Creation and Validation of an Antonym Semantic Decision Task to Measure Japanese EFL Learners’ Automaticity of Word Recognition

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to describe the creation of an Antonym Semantic Decision Task (ASDT) to measure Japanese EFL learners＇ automaticity of word recognition, in particular lexical meaning access speed and to validate the use of this instrument. To validate the instrument, this study focuses on whether reaction time and accuracy of visual word recognition in the ASDT differ according to the participants＇ proficiency levels defined by vocabulary size and by the word frequency level (1K, 2K, 3K, and 4K). The results of a oneway and two-way mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that reaction time and ASDT accuracy generally distinguish the participants＇ proficiency. Also, a general frequency effect for reaction time was found for both groups. However, Coefficient of Variance, an indication of the degree of automaticity, did not show frequency effects in either group.