Earticle

The purpose of the current research was to investigate the potential elements impacting on second language (L2) vocabulary proficiency and their cause-and-effect relationship to L2 vocabulary knowledge with data from 300 participants from 4th-grade to 6th-grade in an Korean EFL context. The tools of the current study are L2 productive/receptive vocabulary tasks and questionnaire survey on L2 vocabulary acquisition strategies. The vocabulary test consisted of synonyms, antonyms, and analogies and the questionnaire was composed of 24 items. First, a factor analysis confirmed four factors: L2 vocabulary learning strategy, extra-curricular learning, first language (L1) proficiency, and parents’ interest. Regression analysis identified the importance of L2 vocabulary learning strategy and extra-curricular learning to L2 vocabulary knowledge. On the basis of SEM, L2 vocabulary learning strategy and extra-curricular contributed a significant amount of unique variance to L2 vocabulary proficiency. These findings are consistent with the depth of processing hypothesis that L2 vocabulary learning strategy plays an important role in progressing L2 vocabulary achievement (Craik, & Lockhart, 1972).