1. Oranim Academic College Dept of Postgraduate Studies M.Ed. Teaching Vocabulary Prof. Penny Ur Lexical Threshold Revisited: Lexical Text Coverage, Learners' Vocabulary Size and Reading Comprehension Laufer, Batia & Kalovski, Geke (2008)

2. Key terms Lexical coverage Sight Vocabulary ‘Adequate’ comprehension

3. Previous studies Research by Laufer (1989): 95% coverage (of known words) is necessary to allow reasonable comprehension of a text.

4. Previous studies Research by Hu & Nation (2000): 4 coverage groups (80%, 90%, 95%, 100%)

5. Read the text and paraphrase the main points. Israel is on the list of nations whose citizens may be able to visit the United States for up to 90 days without obtaining a visa in advance. While reviewing legislative border security measures last week, Congress approved a bill that actually lowers the bar in the U.S. Visa Waiver program. Inclusion in the program is based on the proportion of non- immigration visa applications from a given country's citizens that U.S. immigration rejects. The main thrust of the bill is to lower that bar. To qualify under existing American legislation, the rejection rate for visa applications originating from a given country must be 3 percent or less. About 80% coverage

6. Read the text and paraphrase the main points. Israel is on the list of nations whose citizens may be able to visit the United States for up to 90 days without obtaining a visa in advance. While reviewing legislative border security measures last week, Congress approved a bill that actually lowers the bar in the U.S. Visa Waiver program. Inclusion in the program is based on the proportion of non- immigration visa applications from a given country's citizens that U.S. immigration rejects. The main thrust of the bill is to lower that bar. To qualify under existing American legislation, the rejection rate for visa applications originating from a given country must be 3 percent or less. About 90% coverage

7. Read the text and paraphrase the main points. Israel is on the list of nations whose citizens may be able to visit the United States for up to 90 days without obtaining a visa in advance. While reviewing legislative border security measures last week, Congress approved a bill that actually lowers the bar in the U.S. Visa Waiver program. Inclusion in the program is based on the proportion of non- immigration visa applications from a given country's citizens that U.S. immigration rejects. The main thrust of the bill is to lower that bar. To qualify under existing American legislation, the rejection rate for visa applications originating from a given country must be 3 percent or less. About 95% coverage

8. Key:  general words  less familiar meaning  same word family  repeated words Israel is on the list of nations whose citizens may be able to visit the United States for up to 90 days without obtaining a visa in advance. While reviewing legislative border security measures last week, Congress approved a bill that actually lowers the bar in the U.S. Visa Waiver program. Inclusion in the program is based on the proportion of non- immigration visa applications from a given country's citizens that U.S. immigration rejects. The main thrust of the bill is to lower that bar. To qualify under existing American legislation, the rejection rate for visa applications originating from a given country must be 3 percent or less.

9. Previous studies Nation - 98% (adequate comprehension) Laufer - 95% (minimally acceptable comphehension

10. Often quoted in literature Nation - 98% with 8000-9000 words Laufer - 95% with 3000 words

11. Study Larger sample - 745 students (EAP) Psychometric test (60 questions) Nation’s Vocabulary Levels Test www.lextutor.ca

12. Students Reading score (max. 150) National average 100 Level Lower than 95Levels 1-2 Pre-academic courses 95 - 103Level 3 3 semesters of English 104 - 115Level 4 2 semesters of English 116 – 133 (23% of all Ss) Level 5 1 semester of English 134 (9% of all Ss) Exempt

13. Discussion The less frequent the vocabulary, the smaller the portion of the text covered However a small increase in lexical coverage (1.19% from 4K to 5K) significantly contributes to overall comprehension Infrequent vocabulary may be beneficial too

14. Implications Approx vocab size Lexical coverage Percentile on psycho metric test Reading score: (max.150) No. of Ss 100078.5850%83109 200087.6753%90199 300090.5666%102204 400092.8172%111200 50009483%12223 600094.8 91%-99%13810 700095.43 800096.3

15. Implications Reading score: Percentile on psychometric test Approx vocab size Lexical coverage Lower than 95Levels 1-2 Pre-academic courses 95 - 103Level 3 3 semesters of English 3K90.56 or 92.66% incl. proper nouns 104 - 115Level 4 2 semesters of English 116 – 133 (23% of all Ss) Level 5 1 semester of English 4K – 5K93.4% or 95.5% incl. proper nouns 134 (9% of all Ss) Exempt6K – 8K98%

16. Recommendations Two lexical thresholds: Optimal - reading score 134 or above (9% of learners) 6K-8K word families - 98% coverage Minimal - reading score 116 (23% of learners) 4K – 5K word families – 95% coverage

17. Discussion

18. Reflection 95% or 98% - still a lot of vocab to learn/teach Does not take into account other factors, such as exam anxiety, time pressure, attention span etc Related to adult education