VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE AND ADVANCED LISTENING COMPREHENSION IN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

TLDR

Reading research indicates that a lexical coverage of about 98 % is necessary for comprehension. The study investigates how vocabulary knowledge influences listening comprehension among 115 advanced Danish learners of English as a foreign language. Depth and breadth of vocabulary were measured with the Vocabulary Levels Test and Word Associates Test, and listening comprehension was assessed with a Cambridge proficiency listening test. Depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge were significantly correlated with listening scores, explaining roughly half the variance, and a 98 % lexical coverage was required for successful listening comprehension.

Abstract

This article presents an empirical study that investigates the role of vocabulary knowledge in listening comprehension with 115 advanced Danish learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). The dimensions of depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge (measured by the Vocabulary Levels Test and the Word Associates Test) were found to be significantly correlated with listening comprehension (measured by a listening test from the Cambridge certificate of proficiency in English) and could predict half of the variance in the listening scores. This study thus provides empirical evidence that vocabulary knowledge is an important factor for successful listening comprehension in EFL. Furthermore, the results suggest that a lexical coverage of 98% is needed for coping with the spoken texts that constitute the listening test. This coverage figure is consistent with findings from reading research.