Evaluación de la competencia léxica en dos lenguas extranjerasanálisis del tamaño del vocabulario receptivo y productivo en alumnos AICLE y no AICLE de educación primaria

Abstract

This doctoral thesis explores the development of lexical competence in the acquisition of two foreign languages (English and French) among two groups of 6th-grade Primary Education students. One of the most relevant aspects of this study is that students learn French in two different educational contexts (Content and Language Integrated Learning - CLIL vs. French as a Foreign Language - FLE), while English is studied as a foreign language (EFL) in both groups. Through a motivation questionnaire and three tests to measure receptive vocabulary, productive vocabulary, and lexical availability in both languages, we conducted two measurements (one at the beginning of the school year - pretest, and one at the end – posttest) and quantitatively analyzed the data obtained. In addition to measuring vocabulary size and lexical availability, we analyzed the influence of various variables such as gender and additional language exposure through extracurricular activities. The results of this study indicate that CLIL students show better results in terms of receptive, productive, and available vocabulary in the language being taught, while other variables have not had a significant influence on the results. The relationship between the different tests has revealed contradictory results in receptive vocabulary, although both receptive and productive vocabulary have shown a significant correlation with lexical availability. Finally, we have found an overall increase in lexical size between the two measurement points. These findings may be relevant given the research deficit available in French and the lack of instruments adapted to young students.