Cover not available
Article published In:
Approaches to learning, testing, and researching L2 vocabulary
Edited by Stuart Webb
[ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics 169:1] 2018
► pp. 95–114

Loanword proportion in vocabulary size tests

Does it make a difference?

| University of Haifa
| University of Haifa

We investigated the effect of English-Hebrew loanwords on English vocabulary test scores when the number of loanwords in the test is random and when it is representative of their proportion in the vocabulary lists from which the test items were taken. 303 EFL learners, speakers of Hebrew as L1, at three L2 proficiency levels, received tests with no loanwords, with a representative number of loanwords and with a random number of loanwords in four modalities: word form recall, word meaning recall, word form recognition, word meaning recognition. Though different effects were found for different modalities and different language proficiencies, the score increases from the representative loanword test version to the random loanword version were low and the effect sizes of the differences were very low. We suggest that the inclusion of loanwords in vocabulary tests may not inflate the true vocabulary knowledge score.

Keywords: loanwords, cognates, random number of loanwords, representative number of loanwords, vocabulary size tests, L2 vocabulary testing, loanword effect on vocabulary test
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The study
    • 2.1Research aim and questions
    • 2.2Participants
    • 2.3Instruments, procedure and data analysis
      • The original – the ‘random number of loanwords’ version
      • The ‘non loanword’ test version
      • The ‘representative number of loanwords’ version
  • 3.Results
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 16 April 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.00008.lau
References
Aviad-Levitzky, T., Laufer, B., & Goldstein, Z.
In preparation). A new test of computer adaptive test of size and strength (CATSS): A validation study.
Cobb, T.
(2000) One size fits all? Francophone learners and English vocabulary tests. Canadian Modern Language Review, 571, 295–324. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cobb. T. Lextutor
Retrieved from [URL] ‘ongoing unpublished development work’
Coxhead, A.
(2000), A New Academic Word List. TESOL Quarterly, 34(2) 213–238. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Daulton, F. E.
(2008) Japan’s built-in lexicon of English-based loanwords. Clevedon: Multilingual MattersGoogle Scholar
Elgort, I.
(2013) Effects of L1 definitions and cognate status of test items on the Vocabulary Size Test. Language Testing, 30(2) 253–272. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jordan, E.
(2012) Cognates in vocabulary size testing – A distorting influence? Language Testing in Asia, 2(3), 5–17. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Laufer, B., & Nation, P.
(1999) A vocabulary-size test of controlled productive ability. Language Testing, 16(1), 33–51. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Laufer, B., & Goldstein, Z.
(2004) Testing vocabulary knowledge: Size, strength, and computer adaptiveness. Language Learning, 541, 469–52. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Laufer, B., Elder, C., Hill, K., & Congdon, P.
(2004) Size and strength: Do we need both to measure vocabulary knowledge? Language Testing, 211, 202–226. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Laufer, B., & McLean, S.
(2016) Loanwords and vocabulary size test scores: A case of different estimates for different L1 learners. Language Assessment Quarterly, 13(3), 202–2177. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McLean, S., Hogg, N., & Kramer, B.
(2014) Estimations of Japanese university learners’ English vocabulary sizes using the vocabulary size test. Vocabulary Learning and Instruction, 3(2), 47–55. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McLean, S., Kramer, B., & Beglar, D.
(2015) The creation and validation of a listening vocabulary levels test. Language Teaching Research, 19(6), 741–760. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McLean, S., & Kramer, B.
(2016) The development of a Japanese bilingual version of the New Vocabulary Levels Test. VERB, 5(1), 2–5.Google Scholar
Nation, I. S. P.
(1983) Testing and teaching vocabulary. Guidelines, 51, 12–25.Google Scholar
Nation, I. S. P., & Beglar, D.
(2007) A vocabulary size test. The Language Teacher, 311, 9–13Google Scholar
Schmitt, N., Schmitt, D. & Clapham, C.
(2001) Developing and exploring the behaviour of two new versions of the Vocabulary Levels Test. Language Testing, 18(1), 55–88. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Webb, S., Sasao, Y., & Ballance, O.
(2017) The updated Vocabulary Levels Test: Developing and validating two new forms of the VLT. ITL – International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 168(1), 34–70. Available on [URL].
Cited by

Cited by 11 other publications

B. Silva, Breno
2022. The Importance of General and Academic Vocabulary Learning. In Writing to Learn Academic Words [Second Language Learning and Teaching, ], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Laufer, Batia & Esther Emma Vaisman
2023. Out‐of‐classroom L2 vocabulary acquisition: The effects of digital activities and school vocabulary. The Modern Language Journal 107:4 ► pp. 854 ff. DOI logo
Noreillie, Ann-Sophie, Britta Kestemont, Kris Heylen, Piet Desmet & Elke Peters
2018. Vocabulary knowledge and listening comprehension at an intermediate level in English and French as foreign languages. ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics 169:1 ► pp. 212 ff. DOI logo
Noreillie, Ann-Sophie, Britta Kestemont, Kris Heylen, Piet Desmet & Elke Peters
2020. Vocabulary knowledge and listening comprehension at an intermediate level in English and French as foreign languages. In Approaches to Learning, Testing and Researching L2 Vocabulary [Benjamins Current Topics, 109], ► pp. 213 ff. DOI logo
Otwinowska, Agnieszka, Małgorzata Foryś‐Nogala, Weronika Kobosko & Jakub Szewczyk
2020. Learning Orthographic Cognates and Non‐Cognates in the Classroom: Does Awareness of Cross‐Linguistic Similarity Matter?. Language Learning 70:3 ► pp. 685 ff. DOI logo
Peters, Elke
2020. The effect of out-of-class exposure to English language media on learners’ vocabulary knowledge. In Approaches to Learning, Testing and Researching L2 Vocabulary [Benjamins Current Topics, 109], ► pp. 143 ff. DOI logo
Peters, Elke, Tom Velghe & Tinne Van Rompaey
2019. The VocabLab tests. ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics 170:1 ► pp. 53 ff. DOI logo
Silva, Breno B. & Agnieszka Otwinowska
2019. VST as a reliable academic placement tool despite cognate inflation effects. English for Specific Purposes 54 ► pp. 35 ff. DOI logo
Snoder, Per & Batia Laufer
2022. EFL Learners' Receptive Knowledge of Derived Words: The Case of Swedish Adolescents. TESOL Quarterly 56:4 ► pp. 1242 ff. DOI logo
Zeng, Yuntao, Qiuxia Lu, Matthew P. Wallace, Yawei Guo, Chun-Wai Fan & Xiaofei Chen
2022. Understanding Sustainable Development of English Vocabulary Acquisition: Evidence from Chinese EFL Learners. Sustainability 14:11 ► pp. 6532 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2022. Research Methods in Vocabulary Studies [Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 2], DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.