Aspects of lexical proficiency in writing summaries in a foreign language

This study investigated the impact of aspects of the lexical proficiency of EFL students on their summary writing in English (L2) by controlling for the impact of a range of linguistic abilities in English and Japanese (L1). Sixty-eight Japanese undergraduate students wrote two summaries of English texts in English. Their English lexical proficiency, English reading comprehension, English proficiency, knowledge of Japanese vocabulary, and writing proficiency in Japanese as well as the length of summaries were assessed. Multiple regression analysis of the data showed that the effect of L2 lexical proficiency as a whole on summary writing performance was not pronounced compared to the effect of reading comprehension and the length of summaries. However, the ability to write definitions made a unique contribution over and above the other variables including reading comprehension and the length of summaries. It is suggested that different aspects of L2 lexical proficiency have a differential impact on EFL learners' summary writing, and that two factors in particular (structure of semantic network of words, and the ability to metalinguistically manipulate words) may constitute the construct of summary writing in L2. (c) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.