An Investigation into the Relationship between Vocabulary Knowledge and Academic Listening Comprehension

关于词汇知识与学术听力关系的研究

1. Introduction

It is widely acknowledged that vocabulary knowledge is a reliable predictor of learners#8217; proficiency in foreign language. (Stahr, 2009) Empirical studies (Meara, 1996; Qian, 1999; Read, 1989; Wesche amp; Paribakht, 1996), proved that ”breadth#8217; (in single words, the number of words are known) and ”depth#8217; (how well the words are known) are the two dimensions of vocabulary knowledge. (Anderson amp; Freebody, 1981) Both breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge are regarded as the key to command the listening context. (Qian, 1998) Too many investigations about vocabulary breadth sprang up in 1980s. While the depth of vocabulary knowledge was not researched until 21^st century in China. In addition, most of the studies about vocabulary knowledge focused on reading, much more than listening.

Listening comprehension is regarded as a receptive skill of learning foreign language, which plays an indispensable role in language learning. (Goh, 2000; Mendelsohn, 2008) It is a conscious processing of the auditory stimuli that decoding information in communication.(Richard amp; Lynn, 2010) Many language learners consider listening as the most difficult skill of language learning.(Graham, 2003; Hasan, 2000; Kim, 2002) Listening comprehension can be affected by many variables, one of which is lexical competence. More efficient word recognition may contribute to the success of listening. (Matthews amp; Cheng, 2015)

The present study was motivated by a lack of empirical studies on exploring the role of vocabulary knowledge in listening comprehension. Armed with the knowledge above, the researcher deems it necessary to assess the roles of breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge in listening comprehension, and thus promote the core points and explore some implications for teaching listening skills to English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students. To this end, an empirical study investigating the extent to which lexical repertoire contributes to the success of listening comprehension is necessary. The present study investigated the roles of breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge in EFL students#8217; academic International English Language Testing System (IELTS) listening comprehension.

2. Literature Review

2.1. The breadth of vocabulary knowledge

The breadth of vocabulary knowledge is regarded as vocabulary size. Put simply, it is concerned with the number of words that a learner at a certain level knows (Nation, 2001). It has long been acknowledged that vocabulary size plays an important role in EFL learners#8217; academic competency in English (Nation, 1993; Staelig;hr, 2008). Shimamoto (2000) compared the results of four different tests with the results of Nation#8217;s (1990) vocabulary level test, and concluded that the various aspects of vocabulary knowledge were interconnected. The mentioned research aroused the awareness of probing further into vocabulary knowledge, for which the breadth of vocabulary knowledge was found to be easier to measure than the depth of vocabulary knowledge because of its faster accessibility. The threshold level, however, still remains to be a controversial issue in EFL vocabulary research. In other words, how large a vocabulary size should an EFL learner need in order to understand academic material is a much-discussed issue.