Do You Need to Read 8,000,000 Words to Acquire 2,000 Word Families in English?: A Comment on Hill and Laufer (2003)

Abstract

This brief research note comments on estimates made by Hill and Laufer (2003), and repeated by other researchers, regarding the total number of words one needs to read to acquire 2,000 word families in English. Hill and Laufer failed to distinguish between unknown word samples and unknown word populations in incidental vocabulary research designs, leading to an erroneous estimate.

Keywords

• Vocabulary,Reading,Acquisition,Research Design

Kaynakça

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