An Empirical Study of Leaner's Vocabulary Size and the Effect of Phrase Reading

Abstract

Phrase reading, or chunking, has proved to be one of the most effective techniques to improve the reading skills of learners of English as a second or foreign language. Some studies indicate that phrase reading is effective for all levels of learners, while others indicate that it is effective only for good readers. Still others show that only poor readers improve their reading ability by that method. However, most of the studies conducted so far have investigated the effect in terms of general reading ability or general English ability. That is, they explore the relationship between the learner's proficiency levels arid the effect of phrase reading. The present research investigates the relationship between the vocabulary size of the learner, which is considered to be one of the factors that construct reading ability, and the effect of phrase reading. The data shows that in a group of learners whose vocabulary size is small, the subjects who read a passage with slashes obtain higher scores than those who read it without slashes. However, in the group of learners who possess a large vocabulary, the result is the opposite: the subjects who read a passage without slashes gain higher scores.