Exploring the impact of background knowledge and L2 reading proficiency on incidental vocabulary acquisition during ESAP reading for Iranian University students

Abstract

The study reported here is designed to examine the nature of the effect of reader based variables of background knowledge and L2 Reading Proficiency on incidental vocabulary acquisition during ESAP reading for Iranian university students. The data gathering phases of this study in three sessions with 75 Economics students recruited from among fresh, sophomore, and junior economics students in Behbehan Azad University. Three ESAP reading passages were developed and 15 Target words were selected from the passages and during session one, by means of Vocabulary Checklist test it was verified that participants were entirely unfamiliar with the Target Words. In session two, the students' L2 reading proficiency and background knowledge using Nelson (2004) and background knowledge test were measured and finally in the last session, when the students completed reading the ESAP passages, the synonym recognitions and translation production tests as the vocabulary gain measures were administrated in order to assess the acquisition of Target Words during the ESAP reading. To analyze data, the tests were scored, the means, standard deviations, and variances of the students' scores on L2 reading proficiency. L2 synonym recognition, background knowledge, and translation production tests were calculated, and in order to determine the degree of relationships between the scores on L2 reading proficiency, background knowledge tests and the scores on the synonym recognition and translation production measures of vocabulary gain, the correlation coefficient using the Pearson Correlation was calculated. The results indicated that both background knowledge and L2 reading proficiency have consistently strong positive significant influences on incidental vocabulary acquisition during ESAP reading. That is to say, as background knowledge and L2 reading proficiency increased, so do incidental gain of new vocabulary. Therefore, the two null hypotheses of the investigation were rejected.