English Proficiency of Icelandic Adolescents: A Comparative Study of Vocabulary Use and Syntactic Complexity in L1 and L2 Speakers

As the English language spreads through academia and popular culture, Icelanders are acquiring English from a young age, raising the question of whether this has become more of a second than a foreign language. However, it remains unclear just how large a presence English has in their lives and how proficient Icelanders truly are in the language. Another question is how children with Icelandic as a second language are faring in learning English as a third language. To this end, this study sought to measure the English vocabulary and syntactic proficiencies of teenagers in Iceland, aged 13 to 16 (n = 45).This was done through a Lexical Frequency Profile (LFP) and T-unit analysis, both of which were based on narrative speech samples, as well as EVT-2 and PPVT-4 test scores. Furthermore, correlational analyses were conducted to determine whether vocabulary and syntactic skills are interrelated. Native (L1) and non-native (L2) Icelandic speakers were compared on all fronts to detect any differences in their English proficiencies. On the whole, the participants’ scores ranged widely. The group mean demonstrated a certain ability to narrate using a moderate number of medium-frequency words and a variety of clauses, with strong correlations between most of the vocabulary and syntax measures. The L1 and L2 groups scored similarly on most measures, though the L1 group scored significantly higher on two syntactic measures, that is mean length of T-unit (MLTU) and use of relative clauses. The L1 group also had stronger and more numerous correlations between measures. These findings imply that the L1 group may be slightly more proficient in English and that their skills are more consistent than those of the L2 group, possibly due to their less complex language environments. The large variability in participants’ scores also suggests that English proficiency is quite diverse based on the individual, with some participants unable to produce a narrative sample, while others score with the native range for their age group. Keywords: English, proficiency, vocabulary, syntax, native, non-native, correlations

Author dc:creator

• Inga Guðrún Ragnarsdóttir Pálsson 1999-

Contributors dc:contributor

• Háskóli Íslands

• Enska (námsgrein)

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1946/49526

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:skemman.is:1946/49526