Webb, Stuart;
Pellicer-Sánchez, Ana;
Wang, Andi;
(2025)
Lexical coverage and reading comprehension revisited.
Reading in a Foreign Language
, 37
(1)
pp. 1-21.
10.64152/10125/67517.
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Abstract
The present study is a partial replication of the most widely cited study of lexical coverage and reading comprehension by Hu and Nation (2000). Ninety-four advanced L2 learners read a short story at one of 90%, 95%, 98%, and 100% lexical coverage and then completed a 14-item reading comprehension test. The results showed that although comprehension scores did tend to increase from 90% to 100% coverage, there were no statistically significant differences in comprehension scores between those who read the text with 90%, 95%, and 98% lexical coverage. Participants who read the text with 100% coverage did have significantly higher scores than those who read it at 90% and 95% coverage. The results also revealed that lexical coverage and perceived difficulty both have a role in predicting comprehension scores, but the amount of variation explained is small (11% and 8%, respectively).
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Lexical coverage and reading comprehension revisited |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.64152/10125/67517 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.64152/10125/67517 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author-accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Vocabulary, reading comprehension, lexical coverage, perceived difficulty, vocabulary knowledge, vocabulary size, reading in a foreign language, extensive reading, learner variables, text variables. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Culture, Communication and Media |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10216385 |
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