Abstract This study analyses the relationship between receptive vocabulary size in upper-intermediate/advanced learners and EFL proficiency and the skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking. Little research has been conducted on this dimension of lexical knowledge and the four skills (Staehr, 2008; Milton et al., 2010), in spite of the fact that previous studies of separate language skills have highlighted the importance of vocabulary size for language proficiency development. A sample of 42 participants was assessed by means of a receptive vocabulary size test on ten word-frequency levels (1k to 10k), and on both receptive and productive skills (oral and written). Results reveal that vocabulary size explains language proficiency to a large extent, even in learners with vocabularies of more than 5,000 words, though its influence on performance is not as strong as in learners with smaller vocabularies. At a high proficiency level, vocabulary size is closely linked to writing and is moderately correlated with reading, speaking and listening. The findings help to provide a more complete picture than earlier research by including more proficient learners in EFL settings.

中文翻译：

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接受性词汇量及其与 EFL 语言技能的关系

摘要 本研究分析了中高级/高级学习者的接受词汇量与EFL熟练程度以及阅读、写作、听力和口语技能之间的关系。尽管先前对单独语言技能的研究强调了词汇量对语言熟练程度的重要性，但关于词汇知识和四项技能的这一维度的研究很少（Staehr，2008 年；Milton 等，2010 年）发展。通过在 10 个词频水平（1k 到 10k）以及接受和生产技能（口头和书面）上的接受词汇量测试对 42 名参与者进行了评估。结果表明，词汇量在很大程度上解释了语言熟练程度，即使是词汇量超过 5,000 个单词的学习者，尽管它对成绩的影响不如词汇量较小的学习者那么强。在高熟练度水平上，词汇量与写作密切相关，与阅读、口语和听力中等相关。通过在 EFL 环境中包括更熟练的学习者，这些发现有助于提供比早期研究更完整的图景。