Comparing Effects of Two Types of Vocabulary Knowledge on Six Question Types in Reading Tests Among Japanese EFL Learners

• USHIRO Yuji

  University of Tsukuba

• HIRAI Nao

  Graduate School, University of Tsukuba

• HOSHINO Yuko

  Tokyo Fuji University

• NAKAGAWA Chikako

  Graduate School, University of Tsukuba:The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

• KAI Akari

  Graduate School, University of Tsukuba:The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

• IDE Megumi

  Graduate School, University of Tsukuba

• OKI Toshihide

  Graduate School, University of Tsukuba

• SUZUKI Shuhei

  Graduate School, University of Tsukuba

• TERADA Yoshihiro

  Graduate School, University of Tsukuba

• TAKAKI Shuichi

  Graduate School, University of Tsukuba

• SHIMIZU Haruka

  Graduate School, University of Tsukuba

Bibliographic Information

Other Title

• Comparing effects of two types of vocabulary knowledge on six question types in reading test among Japanese EFL learners

Abstract

The relationship between reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge has been examined in many studies. However, few studies so far have distinguished the vocabulary knowledge in isolation and in context. Addressing this point, this study considered two types of vocabulary tests: Mochizuki (1998) Vocabulary Size Test (VST) and TOEFL vocabulary items, and tried to clarify the relationship further. Adding to this, we classified question types in the reading test and examined each relationship with two types of vocabulary knowledge in order to differentiate reading items by the level of reading comprehension. The results of Experiment I suggested that regardless of the presence or absence of context, there was no significant difference between the correlation coefficients of the two vocabulary tests and TOEFL Reading scores. In addition, no correlation coefficients were significantly different in any question type, remaining the issue about whether the vocabulary tests in context and without context really differ or not. For the sake of investigating this point further, the word inference test was newly introduced in Experiment II to examine what knowledge or ability the two vocabulary tests measure. The results revealed a large overlap between VST and TOEFL vocabulary items. It suggests not only VST but also TOEFL vocabulary items which present target items in context tend to measure isolated vocabulary knowledge. Pedagogical implications for vocabulary testing and recommendations for further research are also discussed.

Journal

• JLTA Journal Kiyo

  JLTA Journal Kiyo 12 (0), 104-115, 2009

  Japan Language Testing Association

Details

• CRID: 1390001206073319680
• NII Article ID: 110009561387
• NII Article ID: 40016915057
• NII Book ID: AA11825708
• DOI: 10.20622/jltaj.12.0_104
• ISSN: 2433006X
• NDL BIB ID: 10506086
• Web Site: http://id.ndl.go.jp/bib/10506086
• Web Site: https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R000000004-I10506086
• Web Site: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jltaj/12/0/12_KJ00008421128/_pdf
• Text Lang: en
• Data Source:
  • JaLC
  • NDL
  • Crossref
  • CiNii Articles
  • KAKEN
• Abstract License Flag: Disallowed