مجال
التميز
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تميز دراسي وبحثي
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البحوث المنشورة
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البحث (1):
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Chapter in a book titled: New Methodological
Approaches to Foreign Language Teaching
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عنوان
الفصل:
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Measuring
Communicative Academic Performance
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رابط إلى الفصل:
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Click
Here
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تاريخ
النشر:
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01/06/2017
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موجز عن الفصل:
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An
increasing number of learners in schools are learning a foreign language
through as immersion learners and through the process of general education,
rather than in formal language classes. It is common in describing
acquisition among these L2 learners to define the language being learned in
terms of Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and Cognitive
Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). But research in this area is
characterised by the absence of good and reliable tests which allow the scale
of the learning to be accurately characterised, and the point where learners
become, effectively, like natives so their full educational potential can be
achieved to be identified. This study reports an investigation into the
vocabulary knowledge of children acquiring language in schools and where, it
is proposed, that CALP knowledge can be quantified in terms of knowledge of
words in the less frequent ranges.
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البحث (2):
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عنوان البحث:
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Investigating the Relationship between Vocabulary
Knowledge and Academic Success of Arabic Undergraduate Learners in Swansea University
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رابط إلى البحث:
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Click
Here
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تاريخ النشر:
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12/04/2017
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موجز عن البحث:
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The number of Arabic learners studying abroad has
increased significantly over the last decade, and continues to increase. To
test such students’ proficiency with English in an academic setting, most
universities use standardised exams, such as the Test of English as a Foreign
Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Test System (IELTS).
Although these tools are considered valid entry tests (Taylor and Falvey,
2007) they don’t appear to be useful predictors of academic success (e.g.
Cotton and Conrow, 1998). We have therefore tried to find alternative
measures to help refine our ability to predict academic performance. These
include vocabulary knowledge using the XK_Lex test (Milton & Al-Masrai,
2009); intelligence test (Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, WASI)
and a foreign language aptitude test (Modern Language Aptitude Test, MLAT;
Carroll & Sapon, 1959).
36 Arabic undergraduate students in Swansea
University participated in this study. The results of the measures were
correlated with participants’ Grade Point Average (GPA) as a measure of
academic achievement. The findings suggest that a vocabulary knowledge
threshold of 5000 and above is necessary for L2 learners to undertake
international education; below this volume of vocabulary, they risk failure
or academic hardship during their studies. No correlation was found between
intelligence or aptitude test scores and learners’ academic achievement, but
a significant relationship was noted between intelligence and vocabulary
knowledge, confirming the trend that learners with high intelligence scores
are more likely to possess an extensive vocabulary than learners with low
intelligence scores.
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المؤتمرات العلمية:
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المؤتمر (1):
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عنوان المؤتمر: |
LIF2015: Contemporary
Perspectives on Theory, Research, and Praxis in ELT and SLA |
تاريخ الإنعقاد: |
05 – 07 March 2015
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مكان الإنعقاد:
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Cappadocia, Turkey
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طبيعة المشاركة: |
Poster Presentation
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عنوان المشاركة: |
Measuring the
Vocabulary Knowledge and Growth of Monolingual, Bilingual and Second Language
Learners of English at a Primary Age Level Using the XK_Lex Vocabulary Test and
Quantifying the CALP Knowledge Among L2 Learners |
ملخص المشاركة: |
The
study presents an empirical investigating in measuring the growth of vocabulary
knowledge among primary age learners and quantifying the gap in CALP knowledge
among monolingual, bilingual and second language learners of English using the
XK-Lex Vocabulary Test. The XK_Lex (Milton & Al-Masrai, 2009) is a 10k
vocabulary size test which is designed to measure receptive vocabulary
knowledge from the first 1000 to the tenth 1000 most frequency words. The
participants were students in grades three to six of primary school, all native
speakers of English, bilinguals or second language learners. The XK-Lex test
was run twice on each participant, first as a yes/no test to measure receptive
knowledge and second as an explanation test to measure productive knowledge.
The results show that all of the learners
possess knowledge of high frequency words more so than less frequent ones.
Frequency effect results from both yes/no test and the explanation test
proposed that the most frequent words are acquired first due to the higher
levels of exposure to them. Drawing comparisons between mean scores reveals
that monolingual and bilingual learners have greater vocabulary knowledge than
second language learners. Results from the yes/no and the explanation tests
were compared with Biemiller and Slonim’s (2001) normative scores and found to
be similar. Furthermore, the results show a strong correlation between the
yes/no test and the explanation test and suggest that scores on a receptive
vocabulary test can indicate those of a productive vocabulary test. Finally,
the findings from this study suggest that learners learn around 500 words
annually. |
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المؤتمر (2): |
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عنوان المؤتمر:
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3rd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
FROM THEORY
TO PRACTICE IN LANGUAGE FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES
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تاريخ الإنعقاد:
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22 – 24
February 2018
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مكان
الإنعقاد:
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Zagreb, Croatia
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طبيعة المشاركة:
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Oral Presentation
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عنوان المشاركة:
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Comparing
the Contribution of general vocabulary knowledge and academic vocabulary
knowledge to learners’ academic achievement
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ملخص المشاركة:
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Coxhead’s
(2000) Academic Word List (AWL) believed to be essential for students
pursuing higher education and helps differentiate English for Academic
Purposes (EAP) from General English as a course of study, and it is thought
to be important for comprehending English academic texts (Cobb & Horst,
2004). It has been described that AWL is as an infrequent, discrete set of
vocabulary items unreachable from general language. On the other hand, it has
been known for a period of time that general vocabulary knowledge is a good
predictor of academic achievement (Daller& Xue 2009, Daller & Phelan,
2013; Roche & Harrington, 2013).This study however, is an attempt to
measure and compare the contribution of academic knowledge and general
vocabulary knowledge to learners’ GPA and examine what knowledge is a better
predictor of academic achievement and investigate whether AWL as a
specialised list of infrequent words relates to the frequency effect. The
participants were comprised of 44 international postgraduate students in
Swansea University. The study employed
the Academic Vocabulary Size Test (AVST) (Masrai & Milton, in Prep.) and
the XK_Lex vocabulary size test (Milton & Al-Masrai, 2012). The findings
indicate that AWL is a list based on word frequency rather than a discrete
and unique word list, and that the AWL performs the same function as general
vocabulary and measure the same quality of knowledge. The findings also suggest that the contribution
that AWL knowledge provides for academic success is not sufficient and that
general vocabulary knowledge is better in predicting academic achievement. It
can be concluded that AWL as an academic word list epitomizes only a fraction
of words that are actually needed for academic success in English and that
knowledge of academic vocabulary combined with general vocabulary knowledge
above the most frequent 3000 words is what matters most to ultimate academic
success.
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