Open AccessEnglish Vocabulary Size as a Predictor of TOEIC Listening and Reading Achievement among EFL Students in Taiwan
Author(s) -
Hui-Hua Chiang
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
theory and practice in language studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-0692
pISSN - 1799-2591
DOI - 10.17507/tpls.0802.04
Subject(s) - toeic , vocabulary , active listening , reading (process) , psychology , mathematics education , linguistics , communication , philosophy
This paper investigates the relationship between vocabulary size and performance on the reading and listening portions of the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC). The participants were 973 English as a foreign language (EFL) learners from a technical college who had studied English for at least six years. The learners’ TOEIC listening and reading scores were found to be strongly associated with their receptive vocabulary size with no gender differences. These results indicate that vocabulary size could have a statistically significant effect on TOEIC listening and reading scores, reinforcing the value of vocabulary size for English proficiency. Additionally, English vocabulary size and the prediction of proficiency in the TOEIC listening and reading sections reached statistical significance. These findings demonstrate the importance of receptive vocabulary for EFL learners. Outcomes from the study have implications for EFL learners and teachers as well as future research.