The relationship between task-induced involvement load and learning new words from context

Abstract

AbstractThis study investigatedthe relationship between task-inducedinvolvementloadand ESL learners’ inferencing and learning word meanings from context.Thirty-two ESL learners were randomly assigned to one of three groups, witheach group receiving a different version of a text that was assumed to differfrom one another in terms of the degree of involvement load. The learners hadto read each text and infer the meanings of 10 unknown target words. Think-aloud protocols were used to gather information about learners’ use of lexi-cal inferencing strategies. A vocabulary knowledge test was used prior to thestudy to measure learners’ initial knowledge of the target words, and then oneweek after the study to measure the degree of retention of the words correctlyinferred. The results showed a significant relationship between the degree oftask-induced involvement load, learners’ use of lexical inferencing strategies,and subsequent retention of successfully inferred words. 1. Introduction 1 The degree of learner involvement in a task has been suggested as a significantfactor in successful L2 vocabulary learning. Researchers have emphasized thatlearners need to be involved in processing new words both qualitatively andquantitativelyif they want to learn those words successfully (Fraser 1999; Hul-stijn and Laufer 2001; Laufer and Hulstijn 2001; Rott 2005, 2007; Rott andWilliams 2003). Hulstijn and Laufer, for example, pointed out:

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 34 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.