Word Writing vs. Meaning Inferencing in Contextualized L2 Vocabulary Learning: Assessing the Effect of Different Vocabulary Learning Strategies

Abstract

The majority of L2 vocabulary studies concentrate on learning word meaning and provide learners with opportunities for semantic elaboration (i.e., focus on word meaning). However, in initial vocabulary learning, engaging in structural elaboration (i.e., focus on word form) with a view to acquiring L2 word form is equally important. The present contextual word-learning study aims to compare the effects of an increased attention to form condition and an increased attention to meaning condition. Native speakers of Dutch (N = 50) learned new English vocabulary in a meaning-inferencing condition, which focused their attention on word meaning, and a word-writing condition, which prompted the learners to focus on word form. The results demonstrate that the word-writing condition advanced both form recall and meaning recall to a greater extent than the meaning-inferencing condition. We conclude that word writing benefits initial word learning more than meaning inferencing in a contextual word-learning situation.