The use of lexical complexity for assessing difficulty in instructional videos

Although measures of lexical complexity are well established for printed texts, there is currently no equivalent work for videos. This study, therefore, aims to investigate whether existing lexical complexity measures can be extended to predict second language (L2) learners’ judgment of video difficulty. Using a corpus of 320 instructional videos, regression models were developed for explaining and predicting difficulty using indices of lexical sophistication, density, and diversity. Results of the study confirm key dimensions of lexical complexity in estimates of video difficulty. In particular, lexical frequency indices accounted for the largest variance in the assessment of video difficulty (R2 = .45). We conclude with implications for CALL and suggest areas of further research

How many words do you need to speak Arabic? An Arabic vocabulary size test

This study describes a vocabulary size test in Arabic used with 339 nativespeaking learners at school and university in Saudi Arabia. Native speakervocabulary size scores should provide targets for attainment for learners ofArabic, should inform the writers of course books and teaching materials,and the test itself should allow learners to monitor their progress towardsthe goal of fluency. Educated native speakers of Arabic possess arecognition vocabulary about 25,000 words, a total which is largecompared with equivalent test scores of native speakers of English. Theresults also suggest that acquisition increases in speed with age and thisis tentatively explained by the highly regular system of morphologicalderivation which Arabic uses and which, it is thought, is acquired inadolescence. This again appears different from English where the rate ofacquisition appears to decline with age. While the test appears reliableand valid, there are issues surrounding the definition of a word in Arabicand further research into how words are stored, retrieved and processedin Arabic is needed to inform the construction of further tests whichmight, it is thought, profitably use a more encompassing definition ofthe lemma as the basis for testing

Exploring Links Between Aural Lexical Knowledge and L2 Listening in Arabic and Japanese Speakers: A Close Replication of Cheng, Matthews, Lange and McLean (2022)

Aural lexical knowledge (ALK) is crucial for second language (L2) listening. Despite its importance, there is scant research that has validly explored the relationship between ALK and L2 listening across different English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts. In an effort to broaden this research base, the current study closely replicates a previous study, Cheng et al. (2022), which measured single-word ALK, phrasal verb ALK and L2 listening comprehension among participants with Chinese as a first language (L1). The current study administered the same instruments but did so among 147 Japanese and 131 Arabic-speaking English language learners. Results indicated that the capacity of ALK to predict variance in L2 listening for the Japanese group (R2 = .38) was similar to that observed in the original study (R2 = .42). However, the results for the Arabic-speaking group were very different to that of the original study and showed an unexpectedly strong relationship between ALK and L2 listening (R2 = .92). Future research directions and pedagogical implications are discussed

Predicting the academic achievement of multilingual students of English through vocabulary testing

Previous studies on the academic achievement (AA) of students who pursue education in English-medium instruction settings indicate that standardised international language tests demonstrate low predictive power for study success. Consequently, there seems to be clear value in exploring alternative means of determining influential correlators between language proficiency and academic performance, especially in countries where international tests are neither a prerequisite for university admission nor a cost-effective option. This study explored Hungarian native-speakers, members of a linguistic minority living in Romania, studying for a degree in English Language and Literature. English (L3) and Romanian (L2) form-meaning based receptive vocabulary tests have been employed to explore the extent to which they predict AA. The results show significant positive correlations between lexical knowledge in the tested languages and AA. However, regression analyses indicate that English vocabulary scores emerge as the best single predictors and explain over 30% of variance. This suggests that, in the case of typologically close languages, lexical tests are likely measuring the same underlying trait. Given the relatively high predictive power of vocabulary tests in relation to AA, we conclude that lexical knowledge is an important explanatory factor of AA, even in the case of multilinguals