Email this article 
Hide
Show all
The Predictor Factor of Reading Comprehension Performance in English as a Foreign Language: Breadth or Depth
Abstract
The present study explored the association among vocabulary breadth/size, depth/quality of vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension in English as a foreign language. The main intention of this research was to explore the association of vocabulary knowledge depth/quality and reading comprehension performance. This study was also intended to find out which aspects of vocabulary knowledge, breadth/size or depth/quality, has more significant association with determining EFL learners’ reading comprehension performance. The Vocabulary Level Test (VLT), Word Associates Test (WAT), and Reading Comprehension test (IELTS) have been administered among all the respondents. The participants were 220 adult male and female EFL learners who were learning English in advanced level in BAHAR institute, Shiraz, Iran. The findings revealed that 1) test scores on vocabulary size/ breadth, depth/ quality of vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension were positively correlated, 2) vocabulary size/ breadth was a stronger predictor of reading comprehension than depth/ Quality of vocabulary knowledge.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Beck, I. L., Perfetti, C., and McKeown, M. (1982). Effects of long-term vocabulary instruction on lexical access and reading comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology. 74(4): 506-521.
Bernhardt, E. B. (1991). Reading development in a second-language. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation.
Carrell, P. (1991). Second language reading: Reading ability or language proficiency. Applied Linguistics. 12 (2): 159‐179.
Chall, J. S. (1987). Two vocabularies for reading: recognition and meaning. In M. G. Mckeown and M. E. Curtis (Eds.). The nature of vocabulary acquisition (pp. 7-17), Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Chen, J. (2009). The impact of introducing medical emergency team system on the documentations of vital signs. Official Journal of the European Resuscitation Council. 80: 35-43.
Cunningham, A. E., and Stanovich, K. E. (1997). Early reading acquisition and its relation to reading experience and ability 10 years later. Developmental Psychology. 33: 934-945.
Urquhart, A. H., and Weir, C. (1998). Reading in a second language. London: Longman.
Davis, F. B. (1968). Research in comprehension in reading. Reading Research Quarterly. 3: 499-545.
Grabe, W., and Stoller, F. L. (2002). Teaching and Researching Reading. New York: Longman.
Green, S. B., Salkind, N. J., and Akey, T. M. (1997). Using SPSS for Windows: Analyzing and understanding data.. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Guilford, J. P. (1956). Fundamental Statistics in Psychology and Education. New York: McGraw Hill.
Guo, Y. (2011). Roles of general versus second language (L2) knowledge in L2 reading comprehension. Reading in a Foreign Language . 23 (1): 42-64.
Haynes, M., and Baker, I. (1993). American and Chinese readers learning from lexical familiarization in English text. In T. Huckin, M. Haynes, and J. Coady (Eds.), second language reading and vocabulary learning (pp. 130-152). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Haastrup, K., and Henriksen, B. (2000). Vocabulary acquisition: Acquiring depth of knowledge through network building. International Journal of Applied Linguistics. 10: 221-240.
Koda, K. (1989). The effects of transferred vocabulary knowledge on the development of L2 reading proficiency. Foreign Language Annals. 22: 529-542.
Laufer, B. (1992). How much lexis is necessary for reading comprehension? In P. Arnaud, and H. Bejoint (Eds.), Vocabulary and applied linguistics (pp. 126-132). London: Macmillan.
Laufer, B. (1997). The lexical plight in second language reading: words you don’t know, words you think you know, and words you can’t guess. In J. Coady, and T. Huckin (Eds.), Second language vocabulary acquisition: A Rational for pedagogy (pp. 20-34). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Levine, A., Ferenz, O., Reves, T., ( 2000). EFL academic reading and modern technology: How can we turn our students into independent critical readers? TESL-EJ. 4(4):134-142.
Meara, P. (1996). The dimensions of lexical competence. In G. Brown, K. Malmkjaer, and J. Williams (Eds.), Performance and competence in second language acquisition (pp. 35-53). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Nation, I. S. P. (1990). Teaching and Learning vocabulary. New York: Newbury House Publishers.
Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Nation, I. S. P., and Gu, P. Y. (2007). Focus on Vocabulary. Sydney: NCELTR, Macquarie University.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (NIH Publication No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Nassaji, H. (2004). The relationship between depth of vocabulary knowledge and L2 learners’ lexical inferencing strategy use and success. Canadian Modern Language Review. 61: 107-134.
Qian, D. D. (1999). Assessing the roles of depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension. Canadian Modern Language Review. 56: 282-307.
Qian, D. D. (2002). Investigating the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and academic reading comprehension: an assessment perspective. Language Learning. 52: 513-536.
Qian, D. D. (2008). From single word to passages: Contextual effects on predictive power of vocabulary measures for assessing reading performance. Language Assessment Quartely. 5: 1-19.
Qian, D. D., and Schedl, M. (2004). Evaluation of an in-depth vocabulary knowledge measure for assessing reading performance. Language Testing. 21: 28-52.
Rahmani, M., & Sadeghi, K. (2011). Effects of note-taking training on reading comprehension and recall. Reading. 11(2): 116-128.
Read, J. (1993). The development of a new measure of L2 vocabulary knowledge. Language Testing. 10: 355-371.
Read, J. (1998). Validating a test to measure depth of vocabulary knowledge. In A. Kunnan (ed.), Validation in language assessment (pp. 41-60). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Read, J. (2000). Assessing Vocabulary Knowledge. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Richards, J. C., and Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Approaches and methods in language teaching. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Schmitt, N., Schmitt, D., and Clapham, C. (2001). Developing and exploring the behavior of two new versions of the Vocabulary Levels Test. Language Testing. 18: 55-88.
Schoonen, R. and Verhallen, M. (2008) The assessment of deep word knowledge in young first and second language learners. Language Testing. 25(2): 211-236.
Stahl, S. A., and Nagy, W. E. (2006). Teaching word meanings. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Wallace, C. (2008). Vocabulary: the key to teaching English language learners to read. Education Digest. 73(9): 36-39.
Wesche, M., and Paribakht, T. S. (1996). Assessing second language vocabulary knowledge: depth versus breadth. Canadian Modern Language Review. 53: 13-40.
Zhang, L. J., and Anual, S. B. (2008). The role of vocabulary in reading comprehesnion: The case of secondary school students learning English in Singapore. RELC Journal. 39: 51-76.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.2n.2p.179
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
2012-2023 (CC-BY) Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD.
International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature
To make sure that you can receive messages from us, please add the journal emails into your e-mail 'safe list'. If you do not receive e-mail in your 'inbox', check your 'bulk mail' or 'junk mail' folders.