Article published in:
Approaches to learning, testing, and researching L2 vocabularyEdited by Stuart Webb
[ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics 169:1] 2018
► pp. 212–231
Vocabulary knowledge and listening comprehension at an intermediate level in English and French as foreign languages
An approximate replication study of Stæhr (2009)
Britta Kestemont | KU Leuven
Kris Heylen | KU Leuven
Piet Desmet | ITEC (KU Leuven – imec)
Elke Peters | KU Leuven
The present study aims to replicate Stæhr’s (2009) study on the relationship between
vocabulary knowledge and listening comprehension. To explore the generalizability of Stæhr’s findings, two experiments were
conducted. However, the study changed the population (Flemish learners) and proficiency level of the materials in the first
experiment (intermediate) and also the language in the second experiment (French). Our results generally confirm Stæhr’s findings.
We also found a positive correlation between vocabulary knowledge and listening comprehension. Although our findings reveal that
learners probably need fewer words for adequate listening comprehension at an intermediate proficiency level, our study also
showed that learners who knew more words had higher listening comprehension scores. Finally, our study seems to suggest that
learners might need less lexical coverage for intermediate listening.
Keywords: vocabulary knowledge, listening comprehension, intermediate level, English as a foreign language, French as a foreign language
Published online: 16 April 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.00013.nor
https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.00013.nor
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