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<p>This research project aims to extend the line of inquiry on pedagogical interventions intended to help second language (L2) learners make better progress of their mastery of multiword expressions (MWEs). Existing studies on these interventions revealed a propensity towards exclusivity in terms of input modality, item type and learning condition. Firstly, there are far more MWE studies in the context of unimodal input, e.g., written input. It is only recently that the potential of audio-visual input (i.e., L2 viewing) has been explored for MWE learning. Secondly, previous studies have by and large focused on certain types of MWEs, such as collocations. While there is merit in focusing on a certain type of item, such studies do not represent the materials that L2 learners are often exposed to. Further, authentic videos entail diverse MWE types, providing a stronger reason to include more than one type of target item. Thirdly, many MWE interventions are investigated exclusively under one of the learning conditions, i.e., intentional or incidental learning conditions. Hulstijn’s (2001) criterion is adopted to distinguish these two learning conditions, in that the presence of test announcement characterises the intentional learning condition. Due to this tendency towards a dichotomy of learning conditions, many factors known to facilitate MWE learning have been investigated under one of the learning conditions only. Two such factors are repetition and typographic enhancement. While repetition is well established as beneficial for MWE acquisition, evidence for this is mainly furnished by studies on incidental learning through written input. Therefore, the aim of this research project is to assess how repetition, operationalised as repeated viewing, influences MWE acquisition under both learning conditions. Similarly, although typographic enhancement has been shown to draw learners’ attention and promote MWE uptake, this positive evidence is mostly observed in incidental learning studies. As such, whether typographically-enhanced MWEs are indeed learned better than unenhanced MWEs under intentional learning conditions is still under-researched. Importantly, whether typographic enhancement in captioned viewing leads to superior learning compared to normal captions is unknown. This is one of the aims of the research project, in which different caption conditions are created to explore their effectiveness in facilitating MWE learning. Of further interest is whether MWE learning under different caption conditions would modulate the effect of repetition. This is motivated by the assumption that typographic enhancement might eliminate the need for repetition. To answer the research questions, two studies differentiated by the presence of test announcement were carried out. For both studies, ESL learners watched a video containing target MWEs under one of six conditions, which differed in terms of caption condition (no captions, normal captions or enhanced captions) and the number of viewing times (once or twice). MWE learning was assessed through tests that tap into form and meaning knowledge at the level of recall and recognition. Though not part of the research questions, the effects of caption condition and repetition on content comprehension were also assessed. The findings of both studies revealed trends that are consistent with literature on MWE learning and vocabulary learning in general. Firstly, both types of captions promoted better form recall knowledge compared to uncaptioned viewing. This was found to be true under both incidental and intentional learning conditions. Secondly, typographically enhanced captions led to better form recall compared to normal captions, but only under the intentional learning conditions. Under the incidental learning conditions, the effects of L2 viewing with typograhically enhanced captions on form recall appeared to be similar to viewing with normal captions. The findings also suggest that the presence of typographically enhanced captions reduced the number of viewings needed to make incidental gains in form recall knowledge. In addition, while repeated viewing under all caption conditions led to better knowledge of form under the incidental learning conditions, the effect of repetition was not found under the intentional learning conditions. This aligns well with the supposition that fewer repetitions are needed for intentional learning. Thirdly, neither repetition nor caption condition had an effect on the acquisition of MWE meanings under both learning conditions. Finally, vocabulary knowledge played a significant role in the amount of MWE learning that takes place, especially so when learners were not forewarned of MWE tests. Taken as a whole, the findings of this research project support the use of captions for L2 viewing as a way to foster MWE acquisition, at least at the level of form acquisition. The use of typographically enhanced captions, however, may have adverse effects on content comprehension. As such, the findings of this research project have meaningful implications concerning when typographically enhanced captions and repeated viewing should be used to optimise MWE learning through L2 viewing.</p>
<p>This research project aims to extend the line of inquiry on pedagogical interventions intended to help second language (L2) learners make better progress of their mastery of multiword expressions (MWEs). Existing studies on these interventions revealed a propensity towards exclusivity in terms of input modality, item type and learning condition. Firstly, there are far more MWE studies in the context of unimodal input, e.g., written input. It is only recently that the potential of audio-visual input (i.e., L2 viewing) has been explored for MWE learning. Secondly, previous studies have by and large focused on certain types of MWEs, such as collocations. While there is merit in focusing on a certain type of item, such studies do not represent the materials that L2 learners are often exposed to. Further, authentic videos entail diverse MWE types, providing a stronger reason to include more than one type of target item. Thirdly, many MWE interventions are investigated exclusively under one of the learning conditions, i.e., intentional or incidental learning conditions. Hulstijn’s (2001) criterion is adopted to distinguish these two learning conditions, in that the presence of test announcement characterises the intentional learning condition. Due to this tendency towards a dichotomy of learning conditions, many factors known to facilitate MWE learning have been investigated under one of the learning conditions only. Two such factors are repetition and typographic enhancement. While repetition is well established as beneficial for MWE acquisition, evidence for this is mainly furnished by studies on incidental learning through written input. Therefore, the aim of this research project is to assess how repetition, operationalised as repeated viewing, influences MWE acquisition under both learning conditions. Similarly, although typographic enhancement has been shown to draw learners’ attention and promote MWE uptake, this positive evidence is mostly observed in incidental learning studies. As such, whether typographically-enhanced MWEs are indeed learned better than unenhanced MWEs under intentional learning conditions is still under-researched. Importantly, whether typographic enhancement in captioned viewing leads to superior learning compared to normal captions is unknown. This is one of the aims of the research project, in which different caption conditions are created to explore their effectiveness in facilitating MWE learning. Of further interest is whether MWE learning under different caption conditions would modulate the effect of repetition. This is motivated by the assumption that typographic enhancement might eliminate the need for repetition. To answer the research questions, two studies differentiated by the presence of test announcement were carried out. For both studies, ESL learners watched a video containing target MWEs under one of six conditions, which differed in terms of caption condition (no captions, normal captions or enhanced captions) and the number of viewing times (once or twice). MWE learning was assessed through tests that tap into form and meaning knowledge at the level of recall and recognition. Though not part of the research questions, the effects of caption condition and repetition on content comprehension were also assessed. The findings of both studies revealed trends that are consistent with literature on MWE learning and vocabulary learning in general. Firstly, both types of captions promoted better form recall knowledge compared to uncaptioned viewing. This was found to be true under both incidental and intentional learning conditions. Secondly, typographically enhanced captions led to better form recall compared to normal captions, but only under the intentional learning conditions. Under the incidental learning conditions, the effects of L2 viewing with typograhically enhanced captions on form recall appeared to be similar to viewing with normal captions. The findings also suggest that the presence of typographically enhanced captions reduced the number of viewings needed to make incidental gains in form recall knowledge. In addition, while repeated viewing under all caption conditions led to better knowledge of form under the incidental learning conditions, the effect of repetition was not found under the intentional learning conditions. This aligns well with the supposition that fewer repetitions are needed for intentional learning. Thirdly, neither repetition nor caption condition had an effect on the acquisition of MWE meanings under both learning conditions. Finally, vocabulary knowledge played a significant role in the amount of MWE learning that takes place, especially so when learners were not forewarned of MWE tests. Taken as a whole, the findings of this research project support the use of captions for L2 viewing as a way to foster MWE acquisition, at least at the level of form acquisition. The use of typographically enhanced captions, however, may have adverse effects on content comprehension. As such, the findings of this research project have meaningful implications concerning when typographically enhanced captions and repeated viewing should be used to optimise MWE learning through L2 viewing.</p>
<p>Previous research has shown that incidental exposure to second-language collocations in reading texts can produce gains in declarative collocational knowledge. However, there is little evidence that incidental exposure leads to the acquisition of procedural collocational knowledge. One key study that investigated these two areas was Sonbul and Schmitt (2013). They found that advanced non-native speakers gained substantial declarative knowledge of low-frequency technical collocations after three exposures in two incidental reading conditions in one treatment session; typographic enhancement of the collocations produced more correct answers than no enhancement. However, the researchers found no evidence of procedural collocational knowledge in a primed lexical decision task. Experiment 1 in this thesis was a conceptual replication and extension of Sonbul and Schmitt (2013). In a counter-balanced learning and experimental condition, 62 advanced adult ESL speakers were exposed to nine occurrences of 15 low-frequency technical collocations in 500-word texts in three sessions on two consecutive days. (input flooding). Three incidental learning treatments were implemented: reading-only (typographically unenhanced), bolding-only and bolding-plus-glossing. Collocational knowledge was assessed in two tests of declarative knowledge: a cued-recall (gapfill) test and a form-recognition (multiple-choice) test. Procedural collocational knowledge was operationalised as a priming effect in a primed lexical decision task. The results of the immediate cued-recall and form-recognition post-tests corroborate Sonbul and Schmitt’s findings: multiple encounters with the collocations produced substantial declarative collocational knowledge, and more declarative knowledge was produced through exposure to typographically-enhanced collocations (with and without glosses) than to typographically-unenhanced collocations. Procedural knowledge was found, but, unexpectedly, only in the reading-only treatment. Experiment 2 focused on non-technical lexical (verb + noun) collocations and grammatical (preposition + noun) collocations. Two incidental learning conditions were used: bolding and no-bolding. Seventy-eight intermediate-to-upper-intermediate-level adult native speakers of Chinese were exposed to six occurrences of each of 48 non-technical English collocations as they read twelve 170-word treatment texts on two consecutive days. The immediate post-test session comprised a gapfill (cued-recall) test, for measuring declarative knowledge, and a self-paced reading task, for measuring procedural knowledge. The results show an increase in declarative knowledge in both learning conditions. Bolding produced more declarative knowledge of preposition + noun collocations than no bolding; however, bolding was no more effective than no bolding for verb + noun collocations. In the self-paced reading task, the absence of bolding of verb + noun collocations led to a tendency towards the development of procedural knowledge, but this was not the case for the typographically enhanced verb + noun collocations. For preposition + noun collocations (both unbolded and bolded) no evidence of procedural knowledge was found. The findings of both experiments indicate that input flooding of collocations in incidental learning conditions can produce declarative collocational knowledge, and that typographic enhancement may lead to more declarative knowledge than lack of typographic enhancement. Repeated exposure to typographically-unenhanced collocations in reading contexts may produce procedural knowledge of collocations more quickly than exposure to typographically-enhanced collocations. These findings indicate that declarative and procedural knowledge of MWUs are dissociated in the sense that they follow different developmental paths. In a teaching context, I predict that the knowledge of collocations may be acquired incidentally through the use of texts such as graded readers which contain multiple instances of collocations.</p>
<p>Previous research has shown that incidental exposure to second-language collocations in reading texts can produce gains in declarative collocational knowledge. However, there is little evidence that incidental exposure leads to the acquisition of procedural collocational knowledge. One key study that investigated these two areas was Sonbul and Schmitt (2013). They found that advanced non-native speakers gained substantial declarative knowledge of low-frequency technical collocations after three exposures in two incidental reading conditions in one treatment session; typographic enhancement of the collocations produced more correct answers than no enhancement. However, the researchers found no evidence of procedural collocational knowledge in a primed lexical decision task. Experiment 1 in this thesis was a conceptual replication and extension of Sonbul and Schmitt (2013). In a counter-balanced learning and experimental condition, 62 advanced adult ESL speakers were exposed to nine occurrences of 15 low-frequency technical collocations in 500-word texts in three sessions on two consecutive days. (input flooding). Three incidental learning treatments were implemented: reading-only (typographically unenhanced), bolding-only and bolding-plus-glossing. Collocational knowledge was assessed in two tests of declarative knowledge: a cued-recall (gapfill) test and a form-recognition (multiple-choice) test. Procedural collocational knowledge was operationalised as a priming effect in a primed lexical decision task. The results of the immediate cued-recall and form-recognition post-tests corroborate Sonbul and Schmitt’s findings: multiple encounters with the collocations produced substantial declarative collocational knowledge, and more declarative knowledge was produced through exposure to typographically-enhanced collocations (with and without glosses) than to typographically-unenhanced collocations. Procedural knowledge was found, but, unexpectedly, only in the reading-only treatment. Experiment 2 focused on non-technical lexical (verb + noun) collocations and grammatical (preposition + noun) collocations. Two incidental learning conditions were used: bolding and no-bolding. Seventy-eight intermediate-to-upper-intermediate-level adult native speakers of Chinese were exposed to six occurrences of each of 48 non-technical English collocations as they read twelve 170-word treatment texts on two consecutive days. The immediate post-test session comprised a gapfill (cued-recall) test, for measuring declarative knowledge, and a self-paced reading task, for measuring procedural knowledge. The results show an increase in declarative knowledge in both learning conditions. Bolding produced more declarative knowledge of preposition + noun collocations than no bolding; however, bolding was no more effective than no bolding for verb + noun collocations. In the self-paced reading task, the absence of bolding of verb + noun collocations led to a tendency towards the development of procedural knowledge, but this was not the case for the typographically enhanced verb + noun collocations. For preposition + noun collocations (both unbolded and bolded) no evidence of procedural knowledge was found. The findings of both experiments indicate that input flooding of collocations in incidental learning conditions can produce declarative collocational knowledge, and that typographic enhancement may lead to more declarative knowledge than lack of typographic enhancement. Repeated exposure to typographically-unenhanced collocations in reading contexts may produce procedural knowledge of collocations more quickly than exposure to typographically-enhanced collocations. These findings indicate that declarative and procedural knowledge of MWUs are dissociated in the sense that they follow different developmental paths. In a teaching context, I predict that the knowledge of collocations may be acquired incidentally through the use of texts such as graded readers which contain multiple instances of collocations.</p>
Confronted with dual learning tasks—learning English as a 2nd language and grade-level content, English Language Learners (ELLs) in K-12 are often found struggling to become fluent in English and falling behind in academic studies. It is commonly recognized that academic vocabulary is strongly related to academic achievement. Academic vocabulary is of critical importance in content learning and key to classroom interactions as students are engaged in learning activities using academic language. This article will zero in on the challenges students encounter in learning academic vocabulary. It will start with the importance of teaching ELLs academic vocabulary, followed by a classification of academic vocabulary, and an elaboration of the characteristics of academic language. Teacher candidates will explore why sheltered instruction is indispensable for the learning of vocabulary and how the two main sources of word learning—incidental learning and explicit instruction, facilitates vocabulary development. The focus will be placed on the specific strategies to help students develop a rich academic vocabulary inventory. It is hoped that teacher candidates will walk away with some guiding principles on teaching academic vocabulary and find these principles helpful in their classrooms with ELLs.
AbstractMemories acquired incidentally from exposure to food information in the environment may often become active to later affect food preferences. Because conscious use of these memories is not requested or required, these incidental learning effects constitute a form of indirect memory. In an experiment using a novel food preference paradigm (n = 617), we found that brief incidental exposure to hedonic versus healthy food features indirectly affected food preferences a day later, explaining approximately 10% of the variance in preferences for tasty versus healthy foods. It follows that brief incidental exposure to food information can affect food preferences indirectly for at least a day. When hedonic and health exposure were each compared to a no-exposure baseline, a general effect of hedonic exposure emerged across individuals, whereas health exposure only affected food preferences for high-BMI individuals. This pattern suggests that focusing attention on hedonic food features engages common affective processes across the general population, whereas focusing attention on healthy food features engages eating restraint goals associated with high BMI. Additionally, incidental exposure to food features primarily changed preferences for infrequently consumed foods, having less impact on habitually consumed foods. These findings offer insight into how hedonic information in the obesogenic food environment contributes to unhealthy eating behavior that leads to overweight and obesity. These findings further motivate the development of interventions that counteract the effects of exposure to hedonic food information and that broaden the effects of exposure to healthy food information.
Receptive academic vocabulary knowledge and extramural English involvement – is there a correlation?
Abstract Extramural English (EE) exposure has been shown to correlate with general vocabulary knowledge. It remains uncertain, however, how academic vocabulary knowledge correlates with EE and can be explained by EE factors and demographic factors. Therefore, an academic vocabulary test, a background questionnaire, and a survey on current EE involvement were administered to 817 Swedish upper-secondary students in university-preparatory study programmes. A linear model revealed little explanation from demographic factors (age, gender, number of first languages, length of English instruction, and parental educational level) whereas EE factors (reading, listening & viewing without textual support, viewing with Swedish subtitles) accounted for 26% of the variation. Since extensive EE involvement may support the incidental learning of academic lexis, the paper suggests pre-tertiary instructional principles being guided by extramural as well as intramural incidental learning opportunities.
<p>This thesis looks at whether different kinds of vocabulary learning tasks result in different types of word knowledge. In almost every study that has investigated the effects of tasks on vocabulary learning; the only aspect of word knowledge that was tested was meaning and form. Since researchers agree that knowing a word involves much more than knowing its meaning and form, prior research may have measured partial knowledge of only one of several aspects of knowledge. In order to determine the effects of vocabulary learning tasks, several aspects of knowledge should be tested. The experiments in this thesis investigated how vocabulary learning tasks affect both receptive and productive knowledge of five aspects of word knowledge: orthography, association, syntax, meaning and form, and grammatical functions. In the first of six experiments, the effects of incidental learning from reading and explicit learning from word pairs on word knowledge were compared. The results indicated that gains in knowledge tend to increase as the number of repetitions increases; however, partial gains from an informative context may be reduced or eliminated if followed by a less informative context. The results also showed that learning from word pairs contributed to surprisingly greater gains in all of the aspects. In the second experiment, two tasks (learning from glossed sentences, and learning from word pairs) were compared to determine the effects of context and synonymy on vocabulary knowledge. It was found that the subjects gained greater knowledge of unknown words that had high frequency synonyms than for those with less frequent synonyms. The results also indicated that a single context may have little effect on acquisition. In the third, fourth and fifth experiments, the effects of receptive and productive learning tasks on vocabulary knowledge were examined. The results indicated that productive learning from word pairs may be more effective at developing productive knowledge while receptive learning from word pairs may be more effective at increasing receptive knowledge. The sixth experiment investigated the effects of receptive and productive learning from word pairs on communication. It was found that the receptive task may be superior in improving comprehension, and the productive task may be better suited to facilitating writing. Taken as a whole, this thesis indicates that measuring multiple aspects of vocabulary knowledge both receptively and productively may provide a much more accurate assessment of the relative efficacy of vocabulary learning tasks. Moreover, it suggests that different tasks may have a different effect on vocabulary knowledge.</p>
<p>This thesis looks at whether different kinds of vocabulary learning tasks result in different types of word knowledge. In almost every study that has investigated the effects of tasks on vocabulary learning; the only aspect of word knowledge that was tested was meaning and form. Since researchers agree that knowing a word involves much more than knowing its meaning and form, prior research may have measured partial knowledge of only one of several aspects of knowledge. In order to determine the effects of vocabulary learning tasks, several aspects of knowledge should be tested. The experiments in this thesis investigated how vocabulary learning tasks affect both receptive and productive knowledge of five aspects of word knowledge: orthography, association, syntax, meaning and form, and grammatical functions. In the first of six experiments, the effects of incidental learning from reading and explicit learning from word pairs on word knowledge were compared. The results indicated that gains in knowledge tend to increase as the number of repetitions increases; however, partial gains from an informative context may be reduced or eliminated if followed by a less informative context. The results also showed that learning from word pairs contributed to surprisingly greater gains in all of the aspects. In the second experiment, two tasks (learning from glossed sentences, and learning from word pairs) were compared to determine the effects of context and synonymy on vocabulary knowledge. It was found that the subjects gained greater knowledge of unknown words that had high frequency synonyms than for those with less frequent synonyms. The results also indicated that a single context may have little effect on acquisition. In the third, fourth and fifth experiments, the effects of receptive and productive learning tasks on vocabulary knowledge were examined. The results indicated that productive learning from word pairs may be more effective at developing productive knowledge while receptive learning from word pairs may be more effective at increasing receptive knowledge. The sixth experiment investigated the effects of receptive and productive learning from word pairs on communication. It was found that the receptive task may be superior in improving comprehension, and the productive task may be better suited to facilitating writing. Taken as a whole, this thesis indicates that measuring multiple aspects of vocabulary knowledge both receptively and productively may provide a much more accurate assessment of the relative efficacy of vocabulary learning tasks. Moreover, it suggests that different tasks may have a different effect on vocabulary knowledge.</p>
<p>This study has two goals - (1) to see what criteria are needed to define collocations and (2) to make a list of the high frequency collocations of spoken English that would be useful for guiding teaching, learning and course design. The existing criteria for defining collocations are generally not well defined and have not been applied consistently. Wray and Perkins (2000) identify more than forty terms used for designating multi-word units. To avoid this confusion, three criteria are strictly applied - frequent co-occurrence, grammatical well-formedness and predictability in L1. The ten million word British National Corpus (BNC) spoken corpus is used as the data source, and the 1,000 most frequent spoken word types from that corpus are all investigated as pivot words. It is found that the three criteria can be applied in a systematic way. The most striking finding is that there are a large number of collocations meeting the first two criteria and a large number of these would qualify for inclusion in the most frequent 2,000 words of English, if no distinction was made between single words and collocations. There are nine major findings in this study - 1) there is a very large number of grammatically well-formed high frequency collocations, 2) collocations occur in spoken language much more frequently than they occur in written language, 3) the more frequent the pivot word, the greater the number of collocates, 4) a small number of pivot words account for a very large proportion of the tokens of collocations, 5) adjectives tend to have more collocates than other content words, 6) the shorter the collocation, the greater the frequency, 7) content word plus content word collocations outnumber other patterns of content word collocations, 8) there are more collocates on the left than collocates on the right, but this difference is not striking, 9) a third of the 500 most frequent collocations of English did not have word for word equivalents in Korean (L1). A balanced approach is needed for the teaching and learning of collocations, employing opportunities for both deliberate and incidental learning, and giving appropriate attention in each of the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing.</p>
