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Studies in Second Language Acquisition Studies in Second Language Acquisition

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INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY ACQUISITION THROUGH VIEWING L2 TELEVISION AND FACTORS THAT AFFECT LEARNING

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2018

Elke Peters  and
Stuart Webb
Elke Peters*
Affiliation:
KU Leuven
Stuart Webb
Affiliation:
University of Western Ontario
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Elke Peters, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, Faculty of Arts, Department of Linguistics, Research Group Language, Education, and Society. E-mail: Elke.peters@kuleuven.be
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Abstract

Research has begun to demonstrate that L2 words can be learned incidentally through watching audio-visual materials. Although there are a large number of studies that have investigated incidental vocabulary learning through reading a single text, there are no studies that have explored incidental vocabulary learning through viewing a single full-length TV program. The present study fills this gap. Additionally, three word-related variables (frequency of occurrence, cognateness, word relevance) and one learner-related variable (prior vocabulary knowledge) that might contribute to incidental vocabulary learning were examined. Two experiments were conducted with Dutch-speaking EFL learners to measure the effects of viewing TV on form recognition and meaning recall (Experiment 1) and meaning recognition (Experiment 2). The findings showed that viewing TV resulted in incidental vocabulary learning at the level of meaning recall and meaning recognition. The research also revealed that learning was affected by frequency of occurrence, prior vocabulary knowledge, and cognateness.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , September 2018 , pp. 551 - 577
Open Practices
Open materials
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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Footnotes

We would like to thank the editors and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions.

The experiment in this article earned an Open Materials badge for transparent practices. The materials are available at https://www.iris-database.org/iris/app/home/detail?id=york:933919

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