This study examined the relationship between lexical coverage (i.e., the percentage of known word tokens in a text) and second language (L2) reading comprehension. Several studies have suggested that adequate comprehension occurs between 95% and 98% coverage, but no study has investigated beginning-level learners reading under the conditions of extensive reading. Therefore, the present study recruited 50 native English-speaking learners enrolled in a second-semester Spanish course. Learners chose between 1 of 2 interesting, graded texts and read for general understanding. A yes–no vocabulary test was used to measure knowledge of all the words in the texts, and comprehension of the 10 main events was assessed with cued written recall and multiple-choice tests. Additionally, to begin to understand how coverage relates to different types of comprehension, a literal and an inferential question was asked of each main event. The results indicated that (a) the relationship between lexical coverage and comprehension was moderate to strong, (b) lexical coverage was more associated with literal comprehension, and (c) 98% coverage would predict the productive recall of 8 of the 10 main events. The findings support the importance of having texts written at the lexical level of beginning L2 learners when engaging in extensive reading.

中文翻译：

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初级二语西班牙语学习者词汇覆盖率与阅读理解类型的关系

这项研究检查了词汇覆盖率（即文本中已知单词标记的百分比）和第二语言（L2）阅读理解之间的关系。几项研究表明，在 95% 到 98% 的覆盖率之间发生了充分的理解，但没有研究调查初级学习者在泛读条件下的阅读。因此，本研究招募了 50 名以英语为母语的学习者参加第二学期的西班牙语课程。学习者在 2 篇有趣的分级文本中选择 1 篇，并阅读以获得一般理解。使用是 - 否词汇测试来衡量文本中所有单词的知识，并通过提示的书面回忆和多项选择测试评估对 10 个主要事件的理解。此外，为了开始了解报道如何与不同类型的理解相关，对每个主要事件都提出了文字和推理问题。结果表明（a）词汇覆盖率和理解力之间的关系是中度至强，（b）词汇覆盖率与字面理解更相关，（c）98% 的覆盖率可以预测 10 个主要事件中的 8 个的有效回忆. 研究结果支持了在进行广泛阅读时，在初级二语学习者的词汇水平上编写文本的重要性。(c) 98% 的覆盖率将预测 10 个主要事件中的 8 个的有效召回。研究结果支持了在进行广泛阅读时，在初级二语学习者的词汇水平上编写文本的重要性。(c) 98% 的覆盖率将预测 10 个主要事件中的 8 个的有效召回。研究结果支持了在进行广泛阅读时，在初级二语学习者的词汇水平上编写文本的重要性。