Taking a closer look at vocabulary and academic literacy levels of undergraduate students

Abstract

This paper reports on a study conducted in 2011 with undergraduate students at the University of Namibia (UNAM). One of the aims of the study was to assess the vocabulary and academic literacy levels of the students, as well as to examine the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and academic literacy. The multi componential aspect of vocabulary knowledge coupled with the fact that university students need a large vocabulary (relevant to their academic context and purposes for reading) in order to fully understand their texts which are written in a language which for the majority is an additional language (AL), has led to a re-evaluation of current practices. Two research instruments were used to obtain data: the receptive vocabulary levels test (VLT) and the test of academic literacy levels (TALL). Findings paint a bleak picture of English mid frequency word knowledge of first year students at UNAM. Data also showed that not all students who enter university have adequate vocabulary knowledge to participate in the academic discourse prevalent at university. This dispels the assumption that students entering university have adequate vocabulary knowledge. The TALL results showed that the students’ academic literacy skills were not very strong, revealing inadequate academic literacy skills to cope with the academic demands of university. This result shows the relevance of introducing academic literacy tests at UNAM, to provide scientific and not just anecdotal evidence to prompt management to spend the necessary resources (financial and human) on the design and implementation of standardized tests assessing academic literacy levels, which