The Impact of Vocabulary Proficiency on Vocabulary Use in EFL University Students’ L2 Writing

1. In the study, the number of word families of low frequency words was measured to compare the lexical use among different vocabulary levels students. In summary, the results of this study show that students who have higher language proficiency use more low frequency words. The findings also indicate that high-level students made much improvement than low-level students in vocabulary use in their revisions. EFL students’ vocabulary proficiency plays a significant role in L2 writing. That is, their vocabulary size will influence the lexical richness in the English compositions. Students with higher language proficiency will use more word families in their compositions. Write a composition in class for twenty minutes. Procedures The vocabulary levels tests The Impact of Vocabulary Proficiency on Vocabulary Use in EFL University Students’ L2 Writing Amy H. J. Li Department of English Language, Literature and Linguistics Providence University, Taichung, Taiwan Explaining the rules for the subjects. First drafts are collected by the researcher. Administering the vocabulary levels tests. Revise the compositions for homework. Scoring the tests. A total of two versions of a composition the subjects wrote were analyzed by LFP program to see the situation of the vocabulary use. Introduction Results & Discussion • In the process of learning a second language, vocabulary knowledge is considered as an important component. Through writing new words in compositions, students are confident to use these words at later drafts (Sugawara, 1992). • “While writing is an excellent opportunity for improving and consolidating vocabulary, at the same time much research has shown that vocabulary is one of the most important features of writing” (Muncie, 2002, p.227). Purpose • The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between student writers’ vocabulary size and vocabulary use in writing which implies how vocabulary size is reflected in use. Research Questions (1) How do students with high-level and low-level vocabulary size use word families in their compositions? (2) Do students with high-level vocabulary size or students with low-level vocabulary size make much improvement of vocabulary use in their revisions? (3) Do students’ scores of the productive vocabulary test correlate with word families in the compositions? Methodology • Participants: • 48 university students in Central Taiwan • English majors • Sophomores • They have been learned English composition for one year. • Instruments: • Vocabulary Levels Tests (Nation, 1990) • Lexical Frequency Profileprogram (Range) (Laufer and Nation, 1995) to analyze subjects’ compositions • Research question 1: • The results showed that high-level students produced a total of 362 word families in their first drafts, and lower level students used a total of 274 word families in the first drafts. • The results of students’ scores in the two vocabulary tests confirm that learners’ receptive vocabulary size is larger than their productive vocabulary size (Laufer, 1998). . • Research question 2: • Table 4 reveals that high-level students produced 87 word families in three list in the revisions. But, they produced 41 word families in the first drafts. The findings indicate that high-level students made much improvement in vocabulary use in their revisions. • Data Analysis: • The score of the vocabulary levels tests was used to divide all subjects into threegroups, high-level, mid-level, and low-level group, which respectively at the one-third of the overall number of subjects. . • Percentage scores were calculated from the score in the raw data, • Research question 3: • Table 5 indicates that no significant correlation was uncovered between scores in P2000 and the numbers of word families in the revisions. The results reported on here do not support the findings of previous research on the Engber’s finding (1995) that essay ratings have high correlation with lexical variation and error-free variation. It can be explained that students with higher scores in P2000 may have excellent memory to retain much vocabulary, but they were not necessary to use more word families than students with lower scores. Also, students with higher vocabulary proficiency may lack practice of writing in L2, so they may produce less word families to avoid using wrong; vocabulary probably was used in their drafts but removed in the final products. • Correlation analysis was used to see whether the same student’s use of word families in compositions correlate highly with the scores of the productive vocabulary tests at • 2,000 levels. • LFP program was used to • analyze vocabulary use in English • compositions; word families are • calculated to compare lexical • richness in different compositions. Conclusion • In summary, the results of this study show that students who have higher language proficiency use more low frequency words. The findings also indicate that high-level students made much improvement than low-level students in vocabulary use in their revisions. EFL students’ vocabulary proficiency plays a significant role in L2 writing. That is, their vocabulary size will influence the lexical richness in the English compositions. Students with higher language proficiency will use more word families in their compositions. • In the study, the number of word • families of low frequency words was • measured to compare the lexical • use among different vocabulary • levels students.