Exploring the importance of vocabulary for English as an additional language learners’ reading comprehension

IF 3.7 1区文学 Q1 LINGUISTICS

Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching Pub Date : 2021-09-13 DOI:10.14746/ssllt.2021.11.3.3

G. Brooks, Jon Clenton, Simon Fraser

引用次数: 16

Abstract

This exploratory study represents an attempt to investigate the factors that may affect the reading comprehension abilities of English as an additional language (EAL) learners. For this study, we examined a participant group of 31 (25 EAL and 6 first language English) learners studying at an international school in Japan. We assessed the participants according to four factors shown to influence reading comprehension: vocabulary knowledge, word decoding skills, reading fluency, and general linguistic ability. Our results show that differences in vocabulary knowledge show more variance in reading comprehension scores than the other factors examined in this study, highlighting the importance of vocabulary knowledge for reading comprehension. However, other factors such as reading fluency and general linguistic knowledge are also shown to be moderate to strong predictors of reading comprehension. Based on these results, we suggest that EAL learners need targeted language support to enhance academic text comprehension.

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探讨词汇对英语学习者阅读理解的重要性

本研究旨在探讨影响外语学习者阅读理解能力的因素。在这项研究中，我们调查了在日本一所国际学校学习的31名参与者(25名EAL和6名第一语言英语学习者)。我们根据影响阅读理解的四个因素来评估参与者:词汇知识、单词解码技能、阅读流畅性和一般语言能力。我们的研究结果表明，词汇知识的差异对阅读理解成绩的影响比本研究考察的其他因素更大，这凸显了词汇知识对阅读理解的重要性。然而，其他因素，如阅读流畅性和一般语言知识也被证明是阅读理解的中度到强预测因素。基于这些结果，我们建议英语学习者需要有针对性的语言支持来提高学术文本理解能力。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching LINGUISTICS-

CiteScore

5.30

自引率

2.90%

发文量

审稿时长

12 weeks

期刊介绍： Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching (ISSN 2083-5205) is a refereed journal published four times a year by the Department of English Studies, Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts, Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz, Poland. The language of publication is English. The journal is devoted to reporting previously unpublished highest quality theoretical and empirical research on learning and teaching second and foreign languages. It deals with the learning and teaching of any language, not only English, and focuses on a variety of topics ranging from the processes underlying second language acquisition, various aspects of language learning in instructed and non-instructed settings, as well as different facets of the teaching process, including syllabus choice, materials design, classroom practices and evaluation. Each issue carries about 6 papers, 6000-8000 words in length, as well as reply articles and reviews. At least one of the four issues per year is a special focus issue devoted to a particular area of second language learning and teaching, sometimes with a guest editor who is an expert on a specific topic.