The Influence of Emotional and Foreign Language Context in Content Learning

Frances, Candice; Bruin, Angela de; Duñabeitia, Jon Andoni

doi:10.1017/s027226311900072x

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…This support comes from the influence of valence and arousal demonstrated in the mixed-effects modeling analyses and qualitative findings regarding reading topics and target vocabulary items. In response to the first research question, the results of the vocabulary tests across the three emotion-laden reading contexts in the current study generally support the findings that both emotional valence (Frances et al, 2020b; Kensinger, 2009; Mizrak & Öztekin, 2016) and emotional arousal (Frances et al, 2020a; Kensinger, 2009) influence learning and retention outcomes. Specifically, a mixed-effects analysis did return significant results, predicting the neutral and negative readings as the best contexts for vocabulary learning for both FLLs and HLLs.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Given the present findings that the topics perceived as qualitatively negative, at least in part, predict better vocabulary learning outcomes, it is important to note that the literature on positive psychology and positive emotion within SLA (e.g., Frances et al, 2020aFrances et al, , 2020bFredrickson, 2003;Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005;MacIntyre & Gregersen, 2012b;MacIntyre et al, 2016) emphasizes the advantages of positive emotions and contexts over negative emotions for language achievement. However, studies also exist within psychology noting in some cases the detriment of negative emotional content on memory (e.g., Bisby et al, 2018) and in others the benefits of negative stimuli on recall (Hinojosa et al, 2020;Mizrek and Öztekin, 2016).…”

Section: The Association Between Emotion-laden Texts and Vocabulary Learningmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…Although laboratory-based, the present study has important implications not only for heritage language education but also for second language education, in general, with learners of diverse backgrounds. Most importantly, educators might consider that even seemingly neutral topics in the language classroom may elicit emotional responses from learners and affect vocabulary learning objectives (Frances et al, 2020b). Specifically, content that is likely to elicit personal and vivid memories for learners may better support vocabulary learning.…”

Section: Pedagogical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Emotion-Laden Texts and Words

Driver

2021

Stud Second Lang Acquis

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This study takes a mixed-methods approach to explore the influence of emotion-laden (positive vs. negative vs. neutral) texts and words on vocabulary learning for Spanish heritage and foreign language learners. Participants (N = 121) were tasked with learning emotion-laden pseudowords embedded in three emotion-laden texts centered around themes of bilingualism, immigration, and identity. Form recognition, translation, and multiple-choice tests were designed to measure vocabulary recall and retention. Results from a mixed-effects modeling analysis showed that the neutral and negative emotion-laden texts predicted better vocabulary learning outcomes than the positive text for both HLLs and FLLs and that neutral words were learned best by all learners. Qualitative findings from open-ended questionnaires suggest emotional arousal as another influential affective factor in vocabulary learning for learners of diverse sociolinguistic backgrounds. Directions for future emotions research in SLA and pedagogical implications of socially relevant, emotion-laden material for vocabulary learning are discussed.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: The Association Between Emotion-laden Texts and Vocabulary Learningmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Pedagogical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Emotion-Laden Texts and Words

Driver

2021

Stud Second Lang Acquis

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“…Although against our initial hypothesis, this suggests that access to contextual information is enough to maintain the positive influence of diversity on word learning, despite the obvious difficulty of processing information in a non-native language. A prior study from the same authors found similar results with emotionality, where the effects of this variable were independent of language 49 . This supports the idea that the strategies for improving learning in the native language can apply to the foreign language, suggesting also that learning new vocabulary in one's native and foreign languages engage similar mechanisms.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

The effects of contextual diversity on incidental vocabulary learning in the native and a foreign language

Frances

Martin

Duñabeitia

2020

Sci Rep

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Vocabulary learning occurs throughout the lifespan, often implicitly. For foreign language learners, this is particularly challenging as they must acquire a large number of new words with little exposure. In the present study, we explore the effects of contextual diversity-namely, the number of texts a word appears in-on native and foreign language word learning. Participants read several texts that had novel pseudowords replacing high-frequency words. The total number of encounters with the novel words was held constant, but they appeared in 1, 2, 4, or 8 texts. In addition, some participants read the texts in Spanish (their native language) and others in English (their foreign language). We found that increasing contextual diversity improved recall and recognition of the word, as well as the ability to match the word with its meaning while keeping comprehension unimpaired. Using a foreign language only affected performance in the matching task, where participants had to quickly identify the meaning of the word. Results are discussed in the greater context of the word learning and foreign language literature as well as their importance as a teaching tool. Vocabulary learning is an essential aspect of language that continues throughout the lifespan. To a large extent, the vocabulary we incorporate comes from incidental learning during reading 1,2 rather than explicit effort. This becomes particularly relevant when learning a new language, where a large amount of vocabulary must be acquired very quickly and partially without supervision. Following this reasoning, several studies have shown that it is possible to learn vocabulary implicitly through reading in our foreign language 3-7. In addition, we know that people incorporate new lexical forms with as little as one exposure in their native language and as little as two exposures in their foreign language 4 , but that learning improves with exposure to multiple instances of the word 8. Implicit word learning in context differs somewhat between one's native and foreign languages. In particular, reading times for new words in our native language decrease significantly after the first exposure-suggesting some level of incorporation of the lexical item-whereas for the foreign language this happens only after two to four exposures 4. This might relate to the fact that it is more difficult to extract the meaning of words from context in a foreign language. This is in part because these skills seem to be affected by knowledge of the language and experience in that particular task 9,10. Although the number of times people encounter a word affects how well they learn and remember it 5,8 , there is not much literature on how spreading these encounters across passages affects learning. One of the ways in which this spread is quantified is through contextual diversity-namely, the number of texts in which a word appears in a database 11,12. This variable can be used to describe the influence of context beyond the mere number of occurrences or the frequency with which we encou...

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“…Frances et al [30] took a similar approach to the one in the present study, where participants learn new information-in their case new content, instead of new vocabulary-that was embedded in a positive or a neutral semantic context. This contrasts with prior studies that focused either on memory for known words or on the acquisition of new lexical items for known concepts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of language and emotionality of stimuli on vocabulary learning

2020

Self Cite

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Learning new content and vocabulary in a foreign language can be particularly difficult. Yet, there are educational programs that require people to study in a language they are not native speakers of. For this reason, it is important to understand how these learning processes work and possibly differ from native language learning, as well as to develop strategies to ease this process. The current study takes advantage of emotionality-operationally defined as positive valence and high arousal-to improve memory. In two experiments, the present paper addresses whether participants have more difficulty learning the names of objects they have never seen before in their foreign language and whether embedding them in a positive semantic context can help make learning easier. With this in mind, we had participants (with a minimum of a B2 level of English) in two experiments (43 participants in Experiment 1 and 54 in Experiment 2) read descriptions of made-up objects-either positive or neutral and either in their native or a foreign language. The effects of language varied with the difficulty of the task and measure used. In both cases, learning the words in a positive context improved learning. Importantly, the effect of emotionality was not modulated by language, suggesting that the effects of emotionality are independent of language and could potentially be a useful tool for improving foreign language vocabulary learning.

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The Influence of Emotional and Foreign Language Context in Content Learning

Cited by 9 publications

References 51 publications

Emotion-Laden Texts and Words

Emotion-Laden Texts and Words

The effects of contextual diversity on incidental vocabulary learning in the native and a foreign language

The effects of language and emotionality of stimuli on vocabulary learning

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