashidi, N. & N. Khosravi. (2010). Assessing the role of depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension of Iranian EFL learners. Journal of Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics,14(1), pp. 81-108.

Read, J. (1989). Towards a deeper assessment of vocabulary knowledge. Paper presented at the 8th Annual Meeting of the International Association of Applied Linguistics, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Read, J. (1993). The development of a new measure of L2 vocabulary knowledge. Language Testing, 10, pp. 355-371.

Read, J. (1994). Refining the Word Associates Format as a measure of depth of vocabulary knowledge. Paper presented at the 19th Annual Congress of the Applied Linguistics Association of Australia. Melbourn, Australia.

Read, J. (1995). Validating the word associates format as a measure of depth of vocabulary knowledge. Paper presented at the 17th Language Testing Research Colloquium. Long Beach, CA.

Read, J. (1998). Validating a test to measure depth of vocabulary knowledge. In A. Kunnan (Ed.), Validation in language assessment, pp. 41–60.

Read, J. (2000). Assessing vocabulary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Read, J. (2004). Plumbing the depths: How should the construct of vocabulary knowledge be defined? In P. Bogaards & B.

Schmitt, N. & Meara, P. (1997). Researching vocabulary through word knowledge framework: Word associations and verbal suffixes. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19, pp. 17-36.

Schmitt, N. (1999). The relationship between TOEFL vocabulary items and meaning, association, collocation and word-class knowledge. Language testing, 16(2), pp. 189-216.

Schmitt, N. (2007). Current perspectives on vocabulary teaching and learning. International handbook of English language teaching, pp. 827-841.

Schmitt, N. (2010). Researching vocabulary: A vocabulary research manual. Springer, pp. 297-293.

Schmitt, N. (2014). Size and depth of vocabulary knowledge: What the research shows. Language Learning, 64, pp. 913–951.

Şen, Y., & Kuleli, M. (2015). The effect of vocabulary size and vocabulary depth on reading in EFL context. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 199, pp. 555-562.

Sokmen, A. (1993). Word association results: a window to the lexicon of ESL students. JALT Journal, 15(2), pp. 135-150.

Stehr, L. S. (2008). Vocabulary size and the skills of listening, reading, and writing. Language Learning Journal, 36(2), pp. 139-152.

Sunderland, J. (2000). New understandings of gender and language classroom research: texts, teacher talk and student talk. & Language Teaching Research, 4, 2, pp. 149–173.

Vafaee, P. (2016). The relative significance of syntactic knowledge and vocabulary knowledge in second language listening comprehension (Doctoral dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park).

Verhallen, M., & Schoonen, R. (1998). Lexical knowledge in L1 and L2 of third and fifth graders. Applied Linguistics, 19(4), pp. 452-470.

Waring, R. (1997). A study of receptive and productive vocabulary learning from word cards. Studies in Foreign Languages and Literature, 21(1), pp. 94–114. Notre Dame Seishin University.

Wesche, M.,& Paribakht, T. S. (1996). Assessing second language vocabulary knowledge: depth versus breadth. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 53(1), pp. 13-40.

Yousif, A. S. A., & Ibrahim, S. A. M. I. (2012). The Role of Literature in Improving English Vocabulary for Secondary School Students (Doctoral dissertation, Sudan University of Science and Technology).

Zang, X., & Lu, Y. (2015, May). Towards the Strategies for English Vocabulary Development. In 1st International Conference on Arts, Design and Contemporary Education (ICADCE 2015) (pp. 597-601). Atlantis Press.