Ordkendskab

Ordkendskab refers to the mental knowledge a person has about words, including their form, meaning, and usage. In Danish linguistics and language education, it denotes the depth and breadth of a speaker's vocabulary, encompassing recognition of words in listening or reading and the ability to produce them in speaking or writing. It is a central dimension of language proficiency and interacts with grammar, syntax, and discourse competence.

Ordkendskab comprises several interrelated components: form (pronunciation, spelling, inflection), meaning (semantic representations, denotation and connotation), and use (syntactic frames, collocations, idioms, register). It also includes knowledge of frequency and variety (range across topics and domains) and knowledge of multiword expressions. Distinctions are often made between receptive knowledge (recognize and comprehend) and productive knowledge (recall and use).

Assessment of ordkendskab uses lexical size estimates, targeted vocabulary tests, and measures of receptive vs productive knowledge. Researchers employ word-frequency lists, cloze tasks, reading and listening comprehension, and error analysis. Challenges include the implicit nature of much vocabulary learning and the difficulty of capturing depth of knowledge, such as nuance, collocations, or productive flexibility.

Pedagogical approaches aim to expand ordkendskab through explicit instruction on word meanings and morphology, systematic vocabulary development, extensive reading, and deliberate practice with context and collocations. In second-language education, strong ordkendskab correlates with reading comprehension, academic performance, and communicative fluency. In research, it informs theories of lexical processing and informs language assessment and natural language processing applications.