Article

Summary of an article from journal RELC

        MAY FAN                                                                                                          Year-2000              

        Hong kong polytechnic         University                                                                                                                      Volume-31            

                                                                                                                                    Number-2

HOW BIG IS THE GAP AND HOW TO NARROW IT?AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE OF L2  LEARNERS

           It is generally believed that L2 learners know more words of the target language than they can actually use them.The aim of this study is to find out more about this gap and the ways to narrow it.Vocabulary has generally been classified in to passive and vocabulary.Active and passive vocabulary are 'qualitatively different'inthat passive vocabulary'can only be assed if appropriate external simulation is available'whereas active vocabulary'does not require any external simulas,but can be activated by other words'.As for L2 learners,ithas been estimated that their passive vocabulary is double or more the size of their active vocabulary.In a recent study,Laufer suggests that the gap between active and passive vocabulary increases with progress in learning.

STRATEGIES TO NARROW THE THE GAP

         First,there seems to be no consistent relationship between language proficiency and the two types of vocabulary knowledge.while findings have indicated that students who are more proficient inthe L2have larger passive vocabulary,evidence perplexing regarding their ability to recall more of the words they can recognize.Regarding the gap between active and passive vocabulary knowledge,evidence seems to indicate that the size ofthe gap may not be related to the L2proficiency of the students.The point is that it can be predicted that this gap will be more varied with regard to individual students.To narrow the the gap ,it important for the students to take the initiative to acquire vocabulary both inside and outside school

        The conscious way learning such as,such as grouping words together to commit them to tomemory and repeatedly saying the words are effective.Moreover,results of the researchs show that students do not often use these stategies alothough they consider them useful.The focus on the learning of passive vocabulary will make possible for them to know arelatively large numberof words within a short period of time

         To conclude ,although this is a small-scale study and the students under study were rather weak in proficiency,it has revealed that the gap between active and passive vocabulary is more complicated than it appears to be and more questions seem to have arisen than they are answered.