Lexical Facility: Bringing Size and Speed Together

Abstract

This chapter introduces the lexical facility construct in depth. The approach characterizes vocabulary size and processing skill dimensions as complementary indices of second language (L2) vocabulary skill that, when combined, provide a more sensitive measure of individual differences in L2 vocabulary skill than vocabulary size alone. Lexical facility is described as a vocabulary skill construct and a measurement construct. The chapter also identifies the challenges of combining size and speed measures. Finally, the lexical facility research program is described.