Journal of Foreign Languages, Cultures & Civilizations

A Lexical Exam for Students of Spanish as Second Language Classes (L2) at the College level: A Pilot Study
Yesenia Chávez

Abstract
The lexical knowledge of students of Spanish is related with the global knowledge of language of students in Spanish and in English (Chávez, 2017a forthcoming; Fairclough, 2009; Rodrigo, 2009) as well as with reading comprehension (Velásquez, 2015). Other researchers have also proposed that Spanish instructors should use more time in class teaching vocabulary based on the student’s level of knowledge (Fairclough & Belpoliti, 2015; Waldvogel, 2016). In the present study, we analyze the lexical knowledge of students of Spanish as second language classes (L2) at the college level. It is based in the lexical threshold theory. The instruments are a lexical multiple choice exam, a cloze test activity and a survey for the instructor. Its methodology follows Chávez (2017a forthcoming), Fairclough and Ramirez (2009) and Rodrigo (2009). This study follows the recommendations of the doctoral dissertation in Chávez (2017a forthcoming) and it is done as a pilot study. The results demonstrate a positive Pearson correlation between the lexical exam and the cloze test activity of r=.762. They also show a varied lexical knowledge of the participants as found in previous studies (Velásquez, 2015; Fairclough, 2013; Fairclough & Ramírez, 2009) and a lower level of lexical knowledge when compared to students of heritage languages classes1 (HL) (Chávez, 2017a forthcoming).

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jflcc.v5n1a1