British Council Knowledge-based Vocabulary Lists (KVL) difficulty dataset¶
Product or Programme · All products and programmes
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 1 study (1 associational),q2· 0 of 1 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study
Description¶
A dataset developed from the British Council's Knowledge-based Vocabulary Lists containing productive English-vocabulary test items and GLMM-based difficulty scores for Chinese, German, and Spanish learners of English.
Components¶
Claims¶
- Test item construction, including avoidance of cognate L1 equivalents, often affects KVL difficulty scores beyond the genuine difficulty of the words [+M]
- SHAP analysis of the explainable model identifies production frequency and spelling difficulty as high-impact predictors of KVL difficulty, with spelling difficulty varying strongly by L1 [+M]
Related Products and Programmes¶
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Key Sources¶
- Adam Nohejl, Xuanxin Wu, Yusuke Ide, Maria Angelica Riera Machin, Yi-Ning Chang, Hitomi Yanaka. (2026). Sakura at BEA 2026 Shared Task 1: What Makes Vocabulary Difficult? https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.14257
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
product |
id |
british-council-knowledge-based-vocabulary-lists-kvl-difficulty-dataset |
title |
British Council Knowledge-based Vocabulary Lists (KVL) difficulty dataset |
description |
A dataset developed from the British Council's Knowledge-based Vocabulary Lists containing productive English-vocabulary test items and GLMM-based difficulty scores for Chinese, German, and Spanish learners of English. |
status |
review |
product_kind |
dataset |
generated |
by process:settle-candidates on 2026-10-12 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
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