Incidental vocabulary acquisition: The effects of task type, word occurrence and their combination

Batia Laufer ^[1] ; Bella Rozovski-Roitblat ^[1]
1. [1] University of Haifa
  
  University of Haifa
  
  Israel
Localización: Language teaching research, ISSN 1362-1688, Vol. 15, Nº. 4, 2011, págs. 391-411
Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
- español
  vocabulary acquisition, foreign language, instructed learning, task type, number of word occurrences, task and word encounters, incidental vocabulary, long-term retention
- English
  We investigated how long-term retention of new words was affected by task type, number of word occurrences in the teaching materials and the combination of the two factors. The tasks were: reading a text with occasional Focus on Form when learners used dictionaries (T+F), or reading a text with Focus on Forms, i.e. word focused exercises (T+Fs). The words occurred 2—3, 4—5, and 6—7 times. Consequently, there were six conditions that reflected the 2 × 3 ‘task × occurrence’ combinations. Learners were exposed to 60 target words, 10 words in each condition during a 13-week course of study, and were subsequently tested on them by two unannounced tests: passive recall and passive recognition. An increase in word occurrence was found to have an effect on retention in T+Fs only. Starting with 4 occurrences, T+Fs fared better than T+F. Task type effect was superior to the effect of word occurrence in recall only (2 word exercises fared better than 6—7 occurrences in text). The value of word-focused practice was also confirmed by learners’ responses to an introspective questionnaire.