Contrasting Similar Words Facilitates Second Language Vocabulary Learning in Children by Sharpening Lexical Representations

Abstract

This study considers one of the cognitive mechanisms underlying the development of second language (L2) vocabulary in children: The differentiation and sharpening of lexical representations. We propose that sharpening is triggered by an implicit comparison of similar representations, a process we call contrasting. We investigate whether integrating contrasting in a learning method in which children contrast orthographically and semantically similar L2 words facilitates learning of those words by sharpening their new lexical representations. In our study, 48 Dutch-speaking children learned unfamiliar orthographically and semantically similar English words in a multiple-choice learning task. One half of the group learned the similar words by contrasting them, while the other half did not contrast them. Their word knowledge was measured immediately after learning as well as 1 week later. Contrasting was found to facilitate learning by leading to more precise lexical representations. However, only highly skilled readers benefitted from contrasting. Our findings offer novel insights into the development of L2 lexical representations from fuzzy to more precise, and have potential implications for education.

Fuzzy Lexical Representations in Adult Second Language Speakers

“…Unlike the fuzziness in LRs resulting from particular resistant phonological difficulties, diffused spoken form fuzziness is reduced with more input. A similar pattern of lexical acquisition starting with low-resolution lexical representations that are improved during differentiation and sharpening was reported for L2 children ( Baxter et al, 2021a , b ). Meaning encoding in L2 is also characterized by L2-specific features.…”

Helping busy Suzy fight fuzzy in foreign language learning

“…Specifically, in adults, we found that contrasting orthographically similar L2 words led to more specific orthographic representations on the dimension of linguistic domains (Baxter et al, under review). In children, we additionally found that contrasting semantically similar words led to more precise form-meaning mappings (Baxter et al, 2021b). Consequently, we propose that contrasting contributes to triggering the specification process, presumably by engaging specific mechanisms of attention.…”

Refining key concepts of the Ontogenesis Model of the L2 lexical representation

“…For this particular purpose, it is less essential to present considerations of how different aspects of the OM can be computationally implemented; it is more important to synthesise current knowledge for further research that specifies which tasks and teaching methods contribute to the development of which components of lexical representations or to the reduction of fuzziness and moving towards the optimum in each specific dimension or domain. Baxter, Droop, van den Hurk, Bekkering, Dijkstra and Leoné (2021b) demonstrated such an approach that can induce more research-informed and effective language instruction and thus L2 learning.…”