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English Literacy Instruction for Chinese Speakers pp 35–56Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Measuring the Vocabulary Knowledge of Hong Kong Primary School Second Language Learners Through Word Associations: Implications for Reading Literacy

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Abstract

Adequate reading literacy skills are essential for receiving formal education and subsequently gaining full participation in society. Research into L2 reading demonstrates that L2 vocabulary knowledge is key for developing learners’ L2 reading comprehension. This chapter looks into the vocabulary knowledge measured by word associations and sheds some light on the implication of developing vocabulary knowledge to facilitate young learners’ L2 reading literacy for Hong Kong primary schools. The results show that word knowledge and word class have an important influence on young L2 learners’ word association patterns. A number of implications are proposed, including enlarging children’s vocabulary size to reach a threshold level for L2 reading, utilizing graded readers to control vocabulary and teaching words of different word classes with their preferred collocates.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Education University of Hong Kong, Ta‎i Po, Hong Kong

    Qing Ma

  2. Chinese Methodist School (North Point), North Point, Hong Kong

    Hung Yuk Lee

Authors
  1. Qing Ma
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  2. Hung Yuk Lee
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Qing Ma .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Macau, Taipa, Macau

    Barry Lee Reynolds

  2. Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

    Mark Feng Teng

Appendices

Appendix 1: Word Association Test and Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (English Version)

Data Set: _______________________ Age: __________ Gender: M/F

Word Association Test (Li & Wang, 2016 , modified)

1 Dog

 

7 Kitchen

 

13 Skyscraper

 

2 Eat

 

8 Climb

 

14 Sink

 

3 Long

 

9 Beautiful

 

15 Dark

 

4 Faith

 

10 Dream

 

16 Memory

 

5 Want

 

11 Suggest

 

17 Belong

 

6 Important

 

12 Wrong

 

18 Brilliant

 

Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (Paribakht & Wesche, 1997 )

  1. (1)

    I don’t remember having seen this word before.

  2. (2)

    I have seen this word before, but I have little idea about its meaning.

  3. (3)

    I have seen this word before, and I know it means ___ (synonym or Chinese translation).

  4. (4)

    I know this word well. It means ____________ (synonym or Chinese translation).

  5. (5)

    I can use this word in a sentence: _____________________________________.

1 Dog

 

7 Kitchen

 

13 Skyscraper

 

2 Eat

 

8 Climb

 

14 Sink

 

3 Long

 

9 Beautiful

 

15 Dark

 

4 Faith

 

10 Dream

 

16 Memory

 

5 Want

 

11 Suggest

 

17 Belong

 

6 Important

 

12 Wrong

 

18 Brilliant

 

Appendix 2: Sample Word Association Test and Vocabulary Knowledge Scale Collected from Students

John

Rebecca

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Ma, Q., Lee, H.Y. (2019). Measuring the Vocabulary Knowledge of Hong Kong Primary School Second Language Learners Through Word Associations: Implications for Reading Literacy. In: Reynolds, B.L., Teng, M.F. (eds) English Literacy Instruction for Chinese Speakers. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6653-6_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6653-6_3

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-6652-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-6653-6

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

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