The Effects of Repetition and L1 Lexicalization on Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition

Abstract

This study of incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading, involving 72 freshmen at two Asian universities, investigated (i) the effect of repeated encounters with target words on the development of seven aspects of word knowledge, and (ii) the effect of L1 lexicalization on the acquisition of meaning—does the absence of an L1 translation equivalent make acquisition of a word’s meaning especially difficult? Seven measures were used, immediately after the treatment and again after a two-week delay. The design was based on that of Webb (2007) but emphasized ecological validity over control, presenting genuine words in meaningful reading passages and thus complementing Webb’s more tightly controlled experiment. Results for repetition largely supported his findings while suggesting that the nature of his study led to an overestimate of learning. Knowledge of orthography, part of speech, and meaning showed different patterns of development with increasing encounters. On the immediate posttest, repetition affected productive knowledge somewhat more than receptive, consistent with Webb’s findings, but this relation reversed on the delayed posttest. For L1 lexicalization, non-lexicalized words caused great difficulty.

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