Assessing vocabulary

Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-62741-2 - Assessing Vocabulary John Read Frontmatter More information Assessing Vocabulary © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-62741-2 - Assessing Vocabulary John Read Frontmatter More information THE CAMBRIDGE APPLIED LINGUISTICS SERIES Series editors: J. Charles Alderson and Lyle F. Bachman In this series: Assessing Reading by J. Charles Alderson Assessing Language for Speci®c Purposes by Dan Douglas © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-62741-2 - Assessing Vocabulary John Read Frontmatter More information Assessing Vocabulary John Read © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-62741-2 - Assessing Vocabulary John Read Frontmatter More information c a m b r i d g e u n i v e r s i t y p re s s Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521627412 © Cambridge University Press 2000 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2000 8th printing 2009 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library ISBN 978-0-521-62741-2 paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Information regarding prices, travel timetables and other factual information given in this work are correct at the time of first printing but Cambridge University Press does not guarantee the accuracy of such information thereafter. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-62741-2 - Assessing Vocabulary John Read Frontmatter More information For my mother, Joyce Read © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-62741-2 - Assessing Vocabulary John Read Frontmatter More information Contents Series editors' preface page ix Acknowledgements xi 1 The place of vocabulary in language assessment 1 2 The nature of vocabulary 16 3 Research on vocabulary acquisition and use 38 4 Research on vocabulary assessment 74 5 Vocabulary tests: four case studies 117 6 The design of discrete vocabulary tests 150 7 Comprehensive measures of vocabulary 188 8 Further developments in vocabulary assessment 222 References 252 Index 271 vii © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-62741-2 - Assessing Vocabulary John Read Frontmatter More information Series editors' preface This book in the Cambridge Language Assessment Series is both timely and authoritative. It is timely because, after many years of neglect, the study of vocabulary in applied linguistics is now ¯ourishing. Research on vocabulary has made a signi®cant contribution to this development and will assume greater importance as researchers and practitioners recognise the need for a stronger theoretical foundation for their work and for more sophisticated ways of measuring vocabulary knowledge and use. It is also authoritative because it is written by a scholar who has devoted many years to the study of vocabulary in the context of second and foreign language learning, teaching and assessment. John Read is at the forefront of recent work in the area, and in this book provides us with an in-depth consideration of how the results of empirical research and thoughtful scholarship can be applied to assessment. The book is unique in bringing together the most important empirical research in this area for reference by test developers and classroom teachers. This re¯ects the fact that Read is not only a researcher on vocabulary assessment but also a language teacher familiar with the challenges faced by students acquiring vocabulary in a second language as well as by their teachers in assessing what the learners have acquired. Having established what is known about vocabulary knowledge and use, and how this might be measured, Read then deals at length with the implications for vocabulary assessment. He presents a framework that expands the traditional concept of a vocabulary test to cover a range of procedures for assessing the vocabulary knowledge of second language learners. These procedures can be useful for addressing practical assessment needs as well as pro- ix © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-62741-2 - Assessing Vocabulary John Read Frontmatter More information x Series editors' preface viding tools for conducting research into the lexical dimension of language. Finally, Read looks forward, taking us beyond current research and concerns, and speculates on new directions in vocabulary assessment, in particular the contribution of computerised corpus analysis. Just as Read's research has already in¯uenced the ®eld of vocabulary studies, it is likely that this ®nal chapter on future directions will itself, in the years to come, in¯uence the work of language testers, practitioners and researchers alike. Like other volumes in the series, it is practical in focus, addressing those issues which concern teachers, researchers and test developers. At the same time, it also takes account of what is known about relevant aspects of language, from the point of view of both language teaching, and research in language education and applied linguistics. It skilfully incorporates practical advice to teachers and item writers, clear and constructive criticism of existing tests and words of caution to those who believe that it is a simple matter to devise tasks that require learners to `write a sentence that shows you know the meaning of the word'. Read's book epitomises what we as series editors are trying to achieve: integrate theory and research in applied linguistics into language assessment, for the bene®t of the test developer and the classroom teacher. J. Charles Alderson Lyle F. Bachman © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-62741-2 - Assessing Vocabulary John Read Frontmatter More information Acknowledgements I wish to acknowledge ®rst of all the contribution of the series editors, Charles Alderson and Lyle Bachman. Charles originally asked me to write this volume at a time when I doubt that he had much reliable evidence of my capacity to deliver. I have appreciated his goodhumoured encouragement along the way and done my best to ensure that his initial con®dence in me was not misplaced. Lyle has been a demanding reader of my work and has spurred me on at various points to achieve more than I thought I was capable of. It was Paul Nation who ®rst interested me in vocabulary tests and in his gentle way acted as a mentor in the early years. Like any successful pupil I think I can teach him a thing or two about vocabulary assessment these days but I am very grateful for all the help he has generously given me up to the present time. Paul Meara gave a much-needed sense of direction to my research on vocabulary testing in 1990 when I spent three months working with him at Birkbeck College, London. Since then he has continued to stimulate me, like so many others, with his original ideas and his deep distrust of conventional truths. He too has always been ready to provide assistance and support when I needed it. I am particularly indebted to Carol Chapelle. We were delighted to discover our mutual interest in vocabulary testing in 1995 and she has subsequently had a great in¯uence on my thinking about the subject. She helped me to see the connections between language testing and second language vocabulary research which I had been struggling to make for some years before that. She has also challenged me to break new ground with this book and deserves much of the credit if I have succeeded in doing so. Norbert Schmitt has emerged as a productive scholar in second language vocabulary research in recent years while still retaining his xi © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-62741-2 - Assessing Vocabulary John Read Frontmatter More information xii Acknowledgements youthful enthusiasm for the subject. I have used him as a sounding board in the latter stages of the writing and bene®ted greatly from his wide knowledge of the ®eld. All of these people have read the book in manuscript form. While I was naturally ¯attered by their very positive evaluations of my work, their close reading of the text has obliged me to clarify a number of the main ideas, take a more sceptical view of certain matters and correct errors in the detail. Any remaining problems with the book are not for want of effort on their part and I thank them all for their dedication to the task. Part of the book was written during a period of leave I spent at the Centre for Advanced Research in English at the University of Birmingham in 1996. I am grateful to Malcolm Coulthard, Dave Willis and all the staff of English Language Research who provided me with such good facilities and congenial company during that time. My family ± Siew Hean, Melanie and Martin ± have been tolerant of my silent preoccupation with the project and my long hours on the home computer at times. I suppose I might have completed the work sooner without having them around, but my life would have been much the poorer for it. The publishers and I are grateful to the authors, publishers and others who have given permission for the use of copyright material identi®ed in the text. It has not been possible to identify, or trace, sources of all the materials used and in such cases the publishers would welcome information from copyright owners. Bachman, L.F. and A.S. Palmer. 1996. Language Testing in Practice. Oxford University Press; Pawley, A. and F.H. Syder. 1983. Two puzzles for linguistic theory: nativelike selection and nativelike ¯uency. In J.C. Richards and R.W. Schmidt (eds.). Language and Communication. Longman 1983, Reprinted by permission of Pearson Education Limited; Richards, J.C. 1976. The Role of Vocabulary Teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 10 (1). Page 83; Nation, I.S.P. 1990. Teaching and Learning Vocabulary. Heinle and Heinle; Nagy, W., P.A. Herman and R.C. Anderson. 1985. Learning words form context. Reading Research Quarterly, 20 (2) by permission of International Reading Association: Newark, USA; Sternberg, R.J. and J.S. Powell. 1983. Comprehending Verbal Comprehension. American Psychologist, 38 by permission of APA; Mondria, J.A. and M. Wit-De Boer. 1991. The effects of contextual richness on the guessability and the retention of words in a © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-62741-2 - Assessing Vocabulary John Read Frontmatter More information Acknowledgements xiii foreign language. Applied Linguistics, 12 (3) Oxford University Press; Tarone, E. 1978. Conscious communication strategies in interlanguage: a progress report. In H.D. Brown, C.A. Yorio and R. Crymes (eds.). On TESOL '77. Teaching and Learning English as a Second Language. Washington, DC: TESOL; ACTFL Pro®ciency Guidelines. 1986. Level descriptors from American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. ACTFL: Yonkers NY; Wesche, M. and T.S. Paribakht. 1996. Assessing second language vocabulary knowledge: depth versus breadth. Canadian Modern Language Review, 53 (1) page 17, UTP Journals: Toronto; J. McQueen. 1996. Rasch scaling: how valid is it as the basis for content-referenced descriptors of test performance? In G. Wigglesworth and C. Elder (eds.), The Language Testing Cycle: From Inception to Washback. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, Series S, No 13, page 152; Dolch, E.W. and D. Leeds. 1953. Vocabulary tests and depth of meaning. Journal of Educational Research 47 (3); Verhallen, M. and R. Schoonen. 1993. Lexical knowledge of monolingual and bilingual children. Applied Linguistics, 14 (4) Oxford University Press; Stalnaker and W. Kurath. 1935. A comparison of two types of foreign language vocabulary test. Journal of Educational Psychology 26 (6) by permission of APA; Hale, G.A., C.W. Rock, M.M. Hicks, F.A. Butler and J.W. Oller, Jr. 1989. The relation of multiple-choice cloze items to the Test of English as a Foreign Language. Language Testing, 6 (1), by permission of Arnold; Laufer, B. and P. Nation. 1995. Vocabulary size and use: Lexical richness in L2 written production. Applied Linguistics, 16 (3) Oxford University Press; Paribakht, T.S. and M. Wesche. 1997. Vocabulary enhancement activities and reading for meaning. In Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition. Coady and Huckin (eds.). Cambridge University Press; Oller, J.W. Jr. and B. Spolsky. 1979. The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). In Some Major Tests. Advances in Language Testing Series, 1. B. Spolsky (ed.), Arlington, VA: Center for Applied Linguistics; Pike, L.W. 1979. An Evaluation of Alternative Item formats for Testing English as a Foreign Language. TOEFL Research Reports, No 2. Educational Testing Service. Page 19; Hale, Stans®eld, Rock, Hicks, Butler and Oller 1988. Multiple Choice Cloze Items and the Test of English as a Foreign Language. TOEFL Research Reports, No 26. Educational Testing Service. Page 67; Henning, G. 1991. A Study of the Effects of Contextualization and Familiarization on Responses to the TOEFL Vocabulary Test Items. TOEFL Research Reports, No 35. Educational Testing Service. Page 4±5; TOEFL Sample Test. 5th © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-62741-2 - Assessing Vocabulary John Read Frontmatter More information xiv Acknowledgements Edition. 1995. Educational Testing Service. Page 34; TOEFL Sampler. [CD-ROM]. 1998. Educational Testing Service; TSE Rating Scale from the TSE Score User's Manual. Educational Testing Service. Page 21; Hughes. 1989. Testing for Language Teachers. Cambridge University Press; Clarke, M. and S. Silberstein. 1977. Toward a realization of the psycholinguistic principles in the ESL reading classroom. Language Learning, 27. Blackwell: Oxford; Goulden R., P. Nation and J. Read. 1990. How large can receptive vocabulary be? Applied Linguistics, 11. Oxford University Press; Nation, P. 1993. Measuring readiness for simpli®ed material: A test of the ®rst 1000 words of English. In M.L. Tickoo (ed.), Simpli®cation: Theory and Application. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre; Engber, C.A. 1995. The relationship of Lexical pro®ciency to the quality of ESL compositions. Journal of Second Language Writing, 4 (2); O'Loughlin, K. 1995. Lexical density in candidate output on direct and semi-direct versions of an oral pro®ciency test. Language Testing, 12 (2), by permission of Arnold; Jacobs, H.L., S.A. Zigraf, D.R. Wormuth, V.F. Hart®el and J.B. Hughey. 1981. Testing ESL Composition: A Practical Approach. Rowley, MA: Newbury House; Brown, J.D. and K. Bailey. 1984. A categorical instrument for scoring second language writing skills. Language Learning, 34 (4). Blackwell: Oxford; Weir, C.J. 1990. Communicative Language Testing. Prentice Hall 1990, Reprinted by permission of Pearson Education Limited; McCarthy, M. 1990. Vocabulary. Oxford University Press; © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org