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Keywords
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Deep vocabulary knowledge, Speaking performance, Fluency, Accuracy, Complexity
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Abstract
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Speaking fluently in a foreign language is an essential manifest of the learner's command of EFL. The speaking skill can be viewed from two perspectives of performance and ability. Performance is the actual use of language in real time and context while the ability is the componential underlying entity that is relatively stable and can be inferred from performance. In the interaction between the ability and performance, the vocabulary knowledge plays a significant role by equipping EFL speakers with the facilitated lexical access in order to handle the requirements of online processing. Therefore, studying the relationship between dimensions of vocabulary knowledge and quality features of speaking performance can provide a source of inspiration in understanding the performance-ability relationship in speaking. This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between the EFL Learners’ Deep Vocabulary Knowledge and Speaking Performance. To this end, 103 bachelor ELT students at Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University were given Word Associate Test to measure their DVK, and a planned speaking task to elicit speaking performance. The elicited samples of speaking performance were analyzed in terms of fluency, accuracy, lexical complexity and grammatical complexity. Multivariate correlation analysis indicated a relatively moderate but significant correlation between fluency and DVK (r= 0.225), a moderate significant relationship between grammatical accuracy and DVK (r= 0.185), and a low non-significant relationship between DVK on the one hand and accuracy and lexical complexity on the other. The differential correlations of the components of speaking performance with DVK are discussed under Robinson's Cognition Hypothesis.
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