Breadth of Vocabulary and Advanced English Study : An Empirical Investigation

Worldwide, foreign language instruction – particularly EFL instruction – starts at increasingly earlier ages and takes up more space in the overall primary and secondary school curricula. The question is: Do long sequences of study necessarily lead to higher proficiency levels among students, particularly with respect to advanced competencies in receptive and productive skills, including academic language skills? As breadth of vocabulary has been identified as one of the most important indicators of reading proficiency and of academic language skills more generally, the present study focuses on vocabulary gain over eight years of English language instruction in secondary schools in Sachsen, a state in Eastern Germany. The study shows that even extended sequences of English instruction of eight years and more do not necessarily enable students to meet vocabulary thresholds for academic purposes. Even vocabulary goals such as in Sachsen that lie at the lower end of the ones suggested by research are met by very few students. Particularly the productive goals are missed by a wide margin. In addition to describing the vocabulary levels attained by the participants, the paper discusses the relationship between test scores and background data such as length of time spent in English-speaking countries, number of English language books read per year, study strategies, etc.