Reading and Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition.pdf

2014

Considerable worldwide research has investigated incidental vocabulary learning from L2 reading, yet so far nothing has been published about the actual learning that comes from reading various texts. This study investigated incidental lexical growth and retention by Libyan university EFL majors who were involved in a two-month ER programme. Their vocabulary gain was measured 1 week after the participants completed the Extensive Reading (ER) programme, 2 weeks later and 9 months later. The value of this study is that it used an innovative approach, which was developed from a research design by Horst (2005). This included the electronic scanning of books and lexical frequency profiling, helping the researcher to create individualised corpus profiles from the entire set of different texts the participants read. This data was then used to select target words for each participant. The methodology was an experimental case study, which entailed an experimental and control group design. The...

3L The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies

Developing a rich vocabulary repertoire in English is an essential achievement for young learners acquiring English as a second language (ESL) as having a strong word knowledge base supports the development of the four language skills in the second language. Most studies on vocabulary learning, however, have been conducted with adult learners at the college levels. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of different instructional techniques (incidental learning and intentional learning) on vocabulary acquisition among young ESL learners. The participants were 99 students between 10-11 years old in a Malaysian Tamil primary school. Stratified sampling was applied, and the subjects were divided into 3 groups; a control group and two experimental groups: extensive reading (ER) and extensive reading plus vocabulary enhancement (ER+). The ER group received treatment involving extensive reading of storybooks while, the ER+ group received treatments involving extensive reading of storybooks and vocabulary enhancement activities. The treatments were conducted as after-class activities. The control group did not attend the after-class activity but continued with regular class activities. The vocabulary levels test (VLT) was administered to all groups before and after the treatment to measure the significant difference between the three groups. The results show a significant gain for both the experimental groups with the ER+ group having higher means in both the posttest and delayed post-test scores. However, there was no gain recorded for the control group. The study provides evidence that extensive reading can enhance vocabulary learning but the blending with vocabulary enhancement activities was more effective.

T he purpose of this paper is to raise ER practitioners' awareness of the centrality of the acquisition of vocabulary to the development of all language skills , and to encourage them to reflect carefully on the extent to which their practices are in keeping with the recommendations made in the literature on second language vocabulary acquisition (SLVA). Practitioners will be further encouraged to consider if and how an integrated approach (ER + ) developed by the author might be adapted to his/her particular teaching circumstances.

2010

Extensive reading, ER, can be considered as a good learning technique to improve learners' vocabulary knowledge. ER is a type of reading instruction program used in ESL or EFL settings, as an effective means of vocabulary development. The subjects participated in this study included were 40 upper-intermediate and 40 lowerintermediate learners drawn from a population through a proficiency test to see if ER helps them improve their vocabulary knowledge at the above-stated levels. To this end, at each level an experimental and a control group (EG and CG) were formed each of which comprised 20 subjects randomly selected and assigned. All the conditions especially teaching materials were kept equal and fixed at each level, except for the EG the subjects were given five extra short stories to read outside for ten weeks. The results showed that EG at both levels indicated improvement in their vocabulary learning after the experiment.

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2014

Forty-six students majoring in business English volunteered to take part in an extensive reading program. The learners were divided into two groups: EG, the experimental group, received instruction in methods of extensive reading plus explicit output-pushed activities, and CG, the control group, received instruction in methods of extensive reading only. This study measured the effects of extensive reading on EFL vocabulary learning, through the effects of the two different instruction methods on learning receptive and productive vocabulary for the 46 learners of different vocabulary size. The research found that (a) both the two instructional methods resulted in significant gains in learners’ receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge, but the combination of the incidental and intentional learning instruction yields greater vocabulary gains; (b) around 60% of receptive vocabularybis understood productively; and (c) students’ vocabulary size plays a decisive role inbacquiring the receptive and productive aspect of vocabulary knowledge.

Language Related Research

The present study compares the effects of the second language (L2) reading and listening on incidental vocabulary learning and retention of three dimensions of word knowledge (i.e., part of speech, syntagmatic association, and form-meaning connection) among EFL learners. The relationship between word exposure frequency and vocabulary learning is also examined in reading versus listening. Sixty-three pre-intermediate EFL learners in four intact classes were randomly assigned to four experimental groups based on the number of target word (TW) exposures (i.e., 1, 3, 5, and 7 exposures) they received in treatment texts. The experimental groups read and listened to four texts with 36 TWs. The scores on the immediate and three-week delayed posttests revealed that reading contributed to a greater amount of vocabulary learning and retention in the three dimensions of word knowledge. The results further revealed that an increase in the word exposure frequency had a significant effect on acquiring form-meaning connection through reading, and on three dimensions through listening. Moreover, frequency improved retention gains in both input sources.

Abstract Twenty tertiary level EFL learners volunteered to take part in a reading program exploring incidental vocabulary learning measured by 30 substituted nonwords within five groups of frequency level in a graded reader, Love or Money. Two nouns, verbs, and adjectives were included in each group of frequency level. A three-aspect measurement and a semi-structured face-to-face interview were used in this study. The findings showed that, overall, the acquisition order of the three aspects was first word form, then word meaning, finally word usage. Incidental vocabulary learning was affected by the frequency of word occurrence, and the learners showed a better proficiency in the words with a higher frequency level. It appeared that, to have a 50% chance of recognizing the word form, exposure to target words more than eight times was necessary. However, exposure to the word more than 14 times was needed for a 50% chance of recalling the word meaning and usage. For the new words that occurred only 1 time or up to 4-6 times, it would be very difficult for the learners to master the word knowledge. In addition, based on the learning outcome of word meaning and usage, the learning difficulties of nouns, verbs, and adjectives were found to vary. It appeared that learning the meaning and usage of verbs were easier than nouns, and nouns were easier to be learned than adjectives.

This study explores the roles of depth and breadth of lexical repertoire in L2 lexical inferencing success and incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading. Students read a graded reader containing 13 pseudo-words and attempted to infer the meanings of underlined target words. The Word Associates Test (WAT, Read, 2004) and the Vocabulary Levels Test were administered to measure depth and breadth of lexical repertoire respectively. To rate retention of inferred meanings, I administered the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS, Paribakht & Wesche, 1996 with a repeated measure design. The results indicated that (a) both breadth and depth of lexical knowledge correlated positively with long-term retention of inferred word meanings. However, depth of vocabulary knowledge indicated a higher correlation; and (b) scores on both breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge had a significant positive correlation with success of lexical inferencing through reading, but depth of vocabulary knowledge was a stronger predictor of inferencing success.

A number of studies have demonstrated that second/foreign language learners can acquire vocabulary from reading. This study was designed to examine whether advanced EFL learners can acquire vocabulary incidentally from reading an authentic text. Eighteen firstyear English major students read and listened to the first eight chapters of Pride and Prejudice. Fifty-one words that appeared between two and ten times in the text were selected as targets. The pretest showed that on average, the participants knew the meaning of 26.

Language Learning, 2014

This study investigates acquisition of second language (L2) vocabulary from reading a connected authentic text. Advanced and upper‐intermediate L2 (English) participants read a long expository text for general understanding, with embedded critical vocabulary items (pseudowords). Explicit knowledge of the critical items was examined using a meaning generation task, while their tacit knowledge was probed using form and semantic priming in lexical decision tasks. Results revealed a complex landscape of contextual L2 word learning in which individual differences (age, L2 lexical proficiency, first language, gender, learning strategies, levels of enjoyment) and lexical and text characteristics (concreteness, frequency, distribution, and saliency of use) individually and together affect L2 lexical development from reading. Implications of these results for contextual L2 word learning are discussed.

The Modern Language Journal, 2000

In this study, university English as a Second Language (ESL) learners' responses to 5 different types of text-based vocabulary exercises were examined. The objective was to understand better how such exercises may promote different kinds of lexical processing and learning and to compare these outcomes with those from thematic reading for comprehension. The results support a view of vocabulary acquisition as an elaborative and iterative process and demonstrate the primary role of the tasks learners carry out with new words that they encounter. Tasks provide learners with varied and multiple encounters with given words that highlight different lexical features, promoting elaboration and strengthening of different aspects of word knowledge. The findings also provide insight into the nature of the advantages, found in previous research, of using text-based vocabulary exercises together with a reading text as opposed to using multiple reading texts for the learning of particular words and their lexical features.

This study aims at exploring the effectiveness of incidental vocabulary learning strategies. The study focuses on the strategies of learning vocabulary in enhancing the students' performance in English language. The study adopts descriptive analytical method in order to elaborate and analyze the cause of the problem via statistical analysis of the gathered data. The researchers assume that learners can easily acquire vocabulary whenever they interact with each other. The sample of the study consists of 30 Sudanese university students' learners of English, from Sudan University of Science and Technology (SUST). Thus in order to collect the necessary data, the researchers design a questionnaire as main tool of this study . The researchers analyze the data by using Statistic Packages for Social Sciences Programme (SPSS) . Based on the analysis and the results obtained, the study reveals that learners who acquire vocabulary communicatively score significantly high and can easily acquire vocabulary incidentally when they interact with each other. Incidental word learning enhances students' ability to acquire word meaning incidentally from written texts. The study recommends that learners have to be motivated through inserting new words in a variety of situation

A considerable body of research has investigated the effectiveness of extensive reading on incidental vocabulary acquisition in second language (L2) learners. However, we still know very little about the relationship between extensive reading and vocabulary development among Saudi learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) where language classroom is the predominant source of learning, if not the only one. In the present case study, a single participant was instructed to read extensively for eight weeks as an informal activity outside the classroom. The participant's written receptive vocabulary knowledge was measured before and after the treatment. Results indicated that extensive reading contributed largely to the participant's vocabulary gain, suggesting that a vocabulary uptake of about eight words from extensive reading intervention has occurred compared to about two words per contact hour from language classroom input where reading texts are short and scattered throught the textbook. Finding is interpreted in order to provide some pedagogical recommendations.

2003

L2 researchers have debated the significance of the lexicon in addition to the relevance of acquiring syntax, in the learning of an L2. (Huckin et.al, 1993; and other researchers in the field of SLA recognize the fact that learners' knowledge of words from context assists them in the comprehension of unfamiliar words that they encounter in their reading materials. Academic reading materials tend to be cognitively demanding and often require language in which contextual cues for meaning are reduced. Research in lexical acquisition has gained significant grounds lately, comparable to that of studies in the acquisition of syntax, which have played a prominent role in SLA.