Lexical and semantic training to acquire words in a foreign language: An electrophysiological study

Abstract

An event-related potential (ERP) study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of two learning methods for the acquisition of vocabulary in a foreign language (FL). In the semantic method, FL words were presented with pictures denoting their meaning and the learners practiced with a semantic categorization task (to indicate whether FL words were exemplars of a semantic category). In the lexical method, FL words were paired with their translation in the first language (L1) and the learners practiced with a letter-monitoring task (to indicate whether L1-FL words contained a grapheme). A translation task and a picture-naming task were used to evaluate FL acquisition. ERP modulations associated with semantic processing were more evident and broadly distributed in the semantic versus lexical learning group. The pattern of results suggests that a single session of semantic learning favors the establishment of connections between semantics and the words learned in a new language.

Gestures as Scaffolding to Learn Vocabulary in a Foreign Language

“…For instance, the Spanish word "cordero" meaning "lamb" is associated with the word "cord" (phonetically related keyword). The effectiveness of these learning strategies has been confirmed in the initial states of FL acquisition, attributed to the formation of lexical associations between the learner's L1 and the FL [6,7]. Nevertheless, when proficient bilingual individuals seek to express themselves in an FL, the most optimal processing route is the direct access to FL words from their associated concepts.…”

“…The reliance on cross-linguistic lexical connections (L1-FL) and the retrieval of L1 words becomes superfluous when bilinguals communicate in an FL [8]. In addition, when learning programs based on the reinforcement of semantic connections are compared with lexically based learning procedures at the earliest stages of FL acquisition, advantages are found to be associated with conceptually mediated strategies [1,2,[7][8][9][10][11].…”

“…Specifically, the method of FL words presented alongside images representing their meanings outperforms that of the presentation of FL words with translations in the L1 when behavioral measures are collected in single-word tasks [1][2][3]8,10,21], and tasks with words embedded in the context of sentences [3]. Moreover, electrophysiological measures are also sensitive to the benefit of the picture association method even after a single and brief learning session [7]. Likewise, the act of envisioning the meanings of the new vocabulary to be acquired has a facilitative effect on the learning process [22,23].…”

Dynamic brain responses to Russian word acquisition among Chinese adult learners: An event‐related potential study

“…Therefore, in recent years, a growing number of researchers have used ERP to examine dynamic brain responses to rapid word acquisition (e.g., Bakker et al, 2015 ; Balass et al, 2010 ; Bermúdez‐Margaretto et al, 2018 , 2020 ; Vasilyeva et al, 2019 ). Most previous research on novel word learning has used written word stimuli as learning materials in ERP studies (Bermudez‐Margaretto et al, 2018 ; Borovsky et al, 2010 ; García‐Gámez & Macizo, 2022 ; Mkrtychian et al, 2021 ) and these studies have established several ERP components related to novel word learning. The first one is the frontal‐centrally distributed positive‐going P200, which is relevant to orthographic word‐form processing and involvement of the attention system (Bermúdez‐Margaretto et al, 2020 ; Mkrtychian et al, 2021 ).…”