College and University The Effects of Long-term ER on Productive Knowledge of High-Frequency Vocabulary more

Incidental vocabulary learning through ER has been examined for the uptake rate of new words learned, but ER also provides an opportunity to deepen knowledge of high-frequency words. This study examines the productive knowledge of high-frequency English vocabulary of Japanese university students of similar English proficiencies between those who have read over 430,000 tokens of ER and those with little or no ER experience. Subjects were tested on receptive and productive knowledge of the 2000 most frequent words of the NGSL (New General Service List) utilizing the testing application VocabLevelTest (McLean & Raine, 2019). ANOVA results showed a significant main effect of ER on productive vocabulary (p < .001, η² = .32), with similar effects observed for both NGSL 1-1000 and NGSL 1001-2000 word bands. These results suggest that ER contributes to strengthening productive knowledge of high-frequency words through repeated encounters in meaningful contexts, additional justification for curriculum integration of ER.