Testing the Improvement of English as a Foreign Language Instruction Among Chinese College Students Through Computerized Graphic Visuals

BRIEF REPORTS AND SUMMARIES TESOL Quarterly invites readers to submit short reports and updates on their work These summaries may address any areas of interest to Quarterly readers Edited by ALI SHEHADEH United Arab Emirates University ANNE BURNS Macquarie University Testing the Improvement of English as a Foreign Language Instruction Among Chinese College Students Through Computerized Graphic Visuals QUAN YANG Troy University Dothan, Alabama, United States MICHAEL MILLER University of Arkansas Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States KANG BAI Troy University Dothan, Alabama, United States doi: 10.5054/tq.2011.244021 & Advances in technology have impacted virtually every aspect of society around the world Technological access has produced affordable, realtime communications in nearly every country, and technology has become a major element in all facets of communication The use of technology to foster easier and faster communications has also become a conduit for material to be shared among teachers and faculty members in different societies, and at least some element of educational technology has become standard in nearly all learning environments For nearly 40 years there has been agreement that computergenerated graphics can impact learning (Paivio, 1971) by allowing the dual coding of material by the learner to strengthen and deepen memory, recall, and cognition The process of verbal recall has been noted to be enhanced by pictorial exposure, allowing the connection 170 TESOL QUARTERLY Vol 45, No 1, March 2011 and interplay between different parts of the brain, thus creating better memory and learning (Paivio & Csapo, 1973) This theory is further supported by the findings of Canning-Wilson (2001), who examined the influence of pictures on learning and testing practices Canning-Wilson found that a learner’s relation to language and ability to create connections between words could be enhanced by using graphic visuals Kim and Gilman (2008) conducted a similar study and concluded that an effective way to improve learning of English vocabulary was to use graphics to illustrate what vocabulary words mean Although the use of visuals to reinforce verbal learning has been a consistent finding (Molitor, Ballstaedt, & Mandl, 1989), only with the emergence of computer technology has the visual element become more sophisticated, three-dimensional, and often, fluid and on-demand from the learner Lin and Chen (2007) studied the effects of different types of computer-generated visuals on second language acquisition and found that learners who had exposure to animation outperformed those with no visuals In particular, the instruction with embedded animation had a marginal effect among groups in facilitating the acquisition of the second language reading comprehension Matsuda and Shindo (2006) examined the education system using interactive 3D computer graphic animation and concluded that on teaching the theory, principle, or mechanism of science, the most effective teaching material may be an actual video Poohkay and Szabo (1995) explored student learning in math when instruction included animation and still graphics, and found that animated learning environments produced significantly higher test scores in math as compared to those lessons taught using text or still graphics This concept has been validated with different age groups and in different disciplines (Rakes, 1996; Chen, 1997; Weiss, 1999b) Graphic visual augmentation of instruction has typically fallen into four categories: static visuals, animated graphics, concrete visuals, and abstract visuals (Weiss, 1999b) The use of any of the categories of instruction has typically been found to produce better learning than text alone, but they have also been found to support each other in creating combinations of visual supports for learning Smith and Smith (1991) compared the effects of concrete and abstract visuals on students’ acquisition of abstract concepts, and found abstract visuals were more effective in student learning but that when used alone, either abstract or concrete visual illustrations might not be as powerful Graphics in instruction are typically used in elementary and secondary environments, and have only recently begun to grow more rapidly in their use on college campuses Similarly, little research has been conducted from a comparative standpoint In Asian cultures where learning environments tend to be formal and instructor centered, the use of visual graphics as an instructional supplement has grown, but is largely undocumented and unexplored BRIEF REPORTS AND SUMMARIES 171 Therefore, the purpose for conducting this study was to determine if animated illustrations would increase the recall and comprehension of a subject matter, English as a foreign language (EFL), among Chinese college students The study was specifically designed to identify the influence of graphics on Chinese EFL students’ learning by comparing abstract versus concrete graphics and static versus animated graphics on immediate and long-term retention of a lesson through computer-based instruction The study is significant because the use of visual graphic–supplemented instruction may be demonstrated to positively impact language instruction, particularly for nonnative-English-language students and the result in the development of innovative strategies for improved EFL/ESL curriculum METHODOLOGY The sample for the study included second-year college students in the departments of Chinese language and literature, political sciences, and history at a 4-year comprehensive university in China One hundred and seventy (170) students were randomly selected to participate in the study The students selected had all passed the Level National English Proficiency Test and taken the course College Computer Basic Skills, required of all second-year students at the university The study subsequently accepted the assumption that participants had about the same level in both English and computer basic skills The study was a factorial design with an outside control group to yield five main treatment conditions as the independent variables for the study Two types of graphics (abstract vs concrete) were crossed with two levels of animation (animated vs static), producing four treatment groups of graphic animation, namely, abstract–static, concrete–static, abstract–animated, and concrete–animated The outside control group received a treatment of text-only with no graphics or animation In addition, in order to further identify the effects of different types of graphics, students in each treatment group were again divided into two subgroups One subgroup took the Same Image test, a test with graphics directly from the text, and the other subgroup took the Different Image test, which used graphics different from those that appeared in the text The 170 students selected for the study were randomly assigned to five, 34-student treatment groups Each group was presented with one of the five versions of the language lesson, and 154 students completed both the instruction and posttests (see Table 1) Those who did not complete the treatments were eliminated from the study The study used immediate and delayed posttests to measure how well students learned a lesson and how long they could remember the content A computer-based instruction (CBI) unit, ‘‘Basic Principles of 172 TESOL QUARTERLY TABLE Summary of Treatments Type of graphic Level of animation Static Animated Text-only Abstract Abstract–static (n 30) Abstract–animated (n 32) n531 Concrete Concrete–static (n 31) Concrete–animated (n 30) Laws of Motion’’ designed by Weiss (1999a), was used for the study, which explained principles of motion and Isaac Newton’s three laws of motion Immediately after the students watched the CBI lesson, they were given the first posttest, and a week later, they were administered the second, or delayed, posttest With the same questions presented in different order, the immediate and delayed posttests each contained 24 items, including 10 graphic-unrelated items and 14 graphic-related items Graphic-related questions used graphics to illustrate Newton’s laws of motion, while graphic-unrelated items were verbal descriptions of Newton’s laws of motion All the questions were designed to measure the students’ understanding of the concepts related to the lesson they learned The test scores of the students were used as the dependent variable for the study In the data analysis, a three-way between-groups ANOVA was conducted on test scores The one-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and Levene’s test of equality of error variance were also performed to verify the normality and equality of variance of the score data for the analysis of variance Additionally, a three-way mixed ANOVA was conducted to explore the performance differences between graphic-unrelated items and graphicrelated items The mixed measures design consisted of test item (graphic-related and graphic-unrelated) and test time (immediate and delayed posttests) as the within-subjects variables and the five treatment groups as the between-subjects variable Follow-up analyses of significant effects were conducted to assess differences between means FINDINGS As stated previously, a total of 154 EFL students were included in the data analysis These students represented five randomly composed groups and took both the immediate and delayed posttests The overall scores for the posttests (range to 24) were calculated by summing up the correct answers from the multiple-choice questions The means and standard deviations of the test scores of the five treatment groups in immediate and delayed posttests are displayed in Table BRIEF REPORTS AND SUMMARIES 173 TABLE Means and Standard Deviations of Test Scores Immediate posttest Same image Delayed posttest Different image Overall Same image Different image Overall Treatment n M (SD) n M (SD) n M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) Text-only 16 15 15 12.00 (3.68) 10.75 (2.93) 14.33 (2.74) 11.06 (2.71) 11.76 (3.47) 11.96 (3.30) 31 Concrete– static Concrete– animated Abstract– static Abstract– animated Overall 13.00 (3.16) 11.73 (3.41) 14.26 (2.68) 11.73 (2.46) 10.67 (3.11) 12.29 (3.16) 12.52 (3.40) 11.23 (3.16) 14.30 (2.67) 11.40 (2.57) 11.25 (3.30) 12.12 (3.23) 12.50 (3.20) 9.13 (2.95) 14.13 (4.34) 11.47 (2.45) 11.20 (3.26) 11.70 (3.60) 12.53 (4.78) 11.31 (3.52) 13.93 (2.60) 10.80 (3.32) 11.65 (3.33) 12.03 (3.65) 12.52 (3.97) 10.26 (3.39) 14.03 (3.52) 11.13 (2.89) 11.44 (3.25) 11.86 (3.62) 15 15 15 76 16 15 15 17 78 31 30 30 32 154 Note: Overall scores were measured in a range from to 24 Same image test test items directly related to the graphics in the text; Different image test test items indirectly related to graphics in the text As shown in Table 2, the overall means for the five treatments ranged from 11.23 to 14.30 on the immediate posttest and from 10.26 to 14.03 on the delayed posttest On both posttests, with either same image or different image test items, students in the concrete–animated group scored the highest, and those in the text-only group scored the second highest of all the five treatment groups Conversely, the results of the descriptive analysis with the other three graphic-related groups were mixed, with the concrete–static group apparently performing the lowest on both posttests In most cases, the mean scores were slightly higher on the immediate posttest than on the delayed posttest, except for the textonly and abstract–animated groups Additionally, little difference existed between same image items and different image items, indicating that the relation to the graphics in the text did not seem to have much impact on the performance of the students in the tests Results of Three-Way Between-Groups ANOVA on the Overall Scores For the three-way ANOVA, the one-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test did not detect any violation of normality with the test scores, and the Levene’s test of equality of error variances failed to reject the null hypothesis that the error variance of the dependent variable was equal across groups (F 0.981, p 0.484) Table displays the results of the 174 TESOL QUARTERLY TABLE Three-Way Between-Groups ANOVA Source Treatment Test time Test type Treatment by test time Treatment by test type Test Time by test type Treatment by test time by test type Error Sum of squares Degrees of freedom Mean square F Significance 10.80 0.51 0.01 0.32 0.60 0.78 0.86 0.000 0.476 0.934 0.865 0.667 0.379 0.489 458.92 5.42 0.07 13.59 25.27 8.26 36.48 1 4 114.73 5.42 0.07 3.40 6.32 8.26 9.12 3058.45 288 10.62 three-way ANOVA on the overall scores for the treatments, test times, and test types As shown in Table 3, there was a significant main effect for the five treatment groups (F 10.8, p , 0.0001) and no other main effects or interactions were found statistically different This information demonstrates that the students of the five treatment groups performed differently on the test, but there was no difference based on test time, test type, or other interaction terms A further examination using the post hoc test for least significant difference (LSD) was performed, and the results (Table 4) indicated that the mean scores of the concrete– animated group were significantly higher than those of all other four treatment groups, and the text-only group, which performed the second best, was significantly superior to the three remaining treatments, which performed about the same on the tests As can be seen in Table 4, even though the test results supported the position that the concrete–animated condition would outperform all other groups, as reported in Weiss’ (1999b) study, the finding was TABLE Multiple Comparisons Between the Treatment Groups Treatment Concrete–animated vs text-only Concrete–animated vs concrete–static Concrete–animated vs abstract–static Concrete–animated vs abstract–animated Text-only vs concrete–static Text-only vs abstract–static Text-only vs abstract–animated Concrete–static vs abstract–static Concrete–static vs abstract–animated Abstract–static vs abstract–animated Mean difference Standard error 1.65 3.42 2.90 2.82 1.77 1.25 1.17 20.52 20.60 20.07 0.59 0.59 0.59 0.59 0.59 0.59 0.59 0.59 0.58 0.59 Significance 0.006 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.003 0.035 0.044 0.375 0.301 0.895 Note: The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level BRIEF REPORTS AND SUMMARIES 175 unexpected that the text-only group performed significantly better than three other graphic treatment conditions This finding was inconsistent with other research that has demonstrated opposing findings Results of ANOVA on Scores of Graphic-Related and GraphicUnrelated Items In this study, a three-way mixed ANOVA design was used to identify any possible significant differences among the five treatment groups between graphic-related and graphic-unrelated items on immediate and delayed posttests In the design, test time (immediate and delayed posttests) and test item (graphic-related and graphic-unrelated items) were the within-subjects variables, and the five treatment groups were the between-subjects variable Table illustrates that, with the graphic-related items, students in the concrete–animated and text-only groups performed better than the other three groups on both the immediate and delayed posttests With graphic-unrelated items, however, the concrete–animated groups performed better on both posttests, while the other four groups were similar to one another, and the abstracted–animated and text-only scores were only slightly higher on immediate posttest and the delayed posttest, respectively In addition, the mean scores in the graphic-related items of all five groups were apparently higher than those in the graphicunrelated items The results of the three-way mixed ANOVA presented in Table indicate that there was a significant interaction between test type and treatment (F 2.551, p 0.046), indicating that treatment effects on TABLE Mean Test Scores of the Five Treatment Groups Immediate posttest Graphicunrelated Delayed posttest Graphicrelated Graphicunrelated Graphicrelated Treatment n M SD M SD M SD M SD Text-only Concrete–static Concrete– animated Abstract–static Abstract– animated Overall 31 31 30 38.7 41.0 45.3 9.9 14.5 12.2 61.6 51.6 70.0 20.0 17.3 18.6 43.9 33.2 45.7 14.1 11.7 13.8 58.1 49.4 67.0 22.0 19.3 21.0 30 32 37.3 43.8 9.8 14.1 54.7 50.3 15.7 17.7 37.0 37.8 14.7 14.8 52.0 55.0 17.9 20.6 154 41.2 12.5 57.5 19.1 39.5 14.4 56.2 20.9 Note: The measures of graphic-unrelated and graphic-related items were based on the percentage of the correct answers to the total The possible range was 0–100 176 TESOL QUARTERLY TABLE Three-Way Mixed ANOVA Source Within Test time Test time by treatment Error (test time) Item type Item type by treatment Error (item type) Test time by item type Test time by item type by treatment Error (test time by item type) Between Treatment Error Sum of squares Degrees of freedom Mean square 3.61 5.70 226.47 423.88 23.86 348.31 0.05 18.40 149 149 3.61 1.43 1.52 423.88 5.96 2.34 0.05 4.60 286.27 149 1.92 136.14 737.89 149 34.03 4.95 F Significance 2.37 0.94 0.126 0.444 181.33 2.55 0.000 0.046 0.02 2.40 0.877 0.053 6.87 0.000 graphic-related items differed significantly from those on the graphicunrelated items Further analysis with the post hoc LSD test was performed on the treatment effect on item type (graphic-related and graphic-unrelated items) and found that, with graphic-related items, the group with concrete–animated treatment outperformed all other groups and the text-only group scored the second highest on the test (see Table 7) Conversely, with graphic-unrelated items, although the concrete– animated group still performed significantly better than the other three graphic-related groups, this group scored no better than the text-only group (see Table 8) An important finding is that when the test items were not related to or supported by graphics or when only verbal descriptions of the test items were provided, the graphic-related groups, TABLE Multiple Comparisons Between Treatment Groups in Graphic-Related Items Treatment Concrete–animated vs text-only Concrete–animated vs concrete–static Concrete–animated vs abstract–static Concrete–animated vs abstract–animated Text-only vs concrete–static Text-only vs abstract–static Text-only vs abstract–animated Concrete–static vs abstract–static Concrete–static vs abstract–animated Abstract–static vs abstract–animated Mean difference Standard error 8.7 18.0 15.2 15.8 9.4 6.5 7.2 22.8 22.2 0.7 3.45 3.45 3.47 3.42 3.42 3.45 3.39 3.45 3.39 3.42 Significance 0.012 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.007 0.060 0.035 0.409 0.522 0.843 Note: The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level BRIEF REPORTS AND SUMMARIES 177 TABLE Multiple Comparisons Between Treatment Groups in Graphic-Unrelated Items Treatment Concrete–animated vs text-only Concrete–animated vs concrete–static Concrete–animated vs abstract–static Concrete–animated vs abstract–animated Text-only vs concrete–static Text-only vs abstract–static Text-only vs abstract–animated Concrete–static vs abstract–static Concrete–static vs abstract–animated Abstract–static vs abstract–animated Mean difference Standard error 4.2 8.4 8.3 4.7 4.2 4.1 0.5 20.1 23.7 23.6 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.3 2.4 2.3 2.4 Significance 0.077 0.000 0.001 0.046 0.075 0.083 0.827 0.976 0.115 0.125 Note: The mean difference is significant at the 05 level regardless of the concrete-animated group, performed as well in the test as the text-only group DISCUSSION With the subjects being EFL students learning the content area in a non-English-speaking environment, the study reported significant findings, showing both consistencies and inconsistencies with the findings of previous research in which the subjects were native English speakers The results of the three-way between-groups ANOVA revealed significant differences in performance between the five Chinese student treatment groups, indicating that concrete animation had the biggest effects on the successful performance of the students However, when the CBI lesson was supported by graphics other than concrete animation, the text-only group performed significantly better on both the immediate and delayed posttests The significant interaction between treatment and test item identified by the three-way mixed ANOVA further indicated that treatment conditions had significant effects on the performance of the students when test items or questions were related to or supported by graphics However, when only verbal descriptions of the test items or questions were provided without graphics, the concrete–static, abstract–static, and abstract–animated groups performed the same as the text-only group The achievement of Chinese students receiving concrete–animated graphics could be explained by the following three factors First, a concrete and animated picture, with its motion and realism, could draw attention more easily than abstract–animated or static or concrete–static graphics Because concrete–animated pictures can present different states of a subject matter, they can provide more information to a learner and require more mental processing than a static picture, which will 178 TESOL QUARTERLY make the students think actively and help them internalize what they have learned In addition, concrete–animated pictures can reduce the cognitive load of knowledge acquisition, as they provide external support for mental simulations (Schnotz & Grzondziel, 1996) These features of concrete–animated graphics are helpful to EFL students who are learning a content area in English and in an environment where English is not spoken In such a learning environment, concrete– animated pictures can arouse the interest of the students in the subject matter and draw their attention to what they are required to learn This attention-gaining quality is significant and will favor the process of selective perception, which chooses only a small part of incoming stimuli to be given consideration and retained in memory (Anderson, 1980) Second, the way in which information received through instruction is encoded may also contribute to the achievement by the concreteanimated group of the Chinese students According to Paivio and Csapo (1973), dual coding—the use of both a verbal and a nonverbal memory code—may be more likely to occur when the context of the instruction lends itself to imaging Concrete–animated pictures, due to their vividness and realism, could be effective in helping the Chinese students develop such dual coding of the information they received through the computer-based instruction Consequently, it could be anticipated that concrete–animated graphics would be retained better than the other means of graphical representation Finally, animation may have helped to reduce the level of abstraction in the theoretical concepts of Newton’s laws of motion (Weiss, 1999b) In a subject involving motion, animation relieves the short-term memory of visualizing text or projecting static arrows into motion and, consequently, results in the memory being more focused on the concept being taught without the distraction of creating self-made mental images (Schnotz & Grzondziel, 1996) This reduction on the demands of the short-term memory may produce more accurate and successful encoding in the long-term memory An unexpected finding was that the text-only group scored the second best of all treatment groups on both the immediate and delayed posttests as well as on the graphic-related test The finding may well be attributable to the learned cultural differences in Chinese society, where rote learning is a traditional model of instruction, suggesting that students have created a habit of learning, or rather, a style of learning in which they have become accustomed, and that the text-only learning process was demonstrated to be reinforced This suggests a significant cultural transition that may be moving into the Chinese culture, where media influence and access has grown dramatically As media, including graphic representation and technology access, have become more common teaching tools, the Chinese educational system may begin to forecast challenges to students who have been acculturated to one BRIEF REPORTS AND SUMMARIES 179 teaching style, and these students may well be challenged to accept and effectively make use of different learning styles The study confirmed the findings in Weiss’s (1999b) study and in other studies such as Poohkay and Szabo’s (1995) and Chanlin and Chan’s (1996), substantiating the effects of graphics of concrete animation on the content learning in the EFL learning environment Additionally, the findings of the current study, though wholly consistent with Smith and Smith’s (1991) findings, supported that concrete visuals should be integrated with other visuals as a study aid to help students achieve a better learning outcome In an EFL learning environment, concrete and animated visuals, as revealed in this study, made the best combination of representation and played an important role in helping EFL students achieve stronger content learning With the confirmation that concrete animation can assist learners in the retention of material, the findings of the study have multiple implications for higher education and other instructional providers First, instructional designers, teachers, and even administrators with oversight for instruction, should consider this research as they develop instructional protocols for situations that involve Chinese students This might include building more visual- or graphic-assisted teaching strategies into instructional modules, especially those that include highly abstract components Second, these findings should help inform best practices for college faculty and should be shared and discussed among faculty as they prepare syllabi and lessons for their instruction Third, the findings should be considered by faculty in the United States and other counties as they work with students from China in their classes From a research perspective, the findings initiate an important line of inquiry that should include the replication of the study in the hard sciences, in other highly abstract disciplines, and should be replicated among different populations Further, in the United States, the study should be replicated with both native and international students in the search for better instructional practices Additionally, research should focus on the types of graphics utilized, the quality of those graphics, and their placement within instructional units THE AUTHORS Quan Yang, EdD, is an Assistant Professor of Educational Technology at the Troy University Dothan Campus Prior to coming to the United States, she spent 11 years as an EFL teacher at Guangxi University for Nationalities in Nanning, Guangxi, China Michael Miller, EdD, is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas, in the United States 180 TESOL QUARTERLY He also holds the rank of Professor in the Higher Education Program, and his research includes comparative education issues and challenges Kang Bai, EdD, is the Director of Institutional Research, Planning, and Effectiveness for Troy University, in the United States Prior to coming to the United States for his doctoral work, he spent over 11 years working as an English faculty member at Guangxi University for nationalities, in China He has spent the past decade working in institutional research at Troy University REFERENCES Anderson, J R (1980) Cognitive psychology and its implications San Francisco, CA: W H Freeman Canning-Wilson, C (2001) Choosing EFL/ESL visual assessments: Image and picture selection on foreign and second language exams (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No ED452707) Chanlin, L., & Chan, K (1996) Computer graphics and 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(Eds.), Knowledge acquisition from text and pictures (pp 4–35) New York, NY: North-Holland Paivio, A (1971) Imagery and verbal processes New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Paivio, A., & Csapo, K (1973) Picture superiority in free recall: Imagery or dual coding? Cognitive Psychology, 5, 176–206 doi:10.1016/0010-0285(73)90032-7 Poohkay, B., & Szabo, M (1995) Effects of animation & visuals on learning high school mathematics (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No ED 380122) Rakes, G C (1996) Visuals in instructional design Performance and Instruction, 35(3), 30–32 doi:10.1002/pfi.4170350310 Schnotz, W., & Grzondziel, H (1996) Knowledge acquisition with static and animated pictures in computer-based learning (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No ED 401878) Smith, M., & Smith, P L (1991) Effects on concretely versus abstractly illustrated instruction on learning abstract concepts (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No ED 335014) Weiss, R (1999a) Basic principles of laws of motion Computer Based Instruction Unit, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN BRIEF REPORTS AND SUMMARIES 181 Weiss, R (1999b) The effect of animation and concreteness of visuals on immediate recall and long-term comprehension when learning the basic principles and laws of motion Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN What Is Lexical Proficiency? Some Answers From Computational Models of Speech Data SCOTT A CROSSLEY Georgia State University Atlanta, Georgia, United States TOM SALSBURY Washington State University Pullman, Washington, United States DANIELLE S McNAMARA University of Memphis Memphis, Tennessee, United States SCOTT JARVIS Ohio University Athens, Ohio, United States doi: 10.5054/tq.2010.244019 & Lexical proficiency, as a cognitive construct, is poorly understood However, lexical proficiency is an important element of language proficiency and fluency, especially for second language (L2) learners For example, lexical errors are a common cause of L2 miscommunication (Ellis, 1995) Lexical proficiency is also an important attribute of L2 academic achievement (Daller, van Hout, & Treffers-Daller, 2003) Generally speaking, lexical proficiency comprises breadth of knowledge features (i.e., how many words a learner knows), depth of knowledge features (i.e., how well a learner knows a word), and access to core lexical items (i.e., how quickly words can be retrieved or processed; Meara, 2005) Understanding how these features interrelate and which features are important indicators of overall lexical proficiency can provide researchers and teachers with insights into language learning and language structure Thus, this study investigates the potential for computational indices related to lexical features to predict human evaluations of lexical proficiency Such an investigation provides us with the opportunity to better understand the construct of lexical proficiency and examine the capacity for computational indices to automatically assess lexical proficiency Recent investigations into lexical proficiency as both a learner-based and text-based construct have helped illuminate and model the lexical features 182 TESOL QUARTERLY