Language Learning ISSN 0023-8333 Deliberate Learning and Vocabulary Acquisition in a Second Language (original) (raw)
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Deliberate Learning and Vocabulary Acquisition in a Second Language
Language Learning, 2011
ABSTRACT This study investigates outcomes of deliberate learning on vocabulary acquisition in a second language (L2). Acquisition of 48 pseudowords was measured using the lexical decision task with visually presented stimuli. The experiments drew on form priming, masked repetition priming, and automatic semantic priming procedures. Data analyses revealed a prime lexicality effect (Experiment 1), repetition priming effect (Experiment 2), and semantic priming effect (Experiment 3) for the deliberately learned pseudowords. The outcomes of deliberate learning were further examined using a coefficient of variability (CVRT) calculated for the participants’ response latencies in Experiments 2 and 3. The results showed that the learned pseudowords were processed with a higher degree of automaticity than nonwords and low-frequency L2 words. Taken together, the findings provide evidence that deliberate learning triggered the acquisition of representational and functional aspects of vocabulary knowledge.
Brain and Cognition, 2004
The effect of second language experience and vocabulary ability was investigated in a semantic priming experiment with weakly related English word pairs (e.g., city-grass). Participants made lexical decisions to targets preceded by unrelated or weakly related primes or to nonword targets preceded by words. Reliable priming was found for monolingual participants; participants who had acquired a second language showed either marginal or nonreliable effects. A similar pattern of results was found with the analysis of vocabulary ability. Only participants with the greater vocabulary ability showed a priming effect. Although previous research has shown that participants with a broad range of linguistic backgrounds demonstrate the typical semantic priming effect (e.g., greengrass) with strongly associated word pairs , weaker relationships seem to require an extensive contextual history for retrieval.
Memory & Cognition
In a masked form priming lexical decision task, orthographically related word primes cause null or inhibitory priming relative to unrelated controls because of lexical competition between primes and targets, whereas orthographically related nonword primes lead to facilitation because nonwords are not lexically represented and hence do not evoke lexical competition. This prime lexicality effect (PLE) has been used as an index of new word lexicalization in the developing lexicon by using to-be-learned words and their orthographic neighbors as primes and targets, respectively. Experiment 1 confirmed an inhibitory effect of −46 ms among native English speakers and faciliatory effects of 52 ms by Japanese English learners without critical word training. In Experiment 2, Japanese English learners studied novel English words while performing a meaning-based, form-based, or no task during learning. Recall measures indicated a dissociation between these two types of processing, with a form-b...
Multiword Units at the Interface: Deliberate Learning and Implicit Knowledge Gains
Multiword units (MWUs) is a term used in the current study to broadly cover what second language acquisition (SLA) researchers refer to as collocations, conventional expressions, chunks, idioms, formulaic sequences, or other such terms, depending on their research perspective. They are ubiquitous in language and essential in both first language (L1) and second language (L2) acquisition. Although MWUs are typically learned implicitly while using language naturally in both of these types of acquisition, the current study is an investigation of whether they are acquired in implicit knowledge when they are learned explicitly in a process called deliberate paired association learning. In SLA research, it is widely accepted that explicit knowledge is developed consciously and implicit knowledge is developed subconsciously. It is also believed that there is little crossover from explicit learning to implicit knowledge. However, recent research has cast doubt on this assumption. In a series of priming experiments, Elgort (2007, 2011) demonstrated that the formal and semantic lexical representations of deliberately learned pseudowords were accessed fluently and integrated into the mental lexicon, convincing evidence that deliberately learned words are immediately acquired in implicit knowledge. The current study aimed to extend these findings to MWUs in a psycholinguistic experiment that tested for implicit knowledge gains resulting from deliberate learning. Participants’ response times (RTs) were measured in three ways, on two testing instruments. First, subconscious formal recognition processing was measured in a masked repetition priming lexical decision task. In the second instrument, a self-paced reading task, both formulaic sequencing and semantic association gains were measured. The experiment was a counterbalanced, within-subjects design; so all comparisons were between conditions on items. Results were analyzed in a repeated measures linear mixed-effects model with participants and items as crossed random effects. The dependent variable was RTs on target words. The primary independent variable was learning condition: half of the critical MWUs were learned and half of them were not. The secondary independent variable was MWU composition at two levels: literal and figurative. The masked priming lexical decision task results showed that priming effects increased especially for learned figurative MWUs, evidence that implicit knowledge gains were made on their formal and semantic lexical representations as a result of deliberate learning. Results of the self-paced reading task were analyzed from two perspectives, but were less conclusive with regard to the effects of deliberate learning. Regarding formulaic sequencing gains, literal MWUs showed the most evidence of acquisition, but this happened as a result of both incidental and deliberate learning. With regard to semantic associations, it was shown that deliberate learning had similar effects on both literal and figurative MWUs. However, a serendipitous finding from this aspect of the self-paced reading results showed clearly that literal MWUs reliably primed semantic associations and sentence processing more strongly than figurative MWUs did, both before and after deliberate learning. In sum, results revealed that the difficulties learners have with developing fluent processing of figurative MWUs can be lessened by deliberate learning. On the other hand, for literal MWUs incidental learning is adequate for incrementally developing representation strength.
The crucial role of lexis in both first and second language acquisition has long been acknowledged by researchers. As Singleton (1999) aptly put it -"the major challenge of learning and using a language, whether as L1 or L2, lies not in the area of broad syntactic principles but in the 'nitty-gritty' of the lexicon". With regards to the general discussions in L2 acquisition research, one glaring issue has always been whether explicit attention to vocabulary is absolutely necessary in vocabulary learning . Various studies have come up with opposing conclusions and the consensus appears to be a compromise between the incidental and the intentional, summarised fittingly by in his assertion that every course should involve some deliberate attention to vocabulary. The present paper will focus on surveying and comparing the various strands of research dedicated to intentional and incidental vocabulary learning, as well as delve deeper into relevant vocabulary acquisition issues. It is hoped that the observations in this paper will constitute a body of essential empirical evidence together with theoretical insights into the vital areas of vocabulary research.
Learning Conditions for Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition in L1 and L2
It is believed that language learners can acquire vocabulary as they are exposed to the target language. Second language learners in particular, can pick up unfamiliar words spontaneously from either oral or written context. However, the level of incidental vocabulary learning varies across studies. Having examined various researches on both incidental and intentional vocabulary learning either in first language (L1) or in second language (L2) acquisition, it is informed that these variations are affected by several factors such as students' proficiency, the richness of context, the number of exposures and the types of words being learned.
Priming Model of Words Comprehension in Second Language Acquisition
The Journal of Teaching and Learning, 2015
Penelitian ini mengacu pada penguasaan kosa kata dalam pemerolehan bahasa asing. Penelitian ini khusus menginvestigasi penggunaan Priming Model (menjelaskan suatu kata melalui contoh-contoh dan penjelasan yang dekat dengan konteks kata) dari peguasaan kata. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui sejauh mana penguasaan kata-kata melalui Priming Model dan pengaruh dari Priming Model terhadap penguasaan kosa kata siswa. Selanjutnya, penelitian ini mengacu pda pendekatan qualitatif dan pendekatan eksperimental yang khusus menelusuri fenomena dari bagaimana siswa memperoleh bahasa dan memahami kata dengan menggunakan Priming Model. Lalu, responden-responden merupakan siswa yang dikategorikan sebagai siswa dengan pengetahuan rendah tentang materi bahasa inggris yang telah belajar dari Sekolah Menengah Pertama (SMP) hingga Sekolah Menengah Atas (SMA), sedangkan responden lainnya yaitu siswa yang pengetahuannya dikategorikan high profeciency, sebab mereka telah belajar materi bahasa inggris hingga duduk dibangku kuliah. Lebih lanjut, dalam pengumpulan data, test sangatlah diperlukan. Tes disini merukan tes tertulis dan lisan terhadap dua kategori responden. Hasilnya, diketahui bahwa Priming Model membantu siswa menganalisa dan memahami kata dengan mudah secara konteks dan teks dalam pembelajaran pemerolehan bahasa.
Reading and Writing, 2016
Word learning can build the high-quality word representations that support skilled reading and language comprehension. According to the partial knowledge hypothesis, words that are partially known, also known as "frontier words" (Durso & Shore, 1991), may be good targets for instruction precisely because they are already familiar. However, studies investigating this question have produced mixed findings, and individual differences in baseline knowledge have complicated results both within and across studies. We present two studies that took a different approach, controlling both familiarity and the nature of the familiarizing episode. We controlled familiarity with novel words through pre-exposure ("pre-familiarization") in isolation, to induce form-based familiarity, or in sentences that provided few clues to meaning, to induce partial semantic knowledge. The number of pre-exposures varied (0, 1, or 4). After the pre-familiarization phase, we presented the words in several highly informative sentences to support meaning acquisition. Participants included both adults and typically developing children, ages 9-12. Participants' selfrated familiarity with target words, and their knowledge of the words' meanings and orthography were each measured at baseline, immediately after learning, and one week later. Orthographic and semantic word learning showed contrasting effects of pre-familiarization. For orthographic learning, it was the number, rather than the type, of pre-familiarizations that mattered most. By contrast, the number of pre-familiarizations had little impact on word semantic learning; further, pre-familiarization in low-constraint sentences did not consistently boost subsequent learning. These findings suggest that familiarity with a word prior to instruction does not necessarily improve word-learning outcomes, and they highlight the importance of repeated exposures to high quality contexts for robust word learning.
Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition: the effects of Task Type, Word Occurrence and Their Combination
Language Teaching Research, 15 (4): 391-411, 2011
We investigated how long-term retention of new words was affected by task type, number of word occurrences in the teaching materials and the combination of the two factors. The tasks were: reading a text with occasional Focus on Form when learners used dictionaries (T+F), or reading a text with Focus on Forms, i.e. word focused exercises (T+Fs). The words occurred 2-3, 4-5, and 6-7 times. Consequently, there were six conditions that reflected the 2 × 3 'task × occurrence' combinations. Learners were exposed to 60 target words, 10 words in each condition during a 13-week course of study, and were subsequently tested on them by two unannounced tests: passive recall and passive recognition. An increase in word occurrence was found to have an effect on retention in T+Fs only. Starting with 4 occurrences, T+Fs fared better than T+F. Task type effect was superior to the effect of word occurrence in recall only (2 word exercises fared better than 6-7 occurrences in text). The value of word-focused practice was also confirmed by learners' responses to an introspective questionnaire.