S. Hrebik, O., Vígh, T. and Vidákovich, T. (2015): Characteristics of young learners’ German as a foreign language basic vocabulary. Paper accepted. In: Towards a reflective society: synergies between learning, teaching and research. 16 th Biennial Conference of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction. Limassol, 25–29 August 2015. CHARACTERISTICS OF YOUNG LEARNERS’ GERMAN AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE BASIC VOCABULARY Olga S. Hrebik*, Tibor Vígh**, Tibor Vidákovich** *Doctoral School of Education, University of Szeged **Institute of Education, University of Szeged ABSTRACT The study investigated 12-13 year old students’ German (FL) basic vocabulary. According to literature, students should acquire the most frequent words of a language at the beginning of learning. Pictures can be used in acquisition of words, as well as in the assessment of students’ vocabulary. This research aimed at assessing of 6 th and 7 th grade students’ word knowledge with visual stimuli. The study focused on the similarities and differences among the beginners’ and advanced students’ performances, and on the characteristics of their vocabulary patterns. Six tests of an online test battery were developed for the assessment. 443 6 th grade and 389 7 th grade students were involved in the measurement. There are no significant differences among the students’ performances on the tests in the same grades. But the 7 th graders achieved significantly better than 6 th graders. Based on the strong correlation between the test performances and the length and intensity of language learning, the groups of „beginners” and „advanced learners” were compared. The variance analyses based on the characteristics of the tests and of the words in tasks show significant differences between younger beginners’ performances and the others’. The beginners’ vocabulary is mainly at level A1 with the dominance of the nouns. The word knowledge of the advanced groups is richer. The 7 th graders know more A2 level and less frequent words. The online vocabulary test measures students’ German vocabulary independently of the learning context. A detailed analysis of the scores offers guidelines for further development. EXTENDED SUMMARY The present study investigated 6th and 7th grade (12-13 year old) students’ German basic word knowledge. An online test battery was developed and applied that is capable of assessing the students’ vocabulary by visual stimuli. The characteristics of students’ vocabulary patterns may be explored independently from the context of language learning. The main questions of this study: How do the students perform on the test in consideration of certain background factors? What similarities and differences can be identified according to test characteristics in the results of the sub-samples created on the basis of the same length and intensity of language learning? What are the characteristics of beginners’ and advanced students’ vocabulary patterns? Students’ vocabulary has been identified as one of the most important conditions of reading proficiency and of academic language skills (Qian, 2002). According to Nation (2001), students should directly acquire the most frequent words of a foreign language at the beginning of language learning to be able to take part in everyday conversations and to read everyday texts. Selected vocabulary for young learners must have a high level of