In response to McLean (2021), Laufer (2021) makes three claims which are either not supported by research or are based on studies with important limitations. First is that a vocabulary size, instead of a level, can be used to match learners with lexically appropriate materials despite test creators and research not supporting this. Second is that…

In the late 1980s Batia Laufer worked with teachers who believed that to understand a text it was enough to understand 80% of the text's word tokens. In response, Laufer set out to calculate the minimal text coverage, i.e., percentage of running words in a text the reader should understand to comprehend it reasonably well. In 1992, she explored…

This study examined the role of academic self-concept, mastery goals, and academic emotions as mediators in the relationship between perceived teacher autonomy support and student engagement in maths and literacy domains. Questionnaires completed by 854 students in Grades 4 and 5 in China show that perceived teacher autonomy support positively…