Acquiring Foreign Language Vocabulary Through Meaningful Linguistic Context: Where is the Limit to Vocabulary Learning?

Abstract

The present studies examined the effects of varying degrees of unfamiliar vocabulary within written discourse on individuals' abilities to use linguistic context for the purposes of translation and comprehension (i.e., lexical inferencing). Prose varied in the number of foreign words introduced into each sentence (e.g., 0 through 7 content words per sentence). Furthermore, Krashen's Input Hypothesis and the Evaluation component of the Involvement Load Hypothesis were tested to determine the degree at which non-comprehensible input hinders the ability of a learner to successfully use linguistic context for translation and comprehension. Results indicated that, as the number of foreign words per sentence, i.e., non-comprehensible input, increased the ability to successfully translate foreign words and create situational models for comprehension begins to decrease especially beyond five unfamiliar words per sentence. This result suggests that there is an optimal level of effectiveness in the use of a linguistic context strategy for learning foreign language vocabulary, but also that there is a limit to the strategy's effectiveness. Implications and applications to the field of foreign language learning are discussed.

EFL vocabulary acquisition through meaningful linguistic contexts. An investigation into the role of mental lexicon

“…This result is consistent with prior research (Krashen, 1989;Krashen & Terrell, 1983;Omaggio, 1986;Shrum & Glisan, 2005). The network of factors includes contextualisation of target vocabulary through the presentation of this vocabulary in meaningful contexts, the use of authentic materials, and the use of students' corrective feedback (Bilke, 2005;de la Garza & Harris, 2017;Fomeche, 2014;Kleinman, 2017;Köylü, 2016;Tang, 2017).…”

“…Language learners should be subjected to a reasonable amount of vocabulary that they can master based on their current level of proficiency (the i+1 hypothesis); however, if this amount is too much beyond the learners' levels (i+2), or too little behind their current level (i+0), they are more likely to get demotivated to learn the target vocabulary. Adequate comprehensible input should be made available through providing authentic language material in communicative situations that provide sufficient linguistic, situational or cultural context for vocabulary to be learnable This utilisation of context does not mean that successful acquisition of vocabulary or identification of the mental lexicon will occur solely with contextual prompts (Bikle, 2005;de la Garza & Harris, 2017;Fomeche, 2014). Numerous factors, such as linguistic knowledge or morphological signals can also contribute to how effective a learning strategy is for the students (Bengeleil, 2001;Kleinman, 2017;Köylü, 2016;Nassaji, 2004;Tang, 2017).…”

“…Context information should also facilitate language comprehension orally or aurally , as critical information is provided by discourse. Contextualisation of vocabulary presentation should allow the reader to create meaning based on what learners have in their mental lexicons, i.e., schemata about the target language vocabulary, and the contextual information available for the reader/listener during language processing (Bilke, 2005;de la Garza & Harris, 2017;Tang, 2017). For comprehension to take place successfully, it is necessary for a reader or listener to develop their contextual understanding of new vocabulary in order to understand the basic notions/concepts conveyed by the new words, not just understand individual units (e.g.…”

English for Academic Purposes Related to Dentistry: Analyzing the Reading Comprehension Process

“…Whatever the approach to written texts one may prefer (which may be a combination of both), Küçükoğlu (2013) mentions that students understand written texts better when they are taught how to predict, visualize, make connections, infer, question, and summarize. Lexical inferencing, related to ways of deriving meaning and learning words in context, is also considered a crucial skill for learners to understand the meaning of a text and develop language (de la Garza & Harris, 2017).…”

Learning Maximum Absolute Meaning Through Reasoning About Speaker Intentions

“…We consider this to be a reasonable assumption for adult (L2) learners with pragmatic competence and ample experiences of word use. In fact, an increasing number of L2 wordlearning studies have demonstrated learners' active inferencing about word meaning through linguistic and extra-linguistic context (e.g., de la Garza & Harris, 2017;Nagy, Anderson, & Herman, 1987;Nagy, Herman, & Anderson, 1985;Nassaji, 2006). Previous work has so far focused mainly on acquisition of nouns and other nominals (cf.…”