Journal of new advances in English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics

Journal of new advances in English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics

Identifying Threshold Vocabulary for IELTS Writing Skill

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Department of Foreign Languages Teaching, ToH. C., Islamic Azad University, Torbat Heydarieh, Iran.
10.22034/jeltal.2025.7.2.4
Abstract
This paper reports on empirical research that endeavors to investigate the threshold vocabulary knowledge for writing section of IELTS. In other words, how many vocabulary is required for a L2 learner to get 7 in IELTS writing section? The scarcity of studies on investigating the relationship between productive vocabulary size and writing skills prompted us to do this study on 131 postgraduate international students studying in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) who obtained the minimum score (i.e., 6) in IELTS as a requirement for enrollment. PVLT was given to participants. Then, participants’ scores from the test were correlated with their score in the writing section of IELTS. The results revealed significant correlation coefficients between productive vocabulary size and academic writing skills. Moreover, the findings of Multiple Regression indicated that productive vocabulary levels test (PVLT) could be a good predictor for IELTS academic writing. Finally, by use of the participants’ mean score in different levels of PVLT and the Zimmerman formula for calculating the number of vocabulary at each level revealed a threshold of 2000 words for a L2 learner to get 7 in IELTS writing section. The findings drawn from the study have some pedagogical implications useful for curriculum planning, decision making, and classroom implementation.
Keywords

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Volume 7, Issue 2
September 2025
Pages 68-88

  • Receive Date 22 June 2025
  • Revise Date 02 September 2025
  • Accept Date 20 September 2025