An SWECCL-Based Study Of Lexical Competence

Vocabulary size, which can be measured receptively and productively, is an important dimension of lexical competence. So vocabulary size, especially productive vocabulary size has been studied for decades from different perspectives. However, the previous studies were based on ready-made samples for the limitation of finding language materials in real use and as a result, the conclusions of these studies, in some way, were not accurate enough to depict the true picture. Nowadays, with the development of computer technology, corpus, which contains large numbers of authentic language materials, is widely used in vocabulary studies, which has produced profound findings and impacts in this area.Based on the theoretical framework of previous studies, the present study selects 120 writings of students from four grades as well as 30 spoken materials from Spoken and Written English Corpus of Chinese Learners, and studies Chinese English majors'productive vocabulary development patterns from the perspective of Lexical Distribution, Lexical Complexity and Lexical Diversity, in both their spoken and written productions. In order to probe the characteristics of their productive lexical competence, a longitude study on Chinese English majors'productive vocabulary development in writings and a comparative study on productive vocabulary development in spoken and written productions of Chinese English majors at the same proficiency level are conducted in the present paper. All the materials are analyzed using the Lexical Frequency Profile Program---RANGE, the concordance tool---AntConc and the statistical software---SPSS16.0. The present study concludes as follows:First, Chinese English majors'productive lexical competence progresses obviously with the improvement of their overall proficiency in their four years of study. However, the development is not in a linear-way and both in their spoken and written productions, the students use the most basic 2,000 words in expressing their opinions. Second, there are three stages in Chinese English majors" productive vocabulary development. The first is the rapid development period from grade one to grade two; the second is the steady development period from grade two to grade three and the last period is the stagnant period from grade three to grade four. Third, there exists a "plateau phenomenon" in their development of productive vocabulary. Finally, for students at the same proficiency level, their spoken productive vocabulary development is far behind what appears in written English.According to features found in Chinese English majors'productive vocabulary development, the following suggestions are made to vocabulary learning and teaching:First, it is highly recommended that we should increase comprehensive input, especially in the period from grade one to grade two, which is the rapid development period in English vocabulary learning. Second, we are to enhance the output. Special efforts should be made in grade three and grade four, which suffer from an obvious stagnation in English vocabulary development. Third, it is advisable to adopt a corpus-based teaching method. Through the numerous materials in the corpus students can not only know the specific meaning of the vocabulary but also the semantic, cultural as well as contextual meaning and other usage of the vocabulary.Five chapters are included in the present study. The first chapter is the brief introduction of the background knowledge of the research. Chapter two covers some basic concepts in vocabulary research, a review of vocabulary research both at home and abroad as well as the development of corpus linguistics. The third chapter is the research design. Chapter four reports the results of the research and summarizes the development patterns of Chinese English majors'productive vocabulary and the pedagogical implications of the research. The last chapter concludes the major findings of the research, points out the limitations of the research and presents some suggestions for further study. It is hoped that the findings of the present study can shed some light on Chinese English majors' vocabulary learning and teaching.