Recently vocabulary studies have mainly focused on two forms of vocabulary acquisition: incidental and intentional vocabulary acquisition. For incidental vocabulary acquisition, Task-induced Involvement Load Hypothesis (TILH) was put forward by Hulstijn and Laufer (2001) to investigate the vocabulary tasks by comparing their levels of involvement…

For elementary learners of Japanese, one of the main difficulties in reading is to distinguish words written in kana. This paper reports on a survey of elementary level learners with two different levels of proficiency to investigate the effectiveness of Japanese graded readers with parts of speech color-coded to distinguish nouns, verbs,…

Student response systems (SRSs) have been applied in a wide array of educational contexts to promote engaging learning. There exists scant empirical evidence about comparing web-based SRS with other modalities of response methods. In the present study, a quasi-experimental research design was undertaken to compare three learning conditions on EFL…

Although English and German are both Germanic languages, due to various historical changes, many of their cognates are no longer easily recognizable. This study examined whether knowledge of language history can be beneficial to learners when learning English-German cognates. Thirty-five English-speaking second language (L2) learners of…

Despite empirical evidence from research showing that the use of text-picture combination is beneficial for second language (L2) learning, little is known about the effectiveness of reading comic books for incidental vocabulary acquisition. This study investigated the effects of engaging with comic books on incidental learning of L2 Italian…

Vocabulary knowledge is very crucial for learners who want to be competent in a language. Vocabulary knowledge means having the knowledge of or command over words of a language and their usages in real-life contexts. Vocabulary knowledge can be gained incidentally and intentionally. The paper compares the effectiveness of the reading-only…

Academic lectures are potential sources of vocabulary learning for second language learners studying at universities where English is the medium of instruction, as well as those in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programs. Topic-related vocabulary is likely to occur frequently in academic texts, and academic speech consists of a reasonable…

One of the more rapidly advancing subfields of second language acquisition research is Digital-game based language learning (DGBLL) and many studies have found that Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) games can have a positive effect on vocabulary acquisition. COTS games are specifically made for entertainment purposes, while serious games, which…

This article examines visiting Chinese undergraduate students' engagement with the linguistic landscape (LL) in the city of Edinburgh as they participated in a University summer school. A pedagogical approach was taken involving capturing LL on display during a 'camera safari'; reflecting on questions through dialogic discussion and in writing and…

The article discusses an experiment that researched the intentional vs incidental ESP vocabulary uptake in two university groups of third year political science students and addresses the implications of using an authentic audiovisual material as an input text for an ESP course. The procedure of intentional vocabulary learning involved…

This article examines the influence of different reading conditions (i.e. reading only and reading with first language marginal glosses), number of word encounters (one, three, and seven) while reading, and combinations of these two variables on new word retention. This study considered a total of six possible combinations. Six groups of Chinese…

This paper examines the development and effectiveness of a strategy that promotes rapid vocabulary retention among university students who are learning English as a second language. This approach to vocabulary acquisition is based on research that shows that activating implicit memory has a stronger effect than simply activating intentional…

One avenue for developing second language (L2) vocabulary knowledge is through Extensive Reading (ER). ER can provide opportunities for incidental learning to occur. Class time is often too restricted for sufficient attention to deliberate learning (Hunt & Beglar, 2005) meaning ER is important for L2 vocabulary development. This article builds…

Use of captioned video in classrooms has gained considerable attention in the second and foreign language learning. However, the effect of application of captioned video embedded with glosses on incidental vocabulary enhancement has not been explored. This study aims to examine the effect of video captions with glosses on EFL students' incidental…

This study investigates the relative effectiveness of different teaching approaches on the learning of formulaic sequences. Three comparisons were made in this study: the effects of explicit teaching of formulaic sequences versus teaching embedded in traditional coursebook instruction, the effects of the degree of salience of the sequences in the…