Despite the current importance given to L2 vocabulary acquisition in the last two decades, considerable deficiencies are found in L2 students' vocabulary size. One of the aspects that may influence vocabulary learning is word frequency. However, scholars warn that frequency may lead to wrong conclusions if the way words are distributed is ignored.…

Word age-of-acquisition (AoA) affects reading. The mapping hypothesis predicts AoA effects when input--output mappings are arbitrary. In Spanish, the orthography-to-phonology mappings required for word naming are consistent; therefore, no AoA effects are expected. Nevertheless, AoA effects have been found, motivating the present investigation of…

Spontaneous interaction of three infants in conversational situations with a familiar adult at home were videotaped until the children were 2 years old, at 2- to 3-week intervals. Imitation was defined as children's utterances which maintained the order of adult utterances, were produced in the same tone, and which repeated at least one of the…