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The Development of a Computerized Adaptive Software to Test Written Receptive Vocabulary Knowledge of Foreign Language Learners

Haddadian, Golnoush | 2014

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  1. Type of Document: M.Sc. Thesis
  2. Language: English
  3. Document No: 46347 (31)
  4. University: Sharif University of Technology
  5. Department: Languages and Linguistics Center
  6. Advisor(s): Salehi, Mohammad; Jahangard, Ali
  7. Abstract:
  8. Regardless of the extensive research on different aspects of vocabulary and the great emphasis that leading scholars (Meara, 1996; Nation, 990; Read, 1988) placed on the significance of the number of words a learner knows as a substantial component in language learning and vocabulary learning, few investigations have been conducted regarding the size of the vocabulary each language learner knows (Nation, 2012). In addition, Nation (2012) debates the need to combine modern technology and language testing. Therefore, it is necessary to provide innovative methods of testing this knowledge. The present study developed the Computerized Adaptive Test (CAT) of Nation and Beglar’s (2007) Vocabulary Size Test (VST) in order to test the written receptive vocabulary knowledge of foreign language learners. To reach this goal, an application was developed using Java programming language. This software was titled “Computer Adaptive Test of Written Receptive Vocabulary (CATWRV)”. The underlying psychometric theory behind CATWRV was Item Response Theory (IRT) and among its different models, 1-Parameter Logistic model (1-PL) was used in order to estimate examinees’ unknown ability levels using mathematical functions of probability of each examinee when answering an item with a predefined difficulty level. Moreover, in order to find any significant difference between the results of CATWRV and its Paper-and-Pencil substitute, the performance of 72 (32 female and 40 male) Persian native speakers studying English as a Foreign Language (EFL) was compared. Furthermore, issues regarding the participants’ gender, age, and test time were taken into consideration. The findings revealed that the two administration modes are positively related to each other, and both forms assess similar things. Moreover, no statistically significant difference was found between the performance of male and female examinees in both forms of the test. In addition, age was not a contributing factor in any of the delivery modes. IV Finally, the outcomes of this research found significant difference between the average test time it took the examinees to complete the paper-and pencil mode versus its CAT equivalent. That is to say, having similar results, the CAT exam took significantly less time than its substitute
  9. Keywords:
  10. Dictionary Learning ; Vocabulary Size ; Computer Adaptive Test (CAT) ; Item-Response Theory ; Foreign Language Learners

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