ERIC Number: EJ800666
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1075-2935
EISSN: N/A
The Impact of Bilingual Dictionaries on Lexical Sophistication and Lexical Accuracy in Tests of L2 Writing Proficiency: A Quantitative Analysis
East, Martin
Assessing Writing, v11 n3 p179-197 2006
Writing assessment essentially juxtaposes two elements: how "good writing" is to be defined, and how "good measurement" of that writing is to be carried out. The timed test is often used in large-scale L2 writing assessments because it is considered to provide reliable measurement. It is, however, highly inauthentic. One way of enhancing authenticity in a way that might also promote good writing is to include access to support resources in the test. This article reports a study into whether allowing a bilingual dictionary enhances good writing in German writing tests. Participants (n = 47) took two tests, one with and one without a bilingual dictionary. The essays of sub-sets of the participants were compared in terms of lexical sophistication, lexical accuracy and test score. Lexical sophistication was measured by means of the Lexical Frequency Profile (Laufer & Nation, 1995). Lexical accuracy was determined through a quantitative analysis of words looked up in the dictionary. The results revealed an increase in lexical sophistication in "with dictionary" tests but frequent misuse of look-ups. There was also no improvement in test scores. Subsequent issues for the use of dictionaries in writing tests are raised. (Contains 12 tables.)
Descriptors: Writing Evaluation, Writing Tests, Timed Tests, Dictionaries, Scores, German, Essay Tests, Measurement Techniques, Evaluation Methods, Student Evaluation, Second Language Learning, Language Proficiency, Test Format
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A