Defining and Assessing Lexical Proficiency by Agnieszka Leńko-Szymańska instant download

Defining and Assessing Lexical Proficiency by Agnieszka Leńko-Szymańska instant download

This comprehensive account of performance-based assessment of second language (L2) lexical proficiency analyses and compares two of the primary methods of evaluation used in the field and unpacks the ways in which they tap into different dimensions of one model of lexical competence and proficiency. It also juxtaposed performance-based assessment with discrete-point tests of vocabulary. This book builds on the latest research on performance-based assessment to systematically explore the qualitative method of using human raters and the quantitative method of using statistical measures of lexis and phraseology. Supported by an up-to-date review of the existing literature, both approaches’ unique features are highlighted but also compared to one another to provide a holistic overview of performance-based assessment as it stands today at both the theoretical and empirical level. These findings are exemplified in a concluding chapter, which summarises results from an empirical study looking at a range of lexical and phraseological measures and human raters’ scores of over 150 essays written by both L2 learners of English and native speakers as well as their vocabulary tests results. Taken together, the volume challenges existing tendencies within the field, which attempt to use one method to validate the other, by demonstrating their propensity to capture very different aspects of lexical proficiency, thereby offering a means by which to better conceptualise performance-based assessment of L2 vocabulary in the future. This book will be of interest to students and researchers working in second language acquisition and applied linguistics research, particularly those interested in issues around assessment, vocabulary acquisition, and language proficiency.