The Effects of EFL Proficiency on Lexical Attrition/Retention

This study aimed at investigating the effects of English as foreign language proficiency on lexical attrition/retention of Iranian learners in Nouroz holidays. For this purpose, 90 students studied English translation at Qazvin Azad University were selected. They were sophomore and were accessible for the present study. After administering a proficiency test (OPT), 60 students were selected according to their result of the OPT test for this study in which 25 students were male and 35 were female. In Time 1 administration and just before Nouroz vacation, OPT(Oxford Placement Test) was given to 90 participants to determine their level of proficiency and classify them into three high, middle, and low groups of proficiency level according to their scores on the test. Then, the devised test of receptive/productive vocabulary, modeled on The Vocabulary Levels Test, was administered to the same participants to measure their acquisition of nouns covered in their Reading Comprehension book. The receptive/productive vocabulary test is administered independently of the participants' final exam and before it. The results indicated that both types of tests were exposed to attrition.