Korean University Learners’ Development of Receptive and Productive English Vocabulary

Korean University Learners’ Development of Receptive and Productive English Vocabulary

  Most scholars and researchers presume there to be receptive and productive aspects of vocabulary knowledge. Laufer (1998) has further divided the productive aspect of vocabulary knowledge into controlled productive and free productive knowledge based on a method of measuring vocabulary size. This study aims to investigate how many receptive, controlled productive and free productive English words Korean university L2 learners know. It also examines how these three aspects of vocabulary knowledge develop over three years of university education and are correlated to one another in the same individual. One hundred thirty-nine freshmen and forty seniors in a university in the southern area of Korea were the subjects. Three types of vocabulary levels test were administered and the results reveal that Korean university learners have an average size of 4,000, 2,000, and 1,800 English word families in receptive, controlled productive and free productive vocabulary, respectively. The size of vocabulary increased by 6 percent for receptive vocabulary, by 15 percent for controlled productive vocabulary, and by 22 percent for free productive vocabulary over three years of university education. Receptive, controlled productive and free productive scores correlate with one another as well.