Incidental vocabulary learning in classroom communication tasks

By J. Newton. 2013

95 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This study investigated the ways in which two groups of four adult learners of English as a second language (ESL) responded to unfamiliar words they encountered in four communication tasks and the effect that different levels of engagement with these words (including negotiation of form and meaning) had on subsequent recall of word meaning. Of the four tasks, two were information gap tasks and two were opinion gap tasks. The results showed a strong task type effect on both the amount and type of negotiation, with more negotiation of the form of words (including spelling and pronunciation) in the information gap tasks and, conversely, more negotiation of meaning in the opinion gap tasks. Through the negotiation process, the learners in the study provided accurate information to each other on word meaning. However, only a small proportion of the total number of unfamiliar words in the tasks were actually negotiated for meaning. The prediction that negotiated words would be more likely to be learnt was confirmed, although the learners also showed improved recall of many words that had not been negotiated. Averaged across learners and tasks, the post-test gains approximated to four instances of word learning per 30 minutes of task work, a gain measured three days after the words were met in the tasks. Seen as a proportion of unfamiliar words in the pre-test these are gains of around one in every three unfamiliar words met in the tasks. The finding that much of the improved recall of word meaning was for words that had not been negotiated indicates that the role of negotiation in learning through communication tasks needs to be viewed from a wider perspective.

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

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/03fb9575bfdcaf1f87afe9e68e3c852abf31b2b2

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. Masatoshi Sato
2. A. Chang
3. Stuart Webb
4. S. Loewen
5. E. Peters
6. N. Schmitt
7. A. Pellicer‐Sánchez
8. R. Lyster

In Language and Linguistics

1. Masatoshi Sato
2. A. Chang
3. Stuart Webb
4. S. Loewen
5. R. Lyster
6. N. Schmitt
7. Hossein Nassaji
8. E. Peters

In Literature and Literary Theory

1. Masatoshi Sato
2. S. Loewen
3. A. Chang
4. Stuart Webb
5. Hossein Nassaji
6. R. Lyster
7. R. Ellis
8. Kazuya Saito

Citations in the corpus

• Interaction and instructed second language acquisition (2018, background): “For example, Newton (2013) argues that ‘communication tasks [are] a potentially valuable source of opportunities for incidental vocabulary learning’ (p. 165) because learners are likely to encounter unfamiliar words.”
• Second language vocabulary learning through extensive reading with audio support: How do frequency and distribution of occurrence affect learning? (2015, background): “Research has indicated that using words in speech or writing can have a positive effect on vocabulary learning gains (Joe, 1998; Newton, 2013).”