The interface between receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge: vocabulary knowledge as a multi-aspect construct

Abstract

The present study looks at the internal structure of vocabulary knowledge along the receptive and productive continuum under a multi-aspect framework. It examines the receptive knowledge of meaning, form, morphology, collocation and association and explores their relationship with productive vocabulary knowledge over time through a multi-task approach. Participants were 513 Year 8 EFL learners from two junior high schools in southern China. They completed two identical sets of five different vocabulary tests in a pre- and post-test design with a four-month interval. The five vocabulary tests captured five different receptive aspects of and the productive use of 26 target words. Correlation and regression analyses were used to examine the relationships among different receptive aspects and between receptive aspects and the productive word use, and the changes of their relationships over time. Results show that as learners’ vocabulary knowledge develops their receptive knowledge of form, meaning, morphology, association and collocation together explains a stable amount of variance in productive vocabulary knowledge. The proportion of individual contribution from the five receptive aspects to productive word use changes over time. As learners’ productive vocabulary knowledge improves, their receptive knowledge of association and collocation becomes more and more important. The findings suggest that the receptive knowledge learners draw upon in their productive word use varies depending on their level of vocabulary knowledge, and growth in depth of word knowledge would be needed as productive vocabulary knowledge progresses. This study offers a new perspective on the developmental pattern from receptive to productive vocabulary knowledge that refines the theoretical framework of receptive-productive vocabulary knowledge, and could inspire future research addressing the puzzle of how a word develops from receptive to productive use.