The Effect of Bilinguality on L3 Breadth of Vocabulary Knowledge and Word Reading Skill

Abstract

The present study aims at comparing the performance of bilingual EFL students with monolingual EFL students on vocabulary knowledge test and word reading skill test. 30 Armenian-Persian bilinguals and 30 Persian monolinguals participated in this study. The participants were homogeneous in terms of sex (they were all female), nationality (they were all Iranian), age (17-18 years old), and level of instruction (lower intermediate). Nation's Vocabulary Levels Test was used to measure the breadth of vocabulary knowledge and the Burt Word Reading Test was used in order to measure the participants' word reading skill. The results of the data analyses showed that bilinguality is highly correlated with breadth of vocabulary knowledge and reading skill. In other words, bilingual participants have larger size of vocabulary knowledge and they enjoy better word reading skill. The results are interpreted to have implications for EFL methodologists and syllabus designers.