-
15. The Developing Lexicon: The Case of Hong Kong Secondary Students
- Hong Kong University Press, HKU
- Chapter
- Additional Information
15 TheDevelopingLexicon:TheCase ofHongKongSecondaryStudent s BenjaminK.Y.T'sou,AnnaS.FKwanandGodfreyK.F Liu The presen t stud y i s a part o f a n ongoin g Chines e vocabular y research , which seek s t o investigat e th e lexica l developmen t o f secondar y an d tertiary student s i n four Asia n citie s (Hon g Kong , Taipei , Shangha i an d Singapore) an d t o contribut e t o th e settin g o f literac y benchmark s fo r Chinese languag e educatio n i n Hong Kong . Vocabulary development i s a crucial area of research because it relates closely to cognitiv e developmen t (Anderso n & Freebody , 1981 ; Terman, 1916; Wechsler , 1949 ) an d academi c achievemen t (Miller , 1988 ; SavilleTroike , 1984 ; Stanovich , 1986) . I n languag e development , vocabular y serves as basic building blocks in generating an d understandin g sentence s (Miller, 1991 ) an d i n reading competence (Anderso n & Freebody , 1981 ; Beck e t al. , 1987 ; Chall , 1958 ; Graves , 1986 ; Miller , 1988 ; Nag y & Anderson, 1984 ; Nag y & Herma n 1987) . Studie s o f vocabular y acquisition ca n therefor e provid e a windo w o n th e proces s o f languag e acquisition a s a whole (Clark , 1995) . A large number of teaching and learning strategies have been advance d to promot e learners ' lexica l development , bu t fe w o f the m hav e give n satisfying answers . In contrast to the large amount o f published material s on vocabular y learning , littl e i s known abou t ho w learner s acquir e an d develop thei r vocabular y (Nation , 1990) . Researc h int o Chines e vocabulary ha s see n experiment s examinin g aspect s o f words , suc h a s 286BENJAMI NK .Y.T'SOU,ANNAS.F.KWANANDGODFREYK .F.LIU characters an d radicals , bu t studie s int o Chines e vocabular y acquisitio n are relativel y under-developed . Hong Kon g educationa l refor m ha s attracte d considerabl e attentio n and gaine d mountin g urgenc y in the las t decad e o f th e twentieth centur y because o f th e unprecedente d politica l change s an d thei r consequentia l impact o n societa l goals , education processe s an d thei r fulfilment . Ther e is an urgent need to undertake investigation s t o determine the vocabular y benchmarks o f student s an d t o gain understandin g o n ho w the y develo p their vocabulary knowledg e s o as to benefi t Chines e languag e education . This stud y aim s a t helpin g t o mee t thi s nee d b y providing empirica l evidence o n th e lexica l developmen t o f Hon g Kon g secondar y student s by assessin g an d comparin g thei r wor d knowledg e o n th e basi s o f newspaper an d textboo k corpuses . c Previou s Studie s Vocabulary development In describing vocabulary growth , researcher s sugges t that nativ e speaker s develop thei r vocabular y throughou t thei r lif e spa n (e.g. , Nation, 1990) . Recent studies (Goulden, Nation & Read , 1990 ; Nagy & Anderson, 1984 ) demonstrate that a n estimate of around 20,000 words for undergraduate s is likel y t o b e appropriate , suggestin g tha t nativ e speaker s ad d abou t 1,000 t o 2,00 0 o f word s pe r yea r (o r thre e t o seve n word s pe r day ) t o their vocabulary . Carey (1978 ) distinguishe d betwee n fast mapping an d extended mapping, proposin g tha t learner s migh t quickl y acquir e th e coars e meaning o f a word (fas t mapping ) o n the first exposur e t o the word, bu t it could tak e the m year s to acquir e it s full meanin g (extende d mapping) . Nation (1990) , amon g others , identifie d tw o level s o f vocabular y knowledge: receptive an d productive. Wit h...