It has been acknowledged that using a varied vocabulary is tied to academic success. While most studies concerning vocabulary use and acquisition consider only a student's first language (L1), this study includes the educational and linguistic backgrounds from two groups that share an L1, Arabic. By examining the written texts of Libyan and Saudi Arabian students who come from very different educational and linguistic backgrounds, we can begin to better understand what influences vocabulary acquisition and use.
In the present study, it was hypothesized that, due to their exposure to English and Romance languages, the Libyan ESL students should use a richer vocabulary than the Saudi Arabian students. To gauge the students' lexical richness, various measures were employed; the Type/Token ratio (TTR), the Guiraud Index, the Lexical Frequency Profiler (LFP). The students' scores from the Michigan Test of English Language Proficiency (MTELP) test were also considered. Libyan students scored significantly higher on the MTELP test but had lower mean scores of lexical richness. Counter to the hypothesis, data suggested that Saudi Arabian students used more low-frequency words than their Libyan counterparts. It was suggested that motivation may be an important factor in learning and using vocabulary and the Saudi Arabian students, cognizant of not knowing vocabulary, work harder at learning it.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-04222009-141135 |
| Date | 04 June 2009 |
| Creators | Andrews, Sally J |
| Contributors | Dr. Dawn E. McCormick, Dr. Gregory Mizera, Dr. Alan Juffs |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04222009-141135/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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