Saudi EFL majors’ productive vocabulary size

Abstract EN

This study aimed to measure Saudi English majors’ productive vocabulary knowledge.

The subjects were forty-five Saudi male students with five years of study as English Language and Translation majors at King Saud University in Riyadh.

Paul Nation’s Productive Vocabulary Levels Test: Version A was administered to the subjects during the last two weeks of their final semester.

The results showed poor productive vocabulary sizes under the five-word frequency bands.

Furthermore, the mean scores deteriorated as the level of word frequency declined.

The participants’ average vocabulary size was approximately 503 words (50 %) in the 2nd 1,000- word level, 314 words (31%) in the 3rd 1,000-word level, 119 words (12%) in the 5th 1,000- word level, 10 words (1%) for the 10th 1.000-word level, and 107 words (13%) in the University Word List band.

It was evident that participants’ performances were highly affected by the word-frequency level in all test bands.

Immediate intervention is required to improve students’ performance and to prevent such poor performance among future students.