What Electronic Tools Can EFL Teachers Use to Assess L2 Embedded Vocabulary Objectively?

Abstract

Measuring vocabulary is of paramount importance for EFL teachers and researchers, as it is widely acknowledged that L2 vocabulary is central to the learning and acquisition of foreign languages. It is a difficult task to assess the vocabulary produced by learners in written tasks because it often involves subjective judgement from raters. However, a wide range of computer-mediated assessment instruments can be used to analyse learners’ vocabulary more objectively. This article describes and analyses three electronic instruments: the Lexical Frequency Profile (Laufer & Nation, 1995), P_Lex (Meara & Bell, 2001) and V_Size (Meara & Miralpeix, 2007). These computer-based text analysers represent useful tools for assessing the L2 vocabulary produced in different writing tasks. The paper argues that understanding the characteristics of these tools will help teachers decide which instrument best suits their pedagogical and assessment purposes.