Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-15T17:08:04.310Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Fixed-choice word-association tasks as second-language lexical tests: What native-speaker performance reveals about their potential weaknesses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2012

VEDRAN DRONJIC  and
RENA HELMS-PARK
VEDRAN DRONJIC*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
RENA HELMS-PARK
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
*
Vedran Dronjic, Centre for Educational Research on Languages and Literacies, OISE/University of Toronto, 252 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON M5S 1V6, Canada. E-mail: vedran.dronjic@utoronto.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Qian and Schedl's Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge Test was administered to 31 native-speaker undergraduates under an “unconstrained” condition, in which the number of responses to headwords was unfixed, whereas a corresponding group (n = 36) completed the test under the original “constrained” condition. Results revealed lower accuracy in the unconstrained condition and in paradigmatic versus syntagmatic responses. Native speakers failed to reach the 90% criterion on most unconstrained and many constrained items. Although certain modifications could improve such a test (e.g., eliminating psycholinguistically anomalous headwords, such as adjectives, or presenting responses to headwords discontinuously), two intransigent problems impede test validity. First, collocates in the mental lexicon differ in tightness and vary across dialects, sociolects, and age groups. Second, it is more serious that second-language Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge Tests are likely spot checks of metalinguistic knowledge rather than depth tests that reflect what learners would actually produce in spontaneous utterances.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , January 2014 , pp. 193 - 221
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alario, F. X., Segui, J., & Ferrand, L. (2000). Semantic and associative priming in picture naming. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 53A, 741–764.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E. (1994). Representation and ways of knowing: Three issues in second-language acquisition. In Ellis, N. C. (Ed.), Implicit and explicit learning of languages (pp. 549–569). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Black, S. R. (2001). Semantic satiation and lexical ambiguity resolution. American Journal of Psychology, 114, 493–510.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bock, K., & Levelt, W. (1994). Language production: Grammatical encoding. In Gernsbacher, M. A. (Ed.), Handbook of psycholinguistics (pp. 945–984). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bogaards, P. (2000). Testing L2 vocabulary knowledge at a high level: The case of the Euralex French tests. Applied Linguistics, 21, 490–516.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapelle, C. A. (1998). Construct definition and validity inquiry in SLA research. In Bachman, L. F. & Cohen, A. D. (Eds.), Interface between second language acquisition and language testing research (pp. 32–70). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cohene, L. S., Smith, M. C., & Klein, D. (1978). Semantic satiation revisited with a lexical decision task. Memory and Cognition, 6, 131–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, A. M., & Loftus, E. F. (1975). A spreading activation theory of semantic processing. Psychological Review, 82, 407–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, A. M., & Quillian, M. R. (1969). Retrieval time from semantic memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 8, 240–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costa, A., Alario, F. X., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2009). Cross-linguistic research on language production. In Gaskell, M. G. (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of psycholinguistics (pp. 531–546). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Cronbach, L. J. (1942). Measuring knowledge of precise word meaning. Journal of Educational Research, 36, 528–534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dale, E. (1965). Vocabulary measurement: Techniques and major findings. Elementary English, 42, 895–901.Google Scholar
Dell, G. S., & O'Seaghdha, P. (1991). Mediated and convergent lexical priming in language production: A comment on Levelt et al. (1991). Psychological Review, 98, 604–614.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dronjic, V. (2008). The influence of L2 English on the L1 Serbo-Croatian of Toronto-based bilinguals: The case of grammaticality judgments at the lexis/syntax interface. Unpublished master's thesis, University of Toronto.Google Scholar
Dunn, L. M. (1997). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (3rd ed.). Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.Google Scholar
Ellis, R. (1991). Grammaticality judgements and second-language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 13, 161–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrand, L. (1999). Applying Ockham's chainsaw in modeling speech production. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 42–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fillenbaum, S. (1964). Semantic satiation and decision latency. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 68, 240–244.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Finkbeiner, M., & Nicol, J. (2003). Semantic category effects in second-language word learning. Applied Psycholinguistics, 24, 369–383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fitzpatrick, T. (2007). Word association patterns: Unpacking the assumptions. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 17, 319–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fitzpatrick, T. (2009). Word association profiles in a first and second language: Puzzles and problems. In Fitzpatrick, T. & Barfield, A. (Eds.), Lexical processing in second-language learners (pp. 38–52). Toronto: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greidanus, T., Beks, B., & Wakely, R. (2006) Testing the development of French word knowledge by advanced Dutch- and English-speaking learners and native speakers. Canadian Modern Language Review, 62, 509–532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greidanus, T., Bogaards, P., van der Linden, E., Nienhuis, L., & de Wolf, T. (2004). The construction and validation of a deep word knowledge test for advanced learners of French. In Bogaards, P. & Laufer, B. (Eds.), Vocabulary in a second language (pp. 191–208). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greidanus, T., & Nienhuis, L. (2001). Testing the quality of word knowledge in L2 by means of word associations: Types of distractors and types of associations. Modern Language Journal, 85, 567–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henriksen, B. (2008). Declarative lexical knowledge. In Albrechtsen, D., Haastrup, K., & Henriksen, B. (Eds.), Vocabulary and writing in a first and second language: Process and development (pp. 22–66). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heredia, R. R., & Brown, J. M. (2006). Bilingual Memory. In Bhatia, T. K. & Ritchie, W. C. (Eds.), The handbook of bilingualism (pp. 225–249). Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Jackendoff, R. (1990). Semantic structures. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Jiang, N. (2000). Lexical representation and development in a second language. Applied Linguistics, 21, 47–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiss, G. R., Armstrong, C., Milroy, R., & Piper, J. (1973) An associative thesaurus of English and its computer analysis. In Aitken, A. J., Bailey, R. W., & Hamilton-Smith, N. (Eds.), The computer and literary studies. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Klein-Braley, C. (1997). C-Tests in the context of reduced redundancy testing: An appraisal. Language Testing, 14, 47–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kounios, J., Kotz, S. A., & Holcomb, P. J. (2000). On the locus of the semantic satiation effect: Evidence from event-related brain potentials. Memory and Cognition, 28, 1366–1377.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kroll, J. F., & Dijkstra, A. F. J. (2002). The bilingual lexicon. In Kaplan, R. A. (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of applied linguistics (pp. 301–321). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kroll, J. F., & Stewart, E. (1994). Category interference in translation and picture naming: Evidence for asymmetric connections between bilingual memory representations. Journal of Memory and Language, 33, 149–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levelt, W. J. M. (1989). Speaking. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Levelt, W. J. M., Roeloefs, A., & Meyer, A. S. (1999). A theory of lexical access in speech production. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 1–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Macmillan, N. A., & Creelman, C. D. (1991). Detection theory: A user's guide. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Meara, P. (1983). Word associations in a second language. Nottingham Linguistics Circular, 11, 28–38.Google Scholar
Meara, P. (1992). Euralex French tests. Swansea: Centre for Applied Language Studies.Google Scholar
Meara, P. (1996). The dimensions of lexical competence. In Brown, G., Malmkjær, K., & Williams, J. (Eds.), Performance and competence in second-language acquisition (pp. 35–53). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Meara, P. (2009). Connected words: Word associations and second-language vocabulary acquisition. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meara, P., & Jones, G. (1990). Eurocentres vocabulary size test, version E1.1/K10. Zurich: Eurocentres Learning Service.Google Scholar
Meara, P. M., & Wolter, B. (2004). V_Links: Beyond vocabulary depth. Angles on the English-Speaking World, 4, 85–97.Google Scholar
Meyer, D. E., & Schvaneveldt, R. (1971). Facilitation in recognizing pairs of words: Evidence of a dependence between retrieval operations. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 90, 227–239.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moon, R. (1997). Vocabulary connections: Multiword items in English. In Schmitt, N. & McCarthy, M. (Eds.), Vocabulary: Description, acquisition and pedagogy (pp. 40–64). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Nation, I. S. P. (1990). Teaching and learning vocabulary. New York: Heinle and Heinle.Google Scholar
Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neely, J. H. (1991). Semantic priming effects in visual word recognition: A selective review of current findings and theories. In Besner, D. & Humphreys, G. W. (Eds.), Basic processes in reading: Visual word recognition (pp. 264–336). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Nelson, D. L., McEvoy, C. L., & Schreiber, T. A. (1998). The University of South Florida word association, rhyme, and word fragment norms. Retrieved from http://www.usf.edu/FreeAssociation/Google Scholar
Postman, L., & Keppel, G. (1970.) Norms of word associations. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Pynte, J. (1991). The locus of semantic satiation in category membership decision and acceptability judgment. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 20, 315–335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qian, D. D. (1998). Depth of vocabulary knowledge: Assessing its role in adults’ comprehension in English as a second language. PhD dissertation, University of Toronto.Google Scholar
Qian, D. D. (1999). Assessing the roles of depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension. Canadian Modern Language Review, 56, 282–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qian, D. D. (2002). Investigating the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and academic reading performance: An assessment perspective. Language Learning, 52, 513–536.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qian, D. D., & Schedl, M. (2004). Evaluation of an in-depth vocabulary knowledge measure for assessing reading performance. Language Testing, 21, 28–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rastle, K. (2009). Visual word recognition. In Gaskell, M. G. (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of psycholinguistics (pp. 73–87). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Read, J. (1993). The development of a new measure of L2 vocabulary knowledge. Language Testing, 10, 355–371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Read, J. (2000). Assessing vocabulary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Read, J. (2004). Plumbing the depths: How should the construct of vocabulary knowledge be defined? In Bogaards, P. & Laufer, B. (Eds.), Vocabulary in a second language (pp. 209–227). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmitt, N., Schmitt, D., & Clapham, C. (2001). Developing and exploring the behaviour of two new versions of the Vocabulary Levels Test. Language Testing, 18, 55–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoonen, R., & Verhallen, M. (2008). The assessment of deep word knowledge in young first- and second-language learners. Language Testing, 25, 211–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schriefers, H. (1993). Syntactic processes in the production of noun phrases. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 19, 841–850.Google Scholar
Schriefers, H., Meyer, A. S., & Levelt, W. J. M. (1990). Exploring the time course of lexical access in language production: Picture–word interference studies. Journal of Memory and Language, 29, 86–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sinclair, J. (1991). Corpus, concordance, collocation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Vitkovitch, M., Rutter, C., & Read, A. (2001). Inhibitory effects during object name retrieval: The effect of interval between prime and target on picture naming responses. British Journal of Psychology, 92, 483–506.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wesche, M., & Paribakht, T. S. (1996). Assessing second-language vocabulary knowledge: Depth versus breadth. Canadian Modern Language Review, 53, 13–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheeldon, L. R., & Monsell, S. (1994). Inhibition of spoken word production by priming a semantic competitor. Journal of Memory and Language, 33, 332–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilks, C., & Meara, P. (2007). Implementing graph theory approaches to the exploration of density and structure in L1 and L2 word-association networks. In Daller, H., Milton, J., & Treffers-Daller, J. (Eds.), Modelling and assessing vocabulary knowledge (pp. 167–181). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolter, B., (2006). Lexical network structures and L2 vocabulary acquisition: The role of L1 lexical/conceptual knowledge. Applied Linguistics, 27, 741–747.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xue, G., & Nation, I. S. P. (1984). A university word list. Language Learning and Communication, 3, 215–229.Google Scholar
Zareva, A. (2007). Structure of the second-language mental lexicon: How does it compare to native speakers’ lexical organization? Second Language Research, 23, 123–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zareva, A., Schwanenflugel, P., & Nikolova, Y. (2005). Relationship between lexical competence and language proficiency: Variable sensitivity. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27, 567–595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar