Volume 37, No. 1 Lexical coverage and reading comprehension revisited

Lexical coverage and reading comprehension revisited

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Sept. 20, 2025, 1:08 p.m.
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Dec. 13, 2025, 1:32 a.m.
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Dec. 13, 2025, 1:32 a.m.
access-status:
open.access
bitstream:
['https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstreams/be187723-ba8b-433c-9472-b3b4ac847b86/download']
bitstream_extra:
None
bitstream_txt:
['https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstreams/ff5ad5cf-afa9-469d-89af-dc609a83942f/download']
collection:
Volume 37, No. 1
contributor.author:
Webb, Stuart Pellicer-Sánchez, Ana Wang, Andi
date.accessioned:
2025-09-19T22:21:46Z
date.available:
2025-09-19T22:21:46Z
date.copyright:
2025
date.issued:
2025-09-22
description.abstract:
The present study is a partial replication of the most widely cited study of lexical coverage and reading comprehension by Hu and Nation (2000). Ninety-four advanced L2 learners read a short story at one of 90%, 95%, 98%, and 100% lexical coverage and then completed a 14-item reading comprehension test. The results showed that although comprehension scores did tend to increase from 90% to 100% coverage, there were no statistically significant differences in comprehension scores between those who read the text with 90%, 95%, and 98% lexical coverage. Participants who read the text with 100% coverage did have significantly higher scores than those who read it at 90% and 95% coverage. The results also revealed that lexical coverage and perceived difficulty both have a role in predicting comprehension scores, but the amount of variation explained is small (11% and 8%, respectively).
endingpage:
21
format.extent:
21
identifier.citation:
Webb, S., Pellicer-Sánchez, A., & Wang, A. (2025). Lexical coverage and reading comprehension revisited. Reading in a Foreign Language, 37(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.64152/10125/67517
identifier.doi:
https://doi.org/10.64152/10125/67517
identifier.issn:
1539-0578
identifier.uri:
https://hdl.handle.net/10125/67517
language:
eng
number:
1
publicationname:
Reading in a Foreign Language
publisher:
University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center Center for Language & Technology
rights.license:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
rights.uri:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
site_url:
/rfl/item/654
startingpage:
1
subject:
vocabulary, reading comprehension, lexical coverage, perceived difficulty, vocabulary knowledge, vocabulary size, reading in a foreign language, extensive reading, learner variables, text variables
title:
Lexical coverage and reading comprehension revisited
type:
Article Text
volume:
37