Looking at L2 Vocabulary Knowledge Dimensions from an Assessment Perspective – Challenges and Potential Solutions.

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Abstract

The heightened interest in L2 vocabulary over the last two or three decades has brought with it a number of suggestions of how vocabulary knowledge should be modeled. From a testing and assessment perspective, this paper takes a closer look at some of these suggestions and attempts to tease out how terms like model, dimension and construct are used to describe different aspects of vocabulary knowledge, and how the terms relate to each other. Next, the two widely assumed dimensions of vocabulary breadth and depth are investigated in terms of their viability for testing purposes. The paper identifies several challenges in this regard, among others the questionable assumption that multi-word units like collocations naturally belong in the depth dimension, and problems that follow from the complex and often ill-defined nature of the depth dimension. Suggestions for remedies are provided.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationL2 vocabulary acquisition, knowledge and use: New perspectives on assessment and corpus analysis
EditorsCamilla Bardel, Batia Laufer, Christina Lindqvist
PublisherEUROSLA
Pages11-28
VolumeEurosla Monographs Series, 2
ISBN (Print)978-1-300-88407-1
Publication statusPublished - 2013

Publication series

Name
VolumeEurosla Monographs Series, 2

Subject classification (UKÄ)

  • Languages and Literature

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