The effects of synonym generation and oral output on incidental and intentional vocabulary learning

Abstract

Abstract Recent research has shown that semantically oriented tasks may have unfavorable effects on the acquisition of L2 vocabulary. It is argued that paying attention to semantic properties of target words exhaust memory capacity to process both form and meaning. Hoping to throw further light on this issue, the current study, investigated and compared the effects of semantic elaboration via synonym generation and meaningful output production via elicited oral imitation task on the learning of L2 words in both incidental and intentional contexts by Persian EFL learners. One hundred and twenty two L2 learners of English who were homogenous in terms of the target words were randomly assigned to four experimental groups: (a) semantically elaborated intentional learning, (b) semantically elaborated incidental learning, (c) output intentional learning, and (d) output incidental learning. The results of analyses of variance revealed that 1.Subject benfited more fromoral output than from semantic elaboration in the acqusition of target words, 2. Semantically oriented tasks have some negative effects on the acquisition of target words, and 3. Intentional settings are more effective than incidental settings for L2 word learning.