More Than Frequency? Exploring Predictors of Word Difficulty for Second Language Learners

Hashimoto, Brett; Egbert, Jesse

doi:10.1111/lang.12353

Cited by 66 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 65 publications

(98 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Indeed, the correlation between word knowledge in Hashimoto and Egbert (2019) and the L2 ranks from the present study is .68 (i.e., 46% shared variance), even though we use only one predictor. 12 Interestingly, the correlation between word knowledge in Hashimoto and…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…If perceived interest/usefulness contributes to word knowledge (Keuleers, 2018), we can expect that our measure of word learning rank predicts extra variance in the data of Hashimoto and Egbert (2019), other than the word-form related variables the authors used.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Researchers have tried to improve the predictability of word knowledge by including more word-related variables than word frequency alone, such as word length, orthographic similarity to other words, concreteness, semantic richness, valence, and so on. A good example isHashimoto and Egbert (2019), who presented a list of 500 English words to 403 nonnative adult English language learners with many different L1 backgrounds. The vocabulary test consisted of yes/no decision like in the present article.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Which words do English non-native speakers know? New supernational levels based on yes/no decision

Brysbaert

Keuleers

Mandera

2020

Second Language Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

To have more information about the English words known by second language (L2) speakers, we ran a large-scale crowdsourcing vocabulary test, which yielded 17 million useful responses. It provided us with a list of 445 words known to nearly all participants. The list was compared to various existing lists of words advised to include in the first stages of English L2 teaching. The data also provided us with a ranking of 61,000 words in terms of degree and speed of word recognition in English L2 speakers, which correlated r = .85 with a similar ranking based on native English speakers. The L2 speakers in our study were relatively better at academic words (which are often cognates in their mother tongue) and words related to experiences English L2 students are likely to have. They were worse at words related to childhood and family life. Finally, a new list of 20 levels of 1,000 word families is presented, which will be of use to English L2 teachers, as the levels represent the order in which English vocabulary seems to be acquired by L2 learners across the world.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Which words do English non-native speakers know? New supernational levels based on yes/no decision

Brysbaert

Keuleers

Mandera

2020

Second Language Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Tummers et al., ). The observations for both noun frequency variables highlight the complexity of operationalizing the concept of frequency (e.g., Hashimoto & Egbert, ). Indeed, in the future, it may be worth considering other ways of measuring noun frequency.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Using Variationism and Learner Corpus Research to Investigate Grammatical Gender Marking in Additional Language Spanish

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The current study responds to the call for increased dialogue among different areas of additional language research. Specifically, we bring together learner corpus research and variationist approaches to second language acquisition to advance learner corpus research in two ways: (a) by modeling interlanguage development and variability and (b) by conducting an analysis that moves away from descriptive error analysis. To accomplish this goal, we analyzed grammatical gender marking in additional language Spanish. The data come from LANGSNAP, a longitudinal learner corpus. Through the use of a generalized linear mixed‐effects model (a multivariate, quantitative analysis), we revealed new information about the development and variable use of gender marking in additional language Spanish. Through our analyses, we hope to contribute to greater interactions among researchers working in different strands of additional language research.

show abstract

“…Despite its importance, word frequency is not the only variable driving foreign language learning (Ellis, ; Hashimoto & Egbert, ). Another variable affecting the acquisition process is salience (Crossley, Kyle, & Salsbury, ; Ellis, ), whereby salient items tend to be more easily noticed (Crossley et al., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learners’ English Vocabulary Knowledge Prior to Formal Instruction: The Role of Learner‐Related and Word‐Related Variables

Puimège

Peters

2019

Language Learning

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study focused on the mechanisms underlying incidental second language (L2) vocabulary acquisition prior to formal instruction. We designed a cross‐sectional study to examine which learner‐related and word‐related variables affect young learners’ vocabulary knowledge at the level of meaning recognition and meaning recall. We collected data from 616 Flemish children between 10 and 12 years old by using a questionnaire about learners’ extramural English, an English vocabulary test, and a Dutch vocabulary test. The findings revealed that participating learners frequently engaged in activities involving English before receiving formal instruction and that their amount of extramural English increased with age. The results also showed the rate of vocabulary growth from exposure to extramural English for three contiguous age groups. Further, both word‐related and learner‐related variables predicted vocabulary knowledge. Cognateness was the most powerful predictor, followed by frequency and concreteness. We also found a positive relationship between extramural English and vocabulary knowledge. Open Practices This article has been awarded an Open Materials badge. All materials are publicly accessible via the IRIS Repository at https://www.iris-database.org. Learn more about the Open Practices badges from the Center for Open Science: https://osf.io/tvyxz/wiki.

show abstract

More Than Frequency? Exploring Predictors of Word Difficulty for Second Language Learners

Cited by 66 publications

References 65 publications

Which words do English non-native speakers know? New supernational levels based on yes/no decision

Which words do English non-native speakers know? New supernational levels based on yes/no decision

Using Variationism and Learner Corpus Research to Investigate Grammatical Gender Marking in Additional Language Spanish

Learners’ English Vocabulary Knowledge Prior to Formal Instruction: The Role of Learner‐Related and Word‐Related Variables

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About