Title:
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Developing and evaluating receptive vocabulary tests for Portuguese as a foreign language
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The Yes / No Vocabulary Test (YN test) and the Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) have
been widely used to measure the vocabulary size of EFL learners for more than two
decades now. Also, there are many studies validating these test formats. These
studies showed that there are advantages and disadvantages in both formats.
However, there are no standardized vocabulary tests for Portuguese as a foreign
language (PFL). The aim of this thesis is to elaborate and evaluate those two wellknown
test formats for PFL.
Thus, this thesis describes the attempt to elaborate and assess two receptive
vocabulary tests, namely, Yes / No Vocabulary Test for Portuguese and Vocabulary
Levels Test for Portuguese. The former is a checklist test and the latter uses a
matching format. It is argued that guessing is one of the biggest concerns of these
formats. Thus, distractors are included and they have important roles in both test
formats. However, while in the YN test, the distractors are imaginary words, in VLT,
they are real words.
Four experiments were carried out: two on YN test and two on VLT. The subjects
were Spanish and English-speaking students as well as Koreans. We conclude that
both tests have significant potential as vocabulary assessment tools. Nevertheless, it
is necessary to make some adjustments so that they can be used by teachers to
measure the vocabulary proficiency of their learners, to diagnose the vocabulary
problems learners may have as well as to place them in a course according to learners'
vocabulary knowledge.
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