Duyen Thi Bich Nguyen

Learn about research being undertaken by Duyen Thi Bich Nguyen, a PhD student in Applied Linguistics

Thesis title

A Diagnostic Test of Academic Aural Vocabulary Knowledge

Supervisors

Associate Professor Peter Gu and Dr. Oliver Ballance

Abstract

The field of second language vocabulary assessment has showed some efforts of creating tests measuring aural vocabulary knowledge (AVK), which has been found to be the strongest predictor of listening comprehension. However, there remains a lack of a validated test for academic AVK that can serve as a diagnostic tool to inform L2 teachers and learners of their strengths and weaknesses in this area of knowledge. This present thesis aims to (1) develop and validate a test measuring different components of AVK more comprehensively (including single word knowledge, phrasal verb knowledge, collocation knowledge, and automaticity); and (2) evaluate the usefulness of the test as a diagnostic tool. Kane’s argument-based validation framework including four inferences namely scoring, generalization, extrapolation, and use will be employed to validate the test. Quantitative analyses based on Rasch model will be used to collect validity evidence to interpret the first three inferences while semi-structured interviews and a paired t-test will be utilized to examine the usefulness of the test and whether feedback from the test can show any statistically significant difference. This research will fill a critical gap in the field of vocabulary assessment by providing a validated tool to diagnose L2 learners’ academic AVK and suggesting implications for teachers’ pedagogical instructions.

Biography

Duyen is pursuing a PhD in Applied Linguistics at the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, funded by a Vietnamese Government Scholarship. She also serves as a senior lecturer at the School of Foreign Languages, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH), Vietnam. Her research focuses on vocabulary testing and assessment, corpus linguistics, and English for Specific Purposes (ESP).

Publications

Ha, H. T., Nguyen, D. T. B., Mclean, S, & Matthews, J. (2025). Choosing lexically appropriate texts: Vocabulary mastery level or text-range vocabulary size? Reading in a Foreign Language, 37(1): 1-19. https://hdl.handle.net/10125/67492

Ha, H. T., Nguyen, D. T. B., & Stoeckel, T. (2025). A Comparison of Yen’s Q3 Coefficient and Rasch Testlet Modeling for Identifying Local Item Dependence: Evidence from Two Vocabulary Matching Tests. Language Assessment Quarterly, 22(1), 56–76. https://doi.org/10.1080/15434303.2025.2456953

Ha, H. T., Nguyen, D. T. B., & Stoeckel, T. (2024). What is the best predictor of word difficulty? A case of data mining using random forest. Language Testing, 41(4), 828-844. https://doi.org/10.1177/02655322241263628

Stoeckel, T., Ha, H. T., Nguyen, D. T. B., & Nicklin, C. (2024). Can an extended matching second language vocabulary test format bridge the gap between meaning-recognition and meaning-recall? Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 3(2), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmal.2024.100109

Ha, H. T., & Nguyen, D. T. B. (2023). Using structural equation modeling to examine the relationship between receptive vocabulary knowledge and receptive language proficiency: A new light on an old issue. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 33, 382–398. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12475

Trang, N. H., Nguyen, D. T. B., & Ha, H. T. (2023). Vocabulary Demands of Academic Spoken English Revisited: A Case of University Lectures and TED Presentations. Sage Open, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440231155334