Investigating learner vocabulary: A possible approach to looking at EFL/ESL learners' qualitative knowledge of the word

Abstract

This paper focuses on an alternative approach to looking at EFL/ESL learner vocabulary. The majority of studies in vocabulary knowledge have mainly concentrated on investigating HOW MANY words learners know by measuring vocabulary size in comprehension or production. Given the fact that, among other aspects, a word has many properties in terms of meaning and syntactic behaviour, there is the question of HOW WELL do the learners know them. Instead of calculating the quantity of words learners know, this study looks at the quality of learners' knowledge of the word. By a contrastive corpus analysis observing the uses of the high frequency verb make in learner and native writing, the result shows that the EFL learners' knowledge of a word, as common or easy as make, is different from that of the native speakers'. It is suggested that L2 vocabulary teaching be aimed at raising awareness of word potential so that its properties can be fully exploited. The approach employed in this study provides researchers with an alternative approach to investigating learners' qualitative knowledge of vocabulary. © 2001, by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG. All rights reserved.