28.3263, Review: Applied Linguistics; Language Acquisition: Meara, Miralpeix (2016)

Tue Aug 1 18:59:48 UTC 2017

LINGUIST List: Vol-28-3263. Tue Aug 01 2017. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 28.3263, Review: Applied Linguistics; Language Acquisition: Meara, Miralpeix (2016)

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Date: Tue, 01 Aug 2017 14:59:45
From: Thi Ngoc Yen Dang [ngocyen1011 at gmail.com]
Subject: Tools for Researching Vocabulary

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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/27/27-4657.html

AUTHOR: Paul  Meara
AUTHOR: Imma  Miralpeix
TITLE: Tools for Researching Vocabulary
SERIES TITLE: Second Language Acquisition
PUBLISHER: Multilingual Matters
YEAR: 2016

REVIEWER: Thi Ngoc Yen Dang, Victoria University of Wellington

REVIEWS EDITOR: Helen Aristar-Dry

SUMMARY 

Meara and Miralpeix’(2016) book, ‘Tools for Researching Vocabulary’, was
written with the aim to provide beginning researchers who would like to work
in the area of second language (L2) vocabulary acquisition with a set of
easy-to-use programs to address their own research questions. The book is
organized into six main parts, each of which consists of one or more chapters.
Each chapter focuses on programs to analyze a certain aspect of vocabulary and
has a similar structure. Each chapter starts with a description of the
background of the program and an instruction on how to use the program. It is
then followed by (1) a background reading which describes a real research
project which used this program to address certain research questions, and (2)
a set of reflections on the work reported in that reading. The chapter
concludes with a list of questions that users may be able to explore with the
program presented in the chapter, as well as suggestions for further reading
on the topic related to the chapter. 

Part 1, ‘Processing vocabulary data’, contains one chapter (Chapter 1), which
describes two programs: V_Words v2.0 and V_Lists v1.0. The former helps users
to turn texts into word lists as well as counting the number of tokens
(running words) and types (unrepeated running words), while the latter allows
them to compare items in different word lists. These programs provide readers
with basic foundation for their use of other tools presented in the subsequent
chapters. 

Part 2, ‘Measuring lexical variation, sophistication, and originality’,
focuses on lexical richness. This part is comprised of four chapters, each of
which focuses on one aspect of lexical richness. Chapter 2 describes D_Tools
which calculates lexical variation with Malvern, Richards, Chipere, and
Durán’s (2004) D, and Chapter 3 presents the P_Lex v3.00 which helps to
calculate lexical sophistication. The other chapters introduce different tools
to measure lexical originality: V_LexSig and SigSorter (Chapter 4) and
V_Unique (Chapter 5). The V_LexSig and SigSorter compare the words in
learners’ compositions. The V_Unique provides users with a quick way to assess
learners’ lexical originality. Unlike V_LexSig and SigSorter, the The V_Unique
only requires learners to generate a certain number of adjectives to describe
a given picture.  

Part 3, ‘Estimating vocabulary size’, consists of three chapters which present
different programs to analyze vocabulary size. Chapter 6 describes V-YesNo
v1.0, which estimates the receptive vocabulary knowledge of test takers.
Chapters 7 and 8 focus on programs to estimate the productive vocabulary size
through different approaches. The V_Size v2.01 (Chapter 7) expands on Laufer
and Nation’s (1995) approach by using lexical profiles to estimate the overall
productive vocabulary sizes. The V_Capture v1.0 (Chapter 8), however, is based
on the methods used in the field of biology and provides an estimation of the
vocabulary size for a specific task. 

The next three parts each consists of one chapter which represents a single
program. Part 4, ‘Measuring Lexical Access’, introduces Q_Lex. This program
helps to measure how easy it is for L2 learners to access a certain number of
high-frequency words. Part 5, ‘Assessing Aptitude for L2 vocabulary learning’,
discusses LLAMA_B.  The motivation behind the development of this program is
to provide research students with an environment where they can develop their
critical attitude toward the data collection tools rather than to develop a
language aptitude test. Part 6, ‘Modelling Vocabulary Growth’, focuses on
Mezzofanti v1.0. Unlike other programs presented in this book, Mezzofanti v1.0
generates data rather than processes or collects data. It provides researchers
with a way of examining how different languages might interact with each other
in a simplified learning environment. 

EVALUATION

Recently vocabulary has received growing interest from researchers in the
field of Applied Linguistics. Together with this trend is the need to provide
beginning researchers who are interested in working on the area of L2
vocabulary acquisition with a set of research tools and instructions on how to
use them to address their own research questions. Meara and Miralpeix’s (2016)
book, ‘Tools for Researching Vocabulary’, is a very timely publication to
address this need. Together with Schmitt’s (2010) book, ‘Researching
vocabulary: A vocabulary research manual’, and Nation and Webb’s (2011) book,
‘Researching and analyzing vocabulary’, Meara and Miralpeix’s (2016) book is a
must-read book for beginning vocabulary researchers. 

One remarkable point of this book is its comprehensive structure, which
provides a systematic scaffolding for readers when using the tools. Each
chapter starts with a background information section which provides readers
with key information about the tools. It is then followed by very detailed and
easy-to-understand instructions on how to use these programs. Meara and
Miralpeix made use of a range of channels to illustrate for their points:
texts, screen shots of the program outlook, and online links to the program.
Importantly, they not just simply present the tools but also help readers to
see how these tools can be used to solve certain research questions by
providing relevant examples from real studies and reflections on these
studies. This benefits readers in multiple ways. It allows them to consolidate
and expand their knowledge of the information presented in the overview. It
then makes them realize the value of the tool and link the findings of the
studies which used that tool with other studies in the field of vocabulary.
Moreover, the chapter does not stop at presenting the tools but also provides
readers with suggestions for small-scale research projects where the tools can
be applied. This is particularly useful for beginning researchers who still
struggle to find worth-investigating but manageable research topics. The
scaffolding can be seen not only within each chapter but also between
chapters. Throughout the book, Meara and Miralpeix gradually lead readers from
very basic tools such as V_Words v2.0 and V_Lists v1.0 to more complicated
tools. The information presented in the subsequent chapters is built up and
linked with that from previous chapters.

A second strength of this book is that it encourages readers to think
critically and creatively about L2 vocabulary research. Meara and Miralpeix
neither restrict readers to the tools that they have developed nor impose
their thinking on the readers. Instead, they present a balanced assessment of
the strengths and limitations of each tool. Moreover, these authors direct
learners to other tools if they would like to work with more advanced
programs. They also suggest that readers should not just restrict their view
and knowledge to a fixed set of tools, or to the area of (applied)
linguistics. These authors encourage readers to look wider, apply advances in
technology to lighten the workload of the analysis, and see how the
application of the tools from other fields can help researchers to address
their research questions. This spirit has been maintained throughout the book.

A third strength of this book is the range of topics that it covers. Each
chapter focuses on a key area of vocabulary research. In each area, the main
topic is picked up, expanded and linked with other topics so that readers can
have an overall picture about how the topics fit the broader field. The Author
index and Subject index help readers to easily track down the desired
information. 

Yet, it might be more useful if, in further editions, the Suggestions for
Further Readings section consists of some brief sentences about the
information that readers may find useful from that reference. This would
provide beginning researchers with better support in the selection of their
reading materials. 

On the whole, Meara and Miralpeix’s (2016) book, ‘Tools for Researching
Vocabulary’, has successfully provided a timely contribution to the area of L2
vocabulary acquisition. There is no doubt that this book is a valuable
reference for final year undergraduates and master students in Applied
Linguistics, second language acquisition, psycholinguistics, and testing. This
book is also useful for PhD students who have little background knowledge of
the tools for researching vocabulary but would like to work in this field. 

REFERENCES

Laufer, B., & Nation, P. (1995). Vocabulary size and use: Lexical richness in
L2 written production. Applied Linguistics, 16(3), 307–322.

Malvern, D., Richards, B., Chipere, N., & Durán, P. (2004). Lexical diversity
and language development: Quantification and assessment. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan.

Meara, P., &Miralpeix, I. (2016). Tools for Researching Vocabulary. Bristol:
Multilingual Matters.

Nation, I. S. P., & Webb, S. (2011). Researching and analyzing vocabulary.
Boston: Heinle, Cengage Learning.

Schmitt, N. (2010). Researching vocabulary: A vocabulary research manual. New
York: Palgrave Macmillan.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Thi Ngoc Yen Dang is a lecturer at Hanoi University of Languages and
International Studies, Vietnam National University. She is also a PhD
candidate in the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Her research interests include
vocabulary studies and corpus linguistics.

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