Vocabulary Assessment

This study aims to develop two equivalent forms of the Guessing from Context Test (GCT) and provide its preliminary validity evidence. The GCT is a diagnostic test of the guessing skill and measures the following three important steps in guessing: identifying the part of speech of an unknown word, finding its discourse clue, and deriving its meaning. The test was administered to 428 Japanese learners of English. The results indicate that the two forms each with 20 question sets are equivalent in terms of item difficulty distribution and representativeness of the construct being measured. A wide range of validity evidence was provided using Messick's validation framework , the Rasch model, qualitative investigations into the relationships to actual guessing, and proposals for score interpretation.

This study examined the impact of providing access to word pronunciation on the assessment of L2 Chinese learners’ vocabulary knowledge. Chinese heritage learners (HLs) and foreign language learners (FLs) studying in American universities undertook a computer-based test in which they had first to select a picture that represented the meaning of a target word presented in characters only, and then answer the same item presented in both characters and pinyin (i.e. the alphabetic system to facilitate the pronunciation of characters). The provision of pinyin substantially increased the test reliability for both groups of learners but the differences between the no-pinyin and pinyin conditions were less marked for FLs than HLs. In the no-pinyin condition, the groups showed no significant score difference, whereas in the pinyin condition, HLs significantly outperformed FLs. The proportion of HLs who successfully corrected their original choices following provision of pinyin was also notably higher. These findings suggest that provision of pinyin impacted the two groups differentially. Implications for vocabulary knowledge assessment for different types of Chinese learners are discussed.

The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) is a widely used test of receptive vocabulary, but no researchers to date have examined the performance of low-educated, low-literate L2 adults, or compared these individuals' performances to their more highly educated peers. In this study, we used many-facet Rasch analysis and mixed-effects linear regression to determine the impact of educational background and other demographic variables on PPVT test performance. The analyses rely on the performance data of 1014 adult learners of Dutch as a second language on the Dutch version of the PPVT (PPVT-III-NL). The results show that a substantial proportion of score variance can be attributed to educational background variables and to the educational tracks the participants followed. These tracks, which cater to the needs of different L2 learner profiles, appear to exacerbate rather than mediate any performance differences. Although this study provides evidence of performance differences and differential item functioning resulting from linguistic, demographic, and educational variables, it offers no data to invalidate the use of the PPVT on low-educated L2 adults.

The Lexvaardig project, developed at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, aims to help advanced students of foreign languages to develop lexical competence by providing them with a body of annotated texts from which they can choose freely, an informal introduction to lexicology and a personal database. After an initial training in reception, production and resourcing skills, students improve their awareness of lexical issues by identifying and noting phenomena in texts of their own choosing: they explore different kinds of lexical unit, discover items with interesting phonological, orthographic and morphological characteristics, investigate the syntactic and semantic properties of words, and inquire into their various social, cultural and historical aspects. The project seeks to put many of the insights in contemporary lexicological research into practice, hoping thereby to give students positive motivation towards vocabulary learning. By instilling respect for the immeasurable complexity of the lexicon, Lexvaardig creates a constructive attitude to the task of acquiring a rich and flexible command of the target lexicon, while also giving the students an introduction to hands-on linguistic and textual analysis in an attractive computerized learning environment.

El proyecto 'Lexvaardig', desarrollado en la Universidad Libre de Ámsterdam (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), tiene como objetivo ayudar al estudiante de lenguas extranjeras de nivel avanzado a desarrollar la competencia léxica proporcionándole un corpus de textos anotados de entre los que puede elegir libremente, una introducción informal a la lexicología y una base de datos personal. Tras una preparación inicial en las destrezas de recepción, producción y la del uso de obras de referencia, el estudiante mejora su conciencia sobre las cuestiones léxicas mediante la identificación y la observación de fenómenos en textos de su propia elección: explora tipos diferentes de unidad léxica, descubre ejemplos con características fonológicas, ortográficas y morfológicas interesantes, investiga las propiedades sintácticas y semánticas de las palabras, e indaga en sus diversos aspectos sociales, culturales e históricos. El proyecto busca poner en práctica muchas de las ideas en la investigación lexicológica contemporánea, y con ello espera dar al estudiante motivación positiva para el aprendizaje del vocabulario. Al inculcar respeto por la inconmensurable complejidad del léxico, Lexvaardig crea una actitud constructiva hacia la tarea de adquirir un dominio rico y flexible del lexicón meta, al mismo tiempo que proporciona al estudiante una introducción al análisis lingüístico y textual práctico en un atractivo entorno de aprendizaje informatizado.

Le projet 'Lexvaardig', élaboré à l'Université Libre d'Amsterdam (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), a pour objectif d'aider l'étudiant de langues étrangéres de niveau avancé à développer sa compétence lexicale en lui fournissant un choix de textes annotés, une introduction informelle à la lexicologie et une banque de données personnelle. Grâce à une réflexion préalable sur la réception et la production lexicales et une initiation à l'utilisation d'ouvrages de référence, l'étudiant se sensibilise aux questions lexicales en identifiant et observant des phénomènes pertinents dans des textes qu'il a lui-même choisis. II explore différents types d'unité lexicale, découvre des exemples qui manifestent des caractéristiques phonologiques, orthographiques et morphologiques intéressantes, est amené à examiner les propriétés syntaxiques et sémantiques des mots, et à se pencher sur la dimension socioculturelle et historique de ces mots. Le projet met en pratique diverses idées et démarches qui proviennent des recherches lexicologiques contemporaines afin de créer chez l'étudiant une motivation positive à l'égard de l'apprentissage du vocabulaire. En inculquant le respect de la complexité incomparable du lexique, Lexvaardig crée une attitude constructive qui permet l'acquisition d'une maîtrise riche et flexible de la langue cible. En même temps, l'étudiant est initié à la pratique de l'analyse linguistique et textuelle dans un environnement attrayant d'apprentissage informatisé.