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ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 160 (2010) ► pp.112–131

L2 English Receptive and Productive Vocabulary in Senior Learners

| Universidad Pública de Navarra
| Universidad del País Vasco – Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea
This study aims to analyse the effect of previous foreign language (FL) contact on the acquisition of receptive and productive vocabulary by senior learners in the early stages of English acquisition. Additionally, we also explore the relationship between receptive vocabulary and productive vocabulary as well as the link between lexical competence and reading comprehension. Results confirm that false beginners consistently outperform true beginners, supporting previous research findings (Fukai, 2000; Watt, 1997). Receptive and productive vocabulary were found to be positively correlated, which indicates a direct relationship between the passive and the active knowledge of FL vocabulary. In agreement with previous research (Agustín Llach and Terrazas Gallego, 2009; Laufer, 1992; Quian, 2002), we found a positive correlation between senior learners’ lexical competence and their reading comprehension.
Published online: 1 January 2010
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https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.160.06adr
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Cited by one other publication

del Puerto, Francisco Gallardo & María Martínez Adrián
2014. The Incidence of Previous Foreign Language Contact in a Lexical Availability Task: A Study of Senior Learners. In Lexical Availability in English and Spanish as a Second Language [Educational Linguistics, 17], ► pp. 53 ff. DOI logo

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