Second Language Vocabulary Research Articles

Strategies for Teaching Vocabulary in the Elementary and Intermediate Italian Classroom

Jn his important monograph on firstand second-language lexical acquisition, Carter observed that many years vocabulary has been the poor relation of language (Vocabulary: Applied Linguistic Perspectives 145). In recent years, however, this domain of language learning has received ever-increasing attention from secondlanguage teaching scholars, especially from English as a Second Language specialists.1 In this regard, Maiguashca correctly observes that research on vocabulary teaching and learning with ESL has tended to move at a particularly fast pace and in very exciting ways. In other words, ESL seems to be at the cutting edge in this area and, as such, likely to influence developments in other languages as well. In the realm of specific languages, various studies on lexical acquisition are available.2 Likewise, in the area of general strategies for second-language vocabulary enhancement, several additional studies also merit citation.3

Trying to Bridge the Gap

Trying to Bridge the Gap

Keyword mnemonic and retention of second-language vocabulary words.

Use of the keyword mnemonic has been shown to substantially increase learning speed and immediate recall of 2nd-language vocabulary words in comparison with other learning strategies. Although the majority of researchers examining long-term retention of material acquired through the keyword method have concluded that these gains are maintained over time, most have relied on experimental designs based on within-subject comparisons. However, within-subject comparisons of retention over time are confounded by both rates of initial acquisition and level of immediate recall

Working Memory

The term working memory refers to a brain system that provides temporary storage and manipulation of the information necessary for such complex cognitive tasks as language comprehension, learning, and reasoning. This definition has evolved from the concept of a unitary short-term memory system. Working memory has been found to require the simultaneous storage and processing of information. It can be divided into the following three subcomponents: (i) the central executive, which is assumed to be an attentional-controlling system, is important in skills such as chess playing and is particularly susceptible to the effects of Alzheimer's disease; and two slave systems, namely (ii) the visuospatial sketch pad, which manipulates visual images and (iii) the phonological loop, which stores and rehearses speech-based information and is necessary for the acquisition of both native and second-language vocabulary.

Keyword mnemonic and retention of second-language vocabulary words.

Keyword mnemonic and retention of second-language vocabulary words.

The Use of Verbal and Imagery Mnemonics in Second-Language Vocabulary Learning

This paper provides a critical look at the use of mnemonic associations in vocabulary learning. The paper begins with a definition of mnemonic devices—that is, techniques for converting material to be learned into a form that makes it easier to learn and remember—and focuses on verbal and imagery mnemonics, whereby a word, a phrase, or a sentence and visual imagery serve as mediator between what is known and what is to be learned. Particular attention is given to the keyword approach, in which there is both an acoustic link between a native-language word and the second-language word, and an image of the keyword interacting with the native-language word or phrase. Contentions are discussed concerning both the learning of words through verbal and imagery mnemonics and their subsequent retrieval. Attention is also given to research issues in need of investigation.

Effects of Massed and Distributed Practice on the Learning and Retention of Second-Language Vocabulary

AbstractHigh school students enrolled in a French course learned vocabulary words under conditions of either massed or distributed practice as part of their regular class activities. Distributed practice consisted of three 10-minute units on each of three successive days; massed practice consisted of all three units being completed during a 30-minute period on a single day. Though performance of the two groups was virtually identical on a test given immediately after completion of study, the students who had learned the words by distributed practice did substantially better (35%) than the massed- practice students on a second test given 4 days later. The implications of the findings for classroom instruction and the need to distinguish between learning and memory are discussed.

Retention of second-language vocabulary overtime: Investigating the role of mnemonic associations

In this study, we trained 26 learners of Hebrew as a second language to generate associations of their own choosing to new vocabulary items, and then examined their use of these and new associations during recall tasks over a period of a month. In order to illustrate the nature of the data that were recorded and analyzed, a description of vocabulary learning behavior across words and across tasks is provided for two sample students. Likewise, a description is also provided of how two words ‘behaved’ across students. Findings for the student group as a whole were as follows: Students reported using previously-formed associations most frequently in order to recall words in subsequent tasks, and their performance was better when using this retrieval strategy than when they used a new association, no longer used as an association, or used no association at all. There was also a generally high success rate across all four tasks for recall of words that were learned through association. Since a subgroup of students who learned some words without association recalled these words as well as words that they did find associations for, the question was left open as to the type of learner who benefits from learning vocabulary through association.

A Mnemonic Method for Learning a Second-Language Vocabulary.

A Mnemonic Method for Learning a Second-Language Vocabulary.

Optimizing the learning of a second-language vocabulary.

The problem is to optimize the learning of a large German-English vocabulary. Four optimization strategies are proposed and evaluated experimentally. The first strategy involves presenting items in a random order and serves as a benchmark against which the others can be evaluated. The second strategy permits 5 to determine on each trial of the experiment which item is to be presented, thus placing instruction under learner control. The third and fourth strategies are based on a mathematical model of the learning process; these strategies are computer controlled and take account of S's response history in making decisions about which items to present next. Performance on a delayed test administered 1 wk. after the instructional session indicated that the learner-controlled strategy yielded a gain of 53% when compared to the random procedure, whereas the best of the two computer-controlled strategies yielded a gain of 108%. Implications of the work for a theory of instruction are considered.