Abstract

FAIRCLOUGH, Marta  and  RAMIREZ VERA, Carlos J.. Lexical Decision Test as a Tool for Spanish University Students Placement. Íkala [online]. 2009, vol.14, n.21, pp.85-99. ISSN 0123-3432.

The lexical decision test has shown to be a practical measure of overall language proficiency. For this study, the effectiveness of a lexical decision test was measured with two groups of Spanish/English bilingual university students at four levels. The test was designed using a Spanish frequency dictionary (Davies, 2006). Participants marked only those items that they knew on a list of 200 words that included real words and non-words. A cloze-test was used as a comparison measure. The results of this pilot study indicate a high correlation between the two measures, and they suggest that the lexical test is a valid, cost effective testing tool that is easy to administer and score.

Keywords : language teaching; placement exam; lexical decision task.

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