loanwords, semantic word classes and vocabulary size test: the case of foreign language learners with different first languages

In recent years many researchers have investigated the vocabulary knowledge of the students by administering tests, yet there are many more cases that still remain untouched. words which are borrowed from other languages and are called loanwords as well as semantic word classes play important roles in determining individuals’ knowledge of vocabulary. this study aimed to investigate the inclusion of english loanwords which are selected from noun semantic word class and come from persian and arabic languages. a population of 87 m.a students majoring in tefl (17 arabic-l1s and 31 persian-l1s) and 37 ba students (15 arabic-l1s and 24 persian-l1s) majoring in english translation were included. regarding their l1s, they received two types of tests, a test with loanwords and one without loanwords. the result showed that all learners had better performance on loanwords. also, the performance of arabic-l1s with ma degree at loanwords test was better than persian-l1s ma participants. the performance of ba persian-l1s on loanwords test was better than arabic-l1s performance on the test. finally, considering within group performance, m.a participants in general had better performance than ba participants on loan words test. these results may further indicate that ba and ma learners can benefit and improve their vocabulary by learning loanwords.