Inside the Sentence: An Evaluation of How Thai University EFL Learners Build Academic Sentences
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1606.10Keywords:
academic vocabulary, sentence writing, Thai EFL university learnersAbstract
Academic vocabulary is essential for successful university-level writing, yet Thai EFL university learners often struggle to use it productively in context. This study investigates Thai university students’ academic vocabulary knowledge through a sentence-writing test that captures three dimensions of productive performance: lexical, semantic, and structural complexity. Thirty English major students enrolled in an English Composition Writing course completed a Sentence Writing Test consisting of 16 Academic Word List verbs, each requiring three sentences. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied, with strong reliability demonstrated through Cronbach’s alpha (α = .747) and inter-rater Kappa agreement (κ = .821, p < .001). Results revealed low overall performance, with learners achieving only 17% of the total possible score, indicating limited productive academic vocabulary knowledge despite an estimated general vocabulary size of approximately 10,000 word families. ANOVA findings showed significant differences across the three dimensions, F(2, 478) = 67.263, p < .001, η² = .22, with pairwise comparisons indicating that learners performed significantly best in lexical complexity, followed by semantic, and weakest in structural complexity. These patterns reflect a developmental progression from reliance on lexical form toward meaning and syntactic application. The findings suggest that productive academic vocabulary requires higher-order cognitive skills and is constrained by limited academic language resources. The study highlights the need for pedagogy that integrates sentence-level production, explicit academic vocabulary instruction, and support for deeper semantic and syntactic development.
References
Coxhead, A. (2012). Academic vocabulary, writing and English for academic purposes: Perspectives from second language learners. RELC Journal, 43(1), 137–145. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688212439323
Corson, D. J. (1985). Education for work: Reflections towards a theory of vocational education. International Review of Education, 31(1), 283–302. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02262583
Crossley, S. A. (2020). Linguistic features in writing quality and development: An overview. Journal of Writing Research, 11(3), 415-443. https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2020.11.03.01
Damayanti, M. E., & Listyani, L. (2020). An analysis of students’ speaking anxiety in academic speaking class. ELTR Journal, 4(2), 152-170. https://doi.org/10.37147/eltr.v4i2.70
Durrant, P. (2013). Discipline and level specificity in university students’ written vocabulary. Applied Linguistics, 35(3), 328–356. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amt016
Fallon, K. A., Lawrence, B., & Seifert, D. (2021). Semantic Reasoning: Building vocabulary with critical thinking skills. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, 6(6), 1374–1383. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_persp-21-00067
Grosser, M. M., & Nel, M. (2013). The relationship between the critical thinking skills and the academic language proficiency of prospective teachers. South African Journal of Education, 33(2), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v33n2a639
Halliday, M. A. K., & Hasan, R. (2014). Cohesion in English. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315836010
Jingjit, M. (2015). The Effects of Multimedia Learning on Thai Primary Pupils' Achievement in Size and Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge. Journal of Education and practice, 6(33), 72-81.
Kroll, J. F., & Tokowicz, N. (2001). The development of conceptual representation for words in a second language. One mind, two languages: Bilingual language processing, 2, 49-71.
Laufer, B. (2024). Vocabulary and writing. In The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics (pp. 1–5). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal1432.pub2
Lee, J. Y. V., & Wong, A. S. C. (2020). Vocabulary size and critical academic reading ability of secondary students in Sabah. 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 26(4), 15–27. https://doi.org/10.17576/3l-2020-2604-02
Martin, A. V. (1976). Teaching academic vocabulary to foreign graduate students. TESOL Quarterly, 10(1), 91. https://doi.org/10.2307/3585942
Masrai, A., & Milton, J. (2021). Vocabulary knowledge and academic achievement revisited: General and academic vocabulary as determinant factors. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 39(3), 282–294. https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2021.1942097
McHugh, M. L. (2012). Interrater reliability: the kappa statistic. Biochemia Medica, 22(3), 276–282. https://doi.org/10.11613/bm.2012.031
Min, C., & Sukying, A. (2024). Academic vocabulary for L2 argumentative writing: Perspectives from Chinese university EFL learners. Studies in English Language and Education, 11(3), 1355–1373. https://doi.org/10.24815/siele.v11i3.36562
Mediena, Y. E., Firdaus, M. I., Rohim, A., & Argade, S. (2025). From obstacles to opportunities: Exploring learners’ challenges in academic vocabulary acquisition at Lukmanulhakeem School, Southern Thailand. Jurnal Paedagogy, 12(2), 370. https://doi.org/10.33394/jp.v12i2.15004
Nagy, W., & Townsend, D. (2012). Words as tools: Learning academic vocabulary as language acquisition. Reading research quarterly, 47(1), 91-108. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.011
Namsaeng, P., & Phusawisot, P. (2025). Navigating English language speaking anxiety during PhD coursework: A case study of a doctoral student in leading class discussion. International Journal of Literacies, 32(2), 165-193. https://doi.org/10.18848/2327-0136/CGP/v32i02/165-193
Namsaeng, P., Sukying, A., & Phusawisot, P. (2025). Examining the link between Thai L2 university students’ vocabulary size and academic vocabulary depth. Forum for Linguistic Studies, 7(12). https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i12.11926
Nation, I. S. P. (2022). Learning vocabulary in another language (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Nation, I. S. P., & Beglar, D. (2007). A vocabulary size test. The Language Teacher, 31(7), 9–13.
Paltridge, B., & Phakiti, A. (Eds.). (2015). Research methods in applied linguistics: A practical resource. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Paribakht, T. S., & Wesche, M. (1996). Enhancing vocabulary acquisition through reading: A hierarchy of text-related exercise types. Canadian modern language review, 52(2), 155-178. https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.52.2.155
Park, J. (2018). The Effects of the Sentence-writing Task on English Vocabulary Learning of Korean High School Students. Foreign Language Education Research, 23, 65–85.
Read, J. (1998). Validating a test to measure depth of vocabulary knowledge. In A. J. Kunnan (Ed.), Validation in language assessment (pp. 41–60). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Read, J. A. (2000). Assessing vocabulary. Cambridge university press.
Schmitt, N. (2007). Current perspectives on vocabulary teaching and learning. In J. Cummins & C. Davison (Eds.), International handbook of English language teaching (pp. 827–841). Springer International Handbooks of Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-46301-8_55
Schmitt, N. (2008). Review article: Instructed second language vocabulary learning. Language Teaching Research, 12(3), 329–363. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168808089921
Schuth, E., Köhne, J., & Weinert, S. (2017). The influence of academic vocabulary knowledge on school performance. Learning and Instruction, 49, 157–165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2017.01.005
Talamas, A., Kroll, J. F., & Dufour, R. (1999). From form to meaning: Stages in the acquisition of second-language vocabulary. Bilingualism: language and cognition, 2(1), 45-58.
Tariku, H. (2024). The Practices and Challenges of Vocabulary Teaching in EFL Classroom: Secondary Schools in Burayu Town Grade Nine In Focus [Doctoral dissertation, Ambo University].
Teng, M. F., & Zhang, L. J. (2024). Validating a new method for assessing young foreign language learners’ metacognitive knowledge. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 3(2), 100121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmal.2024.100121
Therova, D. (2021). The development of academic vocabulary in international foundation students’ assessed academic writing. Journal of International Students, 12(1), 123–140. https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v12i1.2824
Tuan, L. T. (2010). Improving EFL learners’ use of English vocabulary in sentence writing through framenet. Studies in Literature and Language, 1(2), 48-57.
Ünaldı, İ., & Yüce, E. (2020). The relationship among vocabulary size, grammar proficiency, and critical thinking skills of adult language learners. Adult Learning, 32(2), 70-78. https://doi.org/10.1177/1045159520959473
Waring, R. (2002). Scales of vocabulary knowledge in second language vocabulary assessment. ノートルダム清心女子大学紀要. 外国語・外国文学編= Notre Dame Seishin University kiyo. Studies in foreign languages and literature, 26(1), 40-54.
Webb, S., Sasao, Y., & Ballance, O. (2017). The updated vocabulary levels test. ITL Review of Applied Linguistics, 168(1), 33–69. https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.168.1.02web
Zhong, H. (2012). Multidimensional vocabulary knowledge: Development from receptive to productive use. In D. Hirsh (Ed.), Current perspectives in second language vocabulary research (pp. 23–55). Peter Lang. https://www.peterlang.com/document/1052770
Zhong, H. F. (2018). The relationship between receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge: a perspective from vocabulary use in sentence writing. Language Learning Journal, 46(4), 357–370. https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2015.1127403
