The Impact of Free-time Reading on Foreign Language Vocabulary Development

Abstract

The study reported in this article was conducted to investigate the influence of free-time reading on foreign language vocabulary development. The subjects were sixth and ninth graders in content and language integrated learning (CLIL) and in regular mainstream classes, with Finnish as their L1 and English as their L2. The vocabulary sizes of the learners were measured with the Vocabulary Levels Test and the Productive Vocabulary Levels Test. Students who reported reading in English in their free time turned out to have larger vocabularies, both receptive and productive, than those who did not. The influence of reading on L2 vocabulary skills was particularly strong in the case of learners who read on a daily basis. Participants in the CLIL programmes had larger vocabularies than their mainstream peers, which can be seen as a result of the effective learning environment but also of the fact that they read substantially more than pupils in regular classes.