THE DEVELOPMENT OF PASSIVE AND ACTIVE VOCABULARY IN A 2ND LANGUAGE - SAME OR DIFFERENT

The study investigates the gains in three types of English as a Foreig n Language vocabulary knowledge, passive, 'controlled active' and free active, in one year of school instruction. It also examines how these aspects of lexical knowledge are related to one another and what chan ges occur in these relationships after one year. Gains in vocabulary w ere measured by comparing two groups of learners with six and seven ye ars of instruction. Relationships among the three areas of knowledge w ere investigated by comparing them within the same individuals. The re sults show that passive vocabulary size (as measured by Vocabulary Lev els Test) progressed very well, controlled active vocabulary (as measu red by the productive version of the Levels Test) progressed too but l ess than the passive. Free active vocabulary (as measured by Lexical F requency Profile) did not progress at all. Passive vocabulary size was larger than controlled active in both groups of subjects, but the gap between the two types of knowledge increased in the more advanced gro up. Passive and controlled active size scores correlated with each oth er well. Free active vocabulary, on the other hand, did not correlate with the other two types. The results raise several questions about th e nature of vocabulary knowledge and the effect of instruction on voca bulary growth.