Fixed-Choice Word-Association Tasks as Second-Language Lexical Tests: What Native-Speaker Performance Reveals about Their Potential Weaknesses

Autor/inn/en	Dronjic, Vedran; Helms-Park, Rena
Titel	Fixed-Choice Word-Association Tasks as Second-Language Lexical Tests: What Native-Speaker Performance Reveals about Their Potential Weaknesses
Quelle	In: Applied Psycholinguistics, 35 (2014) 1, S.193-221 (29 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0142-7164
DOI	10.1017/S014271641200029X
Schlagwörter	Language Tests; Vocabulary Development; Psycholinguistics; Test Validity; Dialects; Native Speakers; Undergraduate Students; Accuracy; Age Differences; Test Items; Item Analysis; Metalinguistics + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Language test; Sprachtest; Wortschatzarbeit; Psycholinguistik; Testvalidität; Dialect; Dialekt; Muttersprachler; Age; Difference; Age difference; Altersunterschied; Test content; Testaufgabe; Itemanalyse; Metalanguage; Metasprache
Abstract	Qian and Schedl's Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge Test was administered to 31 native-speaker undergraduates under an "unconstrained" condition, in which the number of responses to headwords was unfixed, whereas a corresponding group ("n" = 36) completed the test under the original "constrained" condition. Results revealed lower accuracy in the unconstrained condition and in paradigmatic versus syntagmatic responses. Native speakers failed to reach the 90% criterion on most unconstrained and many constrained items. Although certain modifications could improve such a test (e.g., eliminating psycholinguistically anomalous headwords, such as adjectives, or presenting responses to headwords discontinuously), two intransigent problems impede test validity. First, collocates in the mental lexicon differ in tightness and vary across dialects, sociolects, and age groups. Second, it is more serious that second-language Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge Tests are likely spot checks of metalinguistic knowledge rather than depth tests that reflect what learners would actually produce in spontaneous utterances. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Cambridge University Press. 100 Brook Hill Drive, West Nyack, NY 10994-2133. Tel: 800-872-7423; Tel: 845-353-7500; Fax: 845-353-4141; e-mail: subscriptions_newyork@cambridge.org; Web site: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=APS
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10