Introducing LexTALE: A quick and valid Lexical Test for Advanced Learners of English

Abstract

The increasing number of experimental studies on second language (L2) processing, frequently with English as the L2, calls for a practical and valid measure of English vocabulary knowledge and proficiency. In a large-scale study with Dutch and Korean speakers of L2 English, we tested whether LexTALE, a 5-min vocabulary test, is a valid predictor of English vocabulary knowledge and, possibly, even of general English proficiency. Furthermore, the validity of LexTALE was compared with that of self-ratings of proficiency, a measure frequently used by L2 researchers. The results showed the following in both speaker groups: (1) LexTALE was a good predictor of English vocabulary knowledge; 2) it also correlated substantially with a measure of general English proficiency; and 3) LexTALE was generally superior to self-ratings in its predictions. LexTALE, but not self-ratings, also correlated highly with previous experimental data on two word recognition paradigms. The test can be carried out on or downloaded from www.lextale.com.

Another cup of TEE? The processing of second language near-cognates in first language reading

“…The results of these ratings, given on a scale from one to seven, are summarised in Table 1. Participants were also tested for their Dutch vocabulary knowledge using the Dutch version of LexTALE, a short non-speeded lexical decision task on pseudowords and infrequent words (which is validated only for English so far; Lemhöfer & Broersma, 2012). The mean score (a percentage-correct measure adjusted for yes-or no-bias) was 72.6 (minimum 55.0, maximum 85.5, SD = 8.2), which, in English, would roughly correspond to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF) proficiency level B2 (Upper intermediate).…”

The second language interferes with picture naming in the first language: evidence for L2 activation during L1 production

“…To obtain an indication of individual proficiency in English, we administered four additional tests: (1) a questionnaire requesting the participants to write down the English names of all the pictures used throughout the experiment, which allowed us to individually assess which of the L2 translations were known by the participants; (2) a multiple-choice grammar test (adapted from http://www.transparent. com/learn-english/proficiency-test.html), which required the completion of ten sentences with the correct grammatical form; (3) a multiple-choice reading comprehension test derived from the same source, which required answering questions about short paragraphs of text; and (4) the LexTALE (Lemhöfer & Broersma, 2012) to estimate vocabulary size. Additionally, we administered a language background questionnaire which collected self-reported information on the daily use of English, self-ratings with respect to reading, listening, writing, and speaking proficiency, and the degree of immersion (see Appendix C for a summary of the results across experiments).…”

Phonological and orthographic coding in deaf skilled readers

“…Only participants who scored at least at the 75 th centile (more than 17 correct answers) on the test were included in the study and considered relatively skilled readers, and the two groups were matched according to the raw scores (deaf: mean=21.90, SD=3.08, range=18-27; hearing: mean=23.70, SD=3.25, range=17-27). All the participants also completed the Spanish version of LexTALE (Izura, Cuetos, & Brysbaert, 2014), a lexical decision test comprising 60 real words and 30 nonwords that provides a good estimate of language knowledge (e.g., de Bruin, Carreiras, & Duñabeitia, 2017;Lemhöfer & Broersma, 2012). The final scores (in percentages) showed that both groups completed the test accurately, demonstrating a high language knowledge and no differences among the groups (deaf: mean=91.16, SD=13.22;hearing: mean=95.66,SD=3.43;p=.22)…”