عنوان مجله
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Iranian Journal of English for Academic Purposes
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کلیدواژهها
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Vocabulary Size, EFL Speaking, High-frequency Vocabulary, Mid-frequency
Vocabulary, IELTS
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چکیده
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Literature is replete with the studies focusing on the role of vocabulary knowledge in second
language receptive skills. However, the relationship between the aspects of vocabulary knowledge
and productive skills in general, and the speaking performance in particular has remained scanty in
the related literature. This paper examined the relationship between knowledge of L2 vocabulary size
at different word-frequency levels and Iranian university students’ English-speaking ability.
Moreover, the strength of this association was investigated for the fluency and lexical components of
speaking ability. To achieve this goal, 46 (14 males and 32 females) Iranian English as a Foreign
Language (EFL) learners, studying English Literature at Golestan University, Iran, took the
Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT), a measure of size of vocabulary knowledge, and International English
Language Testing System (IELTS) tasks for the speaking skill. Results of hierarchical multiple
regression analyses revealed that while knowledge of the 3,000-word-frequency level (highfrequency vocabulary) contributed uniquely to the prediction of the second language (L2) overall
speaking ability and its fluency dimension, knowledge of the 5,000-word frequency band (midfrequency vocabulary) could explain the variance in the lexical dimension scores of L2 speaking over
and above the high-frequency vocabulary. The implications of this study pertain to the importance of
highlighting the most frequent vocabulary for academic speaking courses while attending to the
lower-frequency lexical items for just the vocabulary dimension of this skill, especially for candidates
taking the IELTS exam.
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