Purpose Leaning a word is an incremental progress starting from unknown to partially known, and developing into fully mastered level. This paper intends to explore the partial vocabulary knowledge quantitatively and qualitatively.
Method 706 Year 8 EFL learners completed a revised version of Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS) (Wesche & Paribakht, 1996). The Rasch model was used to evaluate the validity and reliability of the revised VKS, as well as to assess the overall fit of the partial credit model. Three sets of response categories were analysed thoroughly. A subset of 30 participants was stratified sampled based on the Rasch calibration on learners' ability and item difficulty. Their responses to the word meaning were examined qualitatively, so as to reveal an in-depth description about learners' partial understanding of a word.
Results The Rasch analysis showed high internal consistency reliability of the revised VKS as a measure of word meaning. Disordered thresholds present among all items measured which indicate low probability of reflecting the partial understanding of word meaning. Qualitative analysis of the subgroup of participants reveals versatile degrees of understanding in meaning.
Conclusion The results suggest though difficulties exist in capturing the partial vocabulary knowledge quantitatively, qualitative analysis reveals five different types of mastery in the form recognition stage and different degrees of understanding in meaning in the vocabulary acquisition. The implications for vocabulary teaching will be discussed, with particular emphasis on how to effectively lead the English learners to progress into the precise word meaning from the partial understanding.
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