Lexical development in learners of English has been an interesting topic for many researchers. Some studies in this domain have been conducted by compiling corpora containing spoken utterances (e.g., Marsden & David, Reference Marsden and David2008), whereas others have examined the lexical development of learners by investigating productive and receptive vocabulary knowledge based on the learners’ compositions (e.g., Horst & Collins, Reference Horst and Collins2006). In line with the previous research on lexical development, this volume explores the relationship of learners’ writing quality with their receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge and investigates, through a longitudinal study, the types of errors encountered in compositions by young Spanish learners of English.
Chapters 1, 2, and 3 contain mainly discussions of issues related to second language (L2) lexical acquisition and variables affecting lexical productions. Several points in these discussions are noteworthy. First, lexical features are important indicators of writing quality because, through these features, L2 writers progress in accuracy and fluency. Second, accuracy in grammar and lexical knowledge “is indispensable and preconditional to writing” (p. 42). Although the “line between lexical and grammar errors is blurred” (Hemchua & Schmitt, Reference Hemchua and Schmitt2006, p. 70), Agustín Llach believes that this distinction becomes clearer when word or lexical item as a construct is carefully defined, an idea that has been much discussed in vocabulary literature (e.g., Gardner, Reference Gardner2007). Regardless of the type of vocabulary knowledge (i.e., productive or receptive), a lexical error in Agustín Llach’s book refers to “a deviation in form and/or meaning of a target-language lexical word” (p. 75).
In chapter 4, Agustín Llach points out a gap in lexical-error research and notes the need for longitudinal studies as the key element to understanding issues pertaining to the lexical development of young learners. Having extensively reviewed the literature, she introduces her study, its design, and the measurement instruments in chapter 5. In the study, 283 young Spanish learners were asked to write essays using the same prompt in grades 4 and 6 of primary school. For each time, lexical errors such as misspellings, borrowings, coinages, calques, misselection, and semantic confusion in the students’ essays were tallied and carefully examined. Although the measurement instruments are described, reliability measures are not reported for all of them.
Agustín Llach then moves on to present the study’s findings. Only the key results are highlighted in this review. In terms of composition length, not surprisingly, sixth graders tended to produce significantly longer compositions (M = 134.57 words) than they produced two years earlier (M = 91.35 words). Also, as the students’ proficiencies increased, their lexical errors diminished. However, further analyses of the learners’ compositions revealed that their lexical progress and errors varied at the two testing times. An interesting pattern emerged; that is, formal lexical errors were frequent in fourth graders’ compositions, whereas sixth graders produced more semantic lexical errors. This finding seems to be congruent with the idea that L2 learners first attach a meaning to a form (i.e., orthographic association) and then, after encountering the lexical item in different situations, tend to enhance depth of vocabulary knowledge (Webb, Reference Webb2008). Despite the semantic lexical errors, the overall lexical accuracy of the advanced writers (sixth graders) certainly improved as the learners’ proficiency increased.
Other interesting findings can be found in chapters 6, 7, and 8 (e.g., the contribution to essay scores of spelling errors and the use of calques). In the final chapter, Agustín Llach includes some teaching implications and remarks regarding lexical accuracy and fluency in nonnative speakers’ compositions. The volume may be of particular interest to doctoral students interested in the L2 lexicon because she suggests several avenues for further research, and its extensive and in-depth review of literature can be used as a referential point in terms of what research exists in lexical development, accuracy in writing, and vocabulary fluency of young learners of English.
