The Impact of L2 Reading Proficiency and Passage Sight Vocabulary on Incidental Vocabulary Gain through Reading for Adult EFL Learners

The present study aimed to examine the influence of the reader-based variables of L2 reading proficiency as well as L2 passage sight vocabulary on L2 incidental vocabulary gain through reading. To this end, seventy-five adult learners of English studying at Allameh Tabataba'i University were recruited from beginning, intermediate, and advanced university course levels to participate in the study. Four reading passages were selected as the reading materials from which eighteen target words (TWs) were carefully chosen. By means of a Vocabulary Checklist Test (Knight, 1994; Rott, 1999), it was ensured that participants were totally unfamiliar with the TWs. After receiving treatment based on the reading materials, in order to assess incidental vocabulary gain of the TWs meanings, participants were given two types of vocabulary tests, namely a translation production (L2-L1) test and a synonym recognition multiple choice test (Knight, 1994; Hulstijn, Hollander & Greidanus, 1996). The data gathered from the tests were subjected to SPSS software analysis and the descriptive statistics on L2 reading proficiency, L2 passage sight vocabulary, synonym recognition test as well as translation production test were calculated. The results indicated that both L2 reading proficiency and L2 passage sight vocabulary had statistically significant impacts on incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading. Indeed, as L2 reading proficiency and passage sight vocabulary increased, so did incidental gain of new vocabulary items. Insights gathered from the present study considered to have important implications for teachers and learners as well

کلیدواژه ها:

reading proficiency ، passage sight vocabulary learning ، incidental vocabulary learning ،