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Squib published In:
Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism
Vol. 13:3 (2023) ► pp.299–314
Squib

The LexTALE as a measure of L2 global proficiency

A cautionary tale based on a partial replication of Lemhöfer and Broersma (2012)

ORCID logo | King’s College London
| The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
| Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
| Universidad de Granada

The role of proficiency is widely discussed in multilingual language acquisition research, and yet, there is little consensus as to how one should operationalize it in our empirical investigations. The present study assesses the validity of the LexTALE (Lemhöfer & Broersma, 2012) as a ‘quick and valid’ measure of global proficiency. We first provide an overview review of how the LexTALE has been used since its publication, showing that although the test has gained popularity in the last few years, its reliability has not been thoroughly examined. Thus, herein we present results of a partial replication of Lemhöfer and Broersma (2012), where we empirically assess the validity of the LexTALE as a measure of L2 global proficiency in two groups of learners of English with various degrees of proficiency (L1 Spanish, n = 288; L1 Chinese, n = 266). Results indicate that if we are to use LexTALE in our investigations, we should do so with caution as the analyses show that irrespective of the L1 and level of proficiency of the targeted participants, its reliability as a measure of global proficiency is under question evidenced by the low and moderate correlations found with a standardised measure of global proficiency.

Keywords: LexTALE, L2 global proficiency, vocabulary size, conceptual replication
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The LexTALE: What is it?
  • 3.The LexTALE: How has it been used?
  • 4.A partial replication of Lemhöfer and Broersma (2012)
  • 5.Methods
    • 5.1General procedure and instruments
    • 5.2Participants
  • 6.Results and discussion
  • 7.A concerning state of affairs and implications for future research
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 23 January 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.22048.pui
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