Contributions toward Understanding the Acquisition of Eight Aspects of Vocabulary Knowledge
Contributions toward Understanding the Acquisition of Eight Aspects of Vocabulary Knowledge

Summary/Abstract: With the intent of adding to the literature leading toward a more complete theory ofsecond language vocabulary acquisition, this study elicited accuracy data from 110 ESLlearners ranging from novice high to advanced low on 64 words randomly selected in the2K–3K range of Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) (32 verbs, 24 nouns,8 adjectives) covering eight aspects of word knowledge. These included spelling based onhearing the spoken form, selecting collocations based on the written form, pronunciationbased on the written form, selecting inflections based on the written context, selectingthe definition based on hearing the spoken form, selecting the written definition based on thewritten form, selecting appropriate derivations based on the written form, and selectingthe written form based on the written definition. ANOVA results show accuracy levels variedacross word knowledge aspects and that implicational scaling was possible with some but notall aspects of word knowledge examined simultaneously. In aggregation with other current andfuture studies, this has important implication for developing L2 vocabulary acquisition theory.

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