Lexical Pathways to L2 Listening Comprehension: The Roles of Vocabulary Knowledge and Lexical Complexity

ABSTRACT Numerous studies have reported that vocabulary knowledge is essential for listening comprehension, and research has also examined the lexical characteristics of listening input. However, these two lines of research have yet to converge in examining their respective contributions to L2 listening comprehension. To address this gap, this study examined the relationships between L2 learners’ vocabulary knowledge, lexical complexity of listening texts, and their listening performances. Ninety Chinese learners of English with low‐to‐intermediate English proficiencies completed the TOEFL junior listening test and measures of vocabulary knowledge (receptive vocabulary size and collocation knowledge). Lexical characteristics of the listening texts were analyzed in terms of diversity and sophistication. Mixed‐effects regression modeling revealed that collocation knowledge (but not vocabulary size), along with the lexical diversity (type/token ratio) and sophistication (concerning word meaning, academic vocabulary use, and the association strength of multiword expressions) of the listening texts, were significant predictors of L2 listening comprehension. The findings highlight the contributions of multiword expressions and multi‐dimensional lexical complexity of input to L2 listening comprehension.