1. Lemhöfer, K. & Broersma, M. (2011)
Presented by Laura Gwilliams

2. What is LexTALE?
 A lexical decision task which measures
 Vocabulary knowledge
 Language proficiency
 Aims to provide a standardised measure of
advanced L2 English proficiency
 Suitable for inclusion in psycholinguistic
experimental designs
 Open source – Can be downloaded for free
online ( www.lextale.com )

3. What is LexTALE?
 Respond to 60 lexical items ‘yes’ or ‘no’
as to whether the item is a word or not
 Made up of 40 words and 20 nonwords
 Takes an average of 3.5 minutes to
complete
 Looking at error rate not reaction time

4. Demonstration…

5. Demonstration…

6. LexTALE:

 How can it be used?
 Why is it important?
 How was it developed?
 What conclusions can we draw?
 What implications does this have?

7. LexTALE: Application
 Psycholinguistic experiments
 A measure of L2 language proficiency in
studies involving bilingualism is important
 Variability in proficiency level and vocabulary
size can alter processes in L2 system; need
to keep these stable
 Qualitative and quantitative differences

8. LexTALE: Application
 Control for differences in proficiency levels
 Can more confidently draw conclusions from
comparisons of participants within the study
 Standardisation allows for comparisons with
other findings

9. LexTALE: Application
 Frequently applied language proficiency
tests:
 Self-ratings
○ Subjective
 Commercial proficiency tasks
○ Expensive
○ Time consuming
 Lab-specific proficiency test
○ Not standardised

10. LexTALE: Application
 LexTALE therefore aims to be
 Objective
 Freely available
 Quick to complete
 Standardised

11. LexTALE:



 How was it developed?
 What conclusions can we draw?
 What implications does this have?

12. LexTALE: Development
 LexTALE needed to be validated as an
efficient measure of both;
 Lexical knowledge
 Language proficiency
 Evaluated as to whether it was a better
assessment than self-ratings

13. LexTALE: Development
 Participants:
 72 native Dutch speakers in the Netherlands
 87 native Korean speakers in Korea
 All began learning English in elementary
school
 Completed the four tasks online
 Translation
 Quick Placement Task (QPT)
 LexTALE
 Self-rating

14. LexTALE: Development
 Results of LexTALE test were validated
against results of two other tests:
 TRANSLATION:
 Detailed assessment of vocabulary knowledge
 From both L1 – L2, and L2 – L1
 QUICK PLACEMENT TASK:
 General proficiency level
 60 multiple choice questions
 Assesses reading skills, vocabulary and grammar
 Takes 15 minutes to complete

15. Comparing LexTALE,
Translation and QPT results

16. LexTALE: Conclusions
 LexTALE predicts the same abilities as
those predicted by translation and QPT
methods
 Can therefore be used as a measure of lexical
knowledge and language proficiency more
broadly
 -AND it takes much less time to complete
 Suitable for integration into experimental
designs

17. Compared to self-assessment
 Self-ratings are variable in their predictor
accuracy depending on proficiency of the
learner
 More accurate predictor alongside high language
proficiency
 Dutch learners had a higher proficiency in English
and were more accurate at evaluating their
language proficiency
 LexTALE is a ‘safer’ more consistent
predictor of language proficiency and lexical
knowledge

18. Compared to self-assessment

19. LexTALE: Implications
 Lexical decision tasks can be used as an
indicator of language proficiency not just
vocabulary
 There is no need to complete time-consuming
language proficiency tasks to establish a
standardised measure of L2 language ability
 A more consistent evaluation than self-
assessment
 Findings were confirmed for both Dutch and
Korean suggesting it can be used with
participants of any native language

20. Thank you!