According to the Dual-Coding Theory (Paivio & Desrochers, 1980), words that are associated with rich visual imagery are more easily learned than abstract words due to what is termed the concreteness effect (Altarriba & Bauer, 2004; de Groot, 1992, de Groot et al., 1994; ter Doest & Semin, 2005). The present study examined the effects of attaching visual imagery to abstract words through use of a meaning recall test. Eighty-seven American university students of first-year Spanish participated in the study. Participants were placed in either picture or non-picture groups and were given a treatment of 12 abstract and 12 concrete words. The treatment included three input phases lasting approximately 17 minutes. The posttest and delayed posttest involved a meaning recall test to measure receptive knowledge in which participants were supplied the L2 lexical item and asked to write the L1 translation. The results indicated that participants in the abstract picture group outperformed those in the abstract non-picture group on both posttest and delayed posttest; however, no such effect was found for concrete words. Findings suggest that meaning recall of abstract words can be facilitated by usage of metaphorical, emotive, or symbolic imagery.

The benefits of extensive reading (ER) are well known, yet integrating ER into curricula has been problematic. One factor is the adherence to the principle that students should freely choose what to read, which complicates connecting out-of-class reading with in-class content. Class readers, however, can more easily tie in book content with classroom activities, thereby allowing students to discuss their shared knowledge in a way that might foster motivation for reading and add legitimacy to ER as part of the curriculum. To investigate this further, in the current study, 137 undergraduate Japanese students of English were assigned six class readers and then freely chose six more graded readers. Using a mixed methods approach, student perceptions were collected, coded, and analysed. Contrary to expectations, many learners indicated a preference for class readers for numerous reasons. These findings suggest that class readers should not be discounted in ER programs.

This study examines the lexical representation and recall of abstract words by beginning L2 learners of Spanish in the light of the predictions of the dual coding theory (Paivio 1971; Paivio and Desrochers 1980). Ninety-seven learners (forty-four males and fifty-three females) were randomly placed in the picture or non-picture group and taught twelve concrete and twelve abstract words they did not previously know. Subjects performed a recall task on an immediate and a delayed posttest. The results showed that associating abstract words with pictures had a significant effect on their recall on the immediate posttest, but no such effect was found on the delayed posttest. The results suggest that associating abstract lexical items with pictures has a significant effect on memory representation and recall in the short term. The findings also support the predictions of the dual coding theory and show that a concreteness effect can be created for abstract words by associating them with visual images.

This study examined the impact that metaphorical pictures and semantic transparency had on meaning recall of English idioms for L2 learners. Twenty-seven idioms of differing semantic transparency (low, mid, and high) were selected and two types of pictures were drawn for each idiom. One picture type was a literal only representation while the other was a literal+figurative representation. These idioms and picture conditions (no picture, literal only, and literal+figurative) were counterbalanced and presented to student participants (n=64) via a PowerPoint input treatment. The delayed posttests measured meaning recall of the idioms’ L1 paraphrased meaning. The data showed that in absolute terms, literal-figurative pictures promoted better retention of meaning at all levels of transparency, but this finding was most robust for high-transparency idioms. However, a number of pictures, especially those with metonymical elements, led to overspecification, which has wider implications for pictorial input in general.

Although the benefits of extensive reading are well known, very little research has investigated the validity of assessment tools to measure general comprehension of graded readers. To address this, quizzes were authored for 42 level 2 Penguin graded readers and administered to 166 students over a semester. Item facility for high-scorers and low-scorers was calculated for the 168 question items from the 42 graded readers, and the resulting item discrimination (ID) score was used to categorize and group quiz items with shared structural and content-based features. The results showed that certain question types tend to be more effective for measuring comprehension of graded readers than others.