Title: Structural semantic test: an effective tool for transition of vocabulary from receptive to productive mode

Authors: Ferdi Bozkurt; Kamal Heidari

Addresses: Center for Turkish Language Teaching, Anadolu University, Eskişehir, Turkey ' Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics, Shiraz University, Iran

Abstract: Vocabulary as the building block of language has always encountered challenging issues by researchers. One of these challenges is the transition of receptive lexical knowledge to productive mode. The nature of such a process and also the tools which might be useful in simplifying it are among basic questions which are needed to consider by related researchers. The present study, in essence, sets out to cast light on this issue by elaborating on structural semantic tests as an appropriate practical tool for helping learners push their receptive vocabulary knowledge into productive mode. To explain such a goal, 58 EFL learners took part in the study to take two productive tests: a L1 to L2 translation test; and a structural semantic test accompanied by sentence making. A number of them were then interviewed to share their views on the test. The results of the study revealed that structural semantic test is an effective approach for facilitating the procedure of transferring receptive vocabulary into productive compared to the commonly-used equivalent finding test. The study also led to a set of implications which are discussed.

Keywords: receptive vocabulary; productive vocabulary; structural semantic test.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIIE.2019.101766

International Journal of Innovation in Education, 2019 Vol.5 No.3, pp.250 - 264

Received: 27 Sep 2018
Accepted: 25 Nov 2018
Published online: 26 Aug 2019 *

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