ERIC Number: EJ1486674
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Sep
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: EISSN-1539-0578
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Lexical Coverage and Reading Comprehension Revisited
Stuart Webb; Ana Pellicer-Sánchez; Andi Wang
Reading in a Foreign Language, v37 n1 2025
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).
Descriptors: Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, Difficulty Level, English (Second Language), Second Language Learning, Scores, Reading Tests, Graduate Students, Foreign Countries
National Foreign Language Resource Center at University of Hawaii. 1859 East-West Road #106, Honolulu, HI 96822. e-mail: readfl@hawaii.edu; Web site: https://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A

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