Breadth and depth of vocabulary in relation to L1/L2 acquisition and frequency of input

Abstract

Two empirical studies set out to explore the relation between breadth and depth of word knowledge and to link these concepts with language acquisition and frequency of language input. In the first study, the breadth and depth of word knowledge of 50 Dutch monolingual and bilingual kindergartners were investigated using receptive vocabulary, description, and association tasks. The second study examined the relation between the probability of knowing a word and the input frequency of that word in 1,600 Dutch monolingual and bilingual 4- and 7-year-olds. These studies found that there was no conceptual distinction between breadth and depth of vocabulary, and that breadth and depth were affected by the same factors for both monolingual and bilingual speakers. Very high correlations were found between monolingual and bilingual speakers with respect to the probability of knowing a word, which was strongly related to the input frequency in primary education.

The Relationship between Morphological Awareness and Vocabulary Size of EFL Learners

“…Words are the primary carriers of meaning, and it is widely recognized that there is a strong relationship between the individual's vocabulary size and his/her general language proficiency (Vermeer, 2001;Zimmerman, 2005). Methods for learning vocabulary, then, are an important part of language learning.…”

Learning Word Meanings from Teachers’ Repeated Story Read-Aloud in EFL Primary Classrooms

“…Previous studies have also identified other important variables that affect the vocabulary learning outcomes including different instructions of target vocabulary (Maynard et al, 2010), the frequency and saliency of the target words (Ellis, 2002;Vermeer, 2001), the types of contextual clues for lexical inferencing (Ellis, 1994;Nassaji, 2003;Zahar, Cobb, & Spada, 2001), types of read-aloud texts (Bortnem, 2008;Brabham, Boyd, & Edgington, 2000;Elliott & Dupuis, 2002), and teachers' read-aloud styles (Brabham & Lynch-Brown, 2002;Teale & Martinez, 1996). This study is the first attempt to empirically explore and relate two major factors influencing EFL children's word learning from teachers' story read-aloud.…”

The relationship between depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge and Iranian EFL learners’ listening comprehension

“…Language learners, teachers, and researchers agree that vocabulary is an essential element in the process of learning a language (Schmitt, 2008), because words are the primary conveyors of meaning (Vermeer, 2001) and thus carry the main information load in communication. As Wilkins (1972) states, "without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed" (p. 111).…”