The effect of out-of-class exposure to English language media on learners’ vocabulary knowledge

By E. Peters. Benjamins Current Topics, 2018

190 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The aim of this study is to investigate (1) how often Flemish English-as-a-foreign language learners are exposed to English language media outside of the classroom, (2) whether current out-of-class exposure to English language media is related to learners’ vocabulary knowledge, and (3) whether length of instruction (three or six years), gender, and out-of-class exposure to English language media affect Flemish learners’ vocabulary. Data were collected with 79 English-as-a-foreign language learners. They were administered a frequency-based vocabulary test and a questionnaire. The findings of this study show that Flemish English-as-a-foreign language learners are frequently exposed to English language media. The results also indicate a positive relationship between learners’ vocabulary knowledge and exposure to non-subtitled TV programs and movies, the Internet, and written print (books, magazines). Finally, both length of instruction and current out-of-class exposure to English language media had an effect on learners’ vocabulary knowledge, but out-of-class exposure had a larger effect than length of instruction.

Subfields: Developmental and Educational Psychology, Language and Linguistics, Literature and Literary Theory

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/031bed6b2acd045a47f2bdb3a88a438b66e18517

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Developmental and Educational Psychology

1. E. Peters
2. N. Schmitt
3. Stuart Webb
4. Eva Puimège
5. C. Muñoz
6. Yanxue Feng
7. G. Pujadas
8. A. Pellicer‐Sánchez

In Language and Linguistics

1. E. Peters
2. N. Schmitt
3. Stuart Webb
4. Yanxue Feng
5. Eva Puimège
6. C. Muñoz
7. G. Pujadas
8. A. Pellicer‐Sánchez

In Literature and Literary Theory

1. E. Peters
2. Stuart Webb
3. N. Schmitt
4. C. Muñoz
5. G. Pujadas
6. Eva Puimège
7. Yanxue Feng
8. Liss Kerstin Sylvén

Citations in the corpus

• Understanding vocabulary acquisition, instruction, and assessment: A research agenda (2019, background): “There is even some evidence that out-of-class exposure has a larger effect than length of instruction (Peters, 2018).”
• Extensive viewing of captioned and subtitled TV series: a study of L2 vocabulary learning by adolescents (2019, background): “Peters (2018) showed that 40% of surveyed students (15- to 16-year-olds) watched OV TV several times a week, compared to the 1% who indicated reading books with the same frequency.”
• LEARNING VOCABULARY THROUGH READING, LISTENING, AND VIEWING (2019, background): “Surveys of EFL learners’ out-of-class exposure to English showed that L2 learners watch L2 television much more than they read books (Lindgren &Muñoz, 2013; Peters, 2018).”
• Learning L2 vocabulary from audiovisual input: an exploratory study into incidental learning of single words and formulaic sequences (2019, background): “Incidental learning from audiovisual input Because learners need to acquire large vocabularies for L2 reading, listening and viewing, it has been argued that L2 vocabulary acquisition should to some extent occur outside the classroom (Peters 2018; Peters et al. 2019).”
• INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY ACQUISITION THROUGH VIEWING L2 TELEVISION AND FACTORS THAT AFFECT LEARNING (2018, methodology): “It should be noted that the participants in this study should have been used to watching TV in English, because research (Peters, 2018) has shown that in addition to subtitled TV programs, approximately 40% of the Flemish EFL university students surveyed also reported watching TV programs and movies”