Vocabulary acquisition is a central component of second language learning. While there have been advancements in our understanding of the factors contributing to vocabulary acquisition in L2 students, it is still unclear how language aptitude is associated with the effects of task involvement load in this process. This study investigates the…

The present study compared individual and collaborative vocabulary learning through two types of reading-based pedagogical tasks in an online elementary Arabic classroom. Fifty-two beginner learners of Arabic completed a pretest, a story-based task (either multiple-choice or gap-fill) with embedded novel vocabulary, and two posttests over a 2-week…

This study investigates how academic disciplines impact second language (L2) lexical competencies. Prior L2 research has often overlooked the broader effects of disciplinary backgrounds on lexical development. To address this gap, this study utilized lexical decision, memory, and semantic fluency tasks to examine lexicon recognition, memory, and…

This study investigates the effects of four online vocabulary tasks on second language (L2) vocabulary acquisition among learners of different proficiency levels. While tasks are widely used to support L2 vocabulary learning, the efficacy of a task depends on the interplay between task and learner factors. Thus, choosing an appropriate task…

The current study examined the effect of speaker variability on children's cross-situational word learning (XSWL). The study also examined the role of bilingual experience and sustained attention. Forty English monolingual children and 40 Spanish-English bilingual children ages 4-7 completed a XSWL task in a Single Speaker Condition and a Multiple…

When a toddler knows a word, what does she actually know? Many categories have multiple relevant properties; for example, shape "and" color are relevant to membership in the category "banana." How do toddlers prioritize these properties when recognizing familiar words, and are there systematic differences among children? In…

Using a Chinese Word Associates Test (WAT-C), this study examined the vocabulary depth of second language learners of Chinese and its contribution to the learners' reading comprehension. Results showed no significant effects of word frequency, word class (i.e., adjectives vs. verbs), and type of association relationships (i.e., paradigmatic vs.…

Researchers in the field of second language acquisition continue to establish links between cognition and emotion (Dewaele, 2013; MacIntyre, 2002; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1989, 1991b, 1994; Segalowitz & Trofimovich, 2011). The purpose of the present study is to investigate to what extent physiological and self-report measures predict…

Contrast information could be useful for verb learning, but few studies have examined children's ability to use this type of information. Contrast may be useful when children are told explicitly that different verbs apply, or when they hear two different verbs in a single context. Three studies examine children's attention to different types of…

Our aim was to investigate whether developing language system, as measured by a priming task for spoken words, is organized by semantic categories. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during a priming task for spoken words in 18- and 24-month-old monolingual French learning children. Spoken word pairs were either semantically related…

In this study, we examined the nature of infants' representations of newly encountered word forms. Using a word-object association task, we taught 14-month-olds novel three-syllable words differing in segments and stress patterns. At test, we manipulated the stress pattern of the word or the position of the stressed syllable in the word. Our…

This study examines whether the production of words with two phonological variants involves single or multiple lexical phonological representations. Three production experiments investigated the roles of the relative frequencies of the two pronunciation variants of French words with schwa: the schwa variant and the reduced variant. In two naming…

The key question of how the brain codes the meaning of words and pictures is the focus of vigorous debate. Is there a "semantic hub" in the temporal poles where these different inputs converge to form amodal conceptual representations? Alternatively, are there distinct neural circuits that underpin our comprehension of pictures and words?…

This article reports on the results of a study which investigated advanced Cantonese English as a Second Language (ESL) learners' use of a monolingual dictionary for determining the meanings of familiar English words used in less familiar contexts. Thirty-two university English majors in Hong Kong participated in a dictionary consultation task,…

This study examines the nature of the involvement load (Laufer & Hulstijn, 2001) in second language (L2) lexical input processing through reading by considering the effects of the reader-based factors of L2 reading proficiency and background knowledge. The lexical input processing aspects investigated were lexical inferencing (search), attentional…