Can Retrieval Opportunities Increase Vocabulary Learning During Reading?
Joe Barcroft (PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign) is Professor of Spanish and Second Language Acquisition at Washington University in St. Louis.
Abstract
Because reading for meaning only can lead to low rates of second language (L2) vocabulary learning and because previous research has demonstrated the benefits of word retrieval opportunities for intentional L2 vocabulary learning (Barcroft, 2007; McNamara & Healy, 1995a, Experiment 2; Royer, 1973), the present study assessed the effect of providing learners with opportunities to retrieve novel words as they read a passage. Seventy‐four Spanish‐speaking intermediate learners of L2 English read an English text for meaning. Each of five target words (e.g., smidgen) appeared three times in the text. Control participants (n = 37) always viewed the Spanish translations of the target words. Participants in the experimental condition (n = 37) viewed the Spanish translation for each target word only the first time the word appeared and then attempted to retrieve and produce (write) the word on their own for the final two appearances. Both first language (L1)‐to‐L2 and L2‐to‐L1 posttests were administered. Results indicated a highly significant (51%) increase in vocabulary learning for the experimental group over the control group. These findings suggest that both partial and complete target word retrieval can strengthen developing lexical representations and that word retrieval may be utilized to increase vocabulary learning during reading regardless of the L2 in question.
Number of times cited: 7
- Gesa S. E. den Broek, Atsuko Takashima, Eliane Segers and Ludo Verhoeven, Contextual Richness and Word Learning: Context Enhances Comprehension but Retrieval Enhances Retention, Language Learning, 68, 2, (546-585), (2018).
- Claudia H. Sánchez Gutiérrez and Maria C. Sampedro Mella, Profundidad del procesamiento y reciclaje en los manuales de ELE de niveles iniciales: el caso de los adverbios de lugar, Journal of Spanish Language Teaching, 4, 1, (49), (2017).
- Tayebeh Danesh and Mohammad Taghi Farvardin, A Comparative Study of the Effects of Different Glossing Conditions on EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Recall, SAGE Open, 6, 3, (215824401666954), (2016).
- Fatma ÿnveren Gürocak, Learning Vocabulary through Text Messages: Help or Distraction?, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 232, (623), (2016).
- Joe Barcroft, El método IBI en la enseñanza del léxico: teoría, investigación y nuevas perspectivas, Journal of Spanish Language Teaching, 2, 2, (112), (2015).
- Kubra Saygili, Effects of Retrieval Vocabulary Instruction on Academic Reading Comprehension, Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 10.32601/ejal.461011, 3, 2, (253-270), (2017).
