Jennifer MarshallCollege of EducationJ.Marshall@derby.ac.uk (01332) 594 278

Objectives• What is the estimated mean vocabulary size of an

undergraduate student at the University of Derby?• Is there a link between vocabulary size and academic

achievement (measured by expected final degree classification)?

• Do students experience a growth in vocabulary during their undergraduate studies?

• What kinds of words (general, academic or subject specific) do students not understand?

Rationale• Students need academic and subject specific language in

order to access their discipline, make meaning and construct knowledge

• Students need vocabulary knowledge to communicate effectively and be academically literate (Seligmann, 2012)

• Previous estimates of vocabulary sizes in adults with degree level education vary widely from 10,856 (Milton, & Treffers-Daller, 2013) 17,200 (Goulden, Nation and Read, 1990); to between 20,000 and 100,000 words (Kirkpatrick,1891)

Method• Vocabulary sizes were

estimated using a 50 item test devised by Goulden, Nation and Read (1990) based on a combination of dictionary sampling methods, word frequency counts and self-assessment

• Students kept a vocabulary record sheet for one week and recorded unknown words they encountered

Sample• Undergraduate programmes

(excluding Buxton campus) were randomly selected

• 11 single honours and 19 joint honours programmes were represented in the sample

• Test sample size (N)= 389 where the total undergraduate population is 13,595 (full and part-time)

• 27 participants recorded unknown words

Initial Findings• Undergraduates have a much smaller

vocabulary size than one would expect compared to previous research

• There is no correlation between vocabulary size and academic achievement.

• The differences in the means are significant between stages 1 and 2 but not between 2 and 3.

• Unknown words were a mixture of academic and subject-specific

Stage Sample size Mean Standard Deviation One 130 10070.0000 2673.57584 Two 139 11614.3885 3015.98546 Three 120 11581.9583 2943.75163 Overall test score 389 11088.2648 2965.04362 Table 1.0 Mean vocabulary sizes of undergraduates

Degree classification 1st or Other N Mean Standard Deviation Other 308 11046.5422 3007.49284 1st 71 11521.1268 2860.71497 Table 2.0 Mean vocabulary sizes of students who are expected to achieve a 1st

Implications• Greater support for explicit language instruction for ALL students in Stages 2 and 3 in both academic and subject-specific

vocabulary as this is where limited vocabulary growth occurs• Further research into other factors involved in student achievement

References• Goulden, R., Nation, P. & Read, J. (1990) How large can a receptive vocabulary be? Applied Linguisics, 11:4, 341-363• Kirkpatrick, E.A. (1891) Number of words in an ordinary vocabulary, in Science, 18:446, 107-108• Milton, J. & Treffers-Daller, J. (2013) Vocabulary size revisited: the link between vocabulary size and academic achievement, in

Applied Linguistics Review, 4:1, 151-172• Seligmann, J. (2012) Academic Literacy for Education Students, South Africa: OUP

Figure 1.0 Unknown words (all stages)

Research Title: An exploration of undergraduates’ vocabulary size and academic achievement