LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 20:1 January 2020
ISSN 1930-2940

Editors:
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Managing Editor & Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

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Effects of Lexical Density and Lexical Variety in the
Written Production of EFL Learners

Muhammad Naeem Yaqubi, M.A. in TESL

Abstract

The objective of the current study is to discover the effects of lexical density and lexical variety in written production of the EFL learners. The written products of the students were collected as data, the learners aged between 19- 28 years. The core aim of the study is to find out that students are able to establish the use of lexicon in their written scripts and it will demonstrate language knowledge of the learners. The cognitive approach of learning a language in the present study ascertains that the use of lexical density and variety will contribute in the language learning. McCarthy (2010) simple method of lexical density was used to analyze the data. Johnson & Victoria (2008) measure of complexity was used to find out the lexical variety. The study declares that students’ lexical improvements can be measured in the productive use of the language performance and proficiency which means that learners should make proper use of language knowledge and regulate it accordingly. The reliable and valid measurement of the lexical density and variety in the writing production of EFL learners will contribute in determining the factors that affect the language performance and proficiency that is related to the lexis.

Keywords: Lexical density, Lexical variety, Language performance, Language proficiency, Vocabulary, Lexicon.

Among all four skills, usually writing is considered to be the most difficult task for (EFL) learners. Because it requires a great deal of attention during the writing process. The writer needs to consider apart from the organization and clarity of ideas, the language elements too, specifically the lexical density (content words) in order to have a better piece of writing production. The question arises what lexical density would be. Mostly the definitions of focuses on the quantitative aspect of the term, which is related to the frequency of content words in a text (Batia Laufer, Paul Nation 1995).

According to (Johansson & Victoria 2008), lexical density is the term which is generally used to describe the proportion of content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and often also adverbs) to the total number of words. Such characterizations merely define the measurement of lexical density, not the concept of lexical density. It is more close-fitting to define lexical density as the degree of richness of a text in terms of meanings, ideas, and information. Carmen & Begofia, (2015) state lexical density as “the density with which the information is presented.” Lexical density, therefore, is mainly the density of the informational and ideational load of texts, which is realized by content words, as opposed to function words. The concept of lexical density has been particularly used to distinguish between written and spoken varieties of language, where written language has been shown to be lexically denser than spoken language.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Muhammad Naeem Yaqubi

Muhammad Naeem Yaqubi, M.A. in TESL Department of English Kabul Medical University m.naeemyaqubi1988@gmail.com
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