Apples and oranges: How does learning context affect novel word learning?

Abstract

• We asked how teaching novel words in semantic categories affects learning. • Words in a novel language were taught in semantic categories or in unrelated sets. • Novel names taught in semantic categories were learned and recalled more slowly. • Learning in categories enhanced competition in a picture-word interference task. • Increased competition between familiar and novel words may be due to episodic memory. Despite scarce empirical evidence, introducing new vocabulary in semantic categories has long been standard in second language teaching. We examined the effect of learning context on encoding, immediate recall and integration of new vocabulary into semantic memory by contrasting categorically related (novel names for familiar concepts blocked by semantic category) and unrelated (mixed semantic categories) learning contexts. Two learning sessions were conducted 24 hours apart, with each participant exposed to both contexts. Subsequently, a test phase examined picture naming, translation and picture-word interference tasks. Compared to the unrelated context, the categorically related context resulted in poorer naming accuracy in the learning phase, slower response latencies at the immediate recall tasks and greater semantic interference in the picture-word interference task (picture naming in L1 with semantically related novel word distractors). We develop a theoretical account of word learning that attributes observed differences to episodic rather than semantic memory.