Evaluating the Vocabulary Coping Strategies of L2 Readers: An Eye Tracking Study

Abstract

Research suggests that second language (L2) readers often lack strategic competence in dealing with unknown lexica. This mixed methods study of Japanese readers of English used eye tracking and other methods to empirically examine the use and efficacy of vocabulary coping strategies, including dictionary use, inferring meaning from context, and ignoring unknown words. The 16 novel words (pseudowords) in the text were linked to an online dictionary. In order to examine the effect of relevance and context cues on vocabulary coping strategies, half of the pseudowords were in sections relevant to the assigned research task and half were presented with clear context cues. The results reveal that participants relied on dictionary use even when the word was irrelevant and the meaning could be easily inferred. The data suggest that many participants considered relevance but not the presence of context cues when determining whether to look up a word. Eye tracking confirmed that participants tended to access dictionary links even before context cues were read. Overall, accessing numerous dictionary definitions nonselectively and viewing definitions for a short time were detrimental to task performance. One could argue that L2 readers should consider the context and relevance of words before dictionary use. However, further research on vocabulary coping strategies is needed involving different texts, tasks, and dictionary types.

Evaluation of search engine results pages in various languages and contents: the changes in strategies and criteria

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The Influence of Vocabulary Instructions to the Development of grade 9 ESL Learners' English Vocabulary Acquisition: A Phenomenological Study

“…Teachers' abilities to explain explicitly the reasoning and mental processes involved in successful reading comprehension are emphasized in the direct explanation approach, while these same abilities are emphasized in the transactional strategy instruction, with an additional emphasis on teachers' abilities to facilitate student discussions in which students collaborate to form joint interpretations of text in order to acquire a deeper understanding of comprehension. To get to the 95% comprehension criterion, Prichard (2008) discovered that students often rely on a selective dictionary, but also employ other methods. He went on to say that consulting a dictionary wasn't the only way to learn a passage's vocabulary, and that context clues or skipping…”

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