A Study On The Influence Of Vocabulary Knowledge On The Reading Ability Of Kenyan Chinese Learners

The study is on the influence of vocabulary knowledge on reading ability of Kenyans who are learning Chinese. The research takes 42 Kenyan Chinese learners as the subject of study; they are divided into three groups. A Pearson correlation and the linear regression analysis the following is found: 1) there is a positive correlation between depth of vocabulary knowledge and the breadth of vocabulary knowledge. 2) There is also a positive correlation between the depth of vocabulary knowledge and the breadth of vocabulary knowledge with reading, the breadth of the vocabulary knowledge however has the strongest correlation with reading compared to the breadth of vocabulary knowledge 3) The three aspects of the depth of vocabulary knowledge that is synonyms, antonyms and verb noun collocation have positive correlation with reading. Verb noun collocation however has the strongest correlation with reading 4) the depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge can be used to predict the learner's performance in reading comprehension. However of the two, the depth of vocabulary knowledge ha the strongest predicting power.