Semantic and Structural Elaboration in L2 Lexical Acquisition

Abstract

This study examined the effects of semantic and structural elaboration on second language (L2) lexical acquisition. English-speaking low-intermediate L2 Spanish learners attempted to learn 24 new Spanish words in three conditions: (a) make pleasantness ratings about each word referent based on previous experiences (+semantic); (b) count letters in each word (+structural); and (c) "do your best" only (no elaboration). Dependent variables were free recall of the target words in Spanish, free recall of the target words in English, and cued recall (generate Spanish words when presented with pictures). Results indicated higher Spanish free recall for +structural than for +seman-tic; higher English free recall for +semantic than for +structural; higher overall recall for no elaboration than for +semantic and +structural; and higher cued recall for control than for +semantic and +structural. The results provide evidence that increased semantic processing can inhibit one's ability to encode the formal properties of new words.Semantic elaboration refers to increased evaluation of an item with regard to its meaning. Structural elaboration refers to increased evaluation of an item with regard to its (phonemic,

A study of the effects of teacher-performed gestures as a means of semantic elaboration on L2 word learning and retention

“…They just needed to activate them, a task for which gestures following words played a facilitative role. A later version of TAP model recognizes a distinction between known words (here Persian) and new words (here English) when considering the role of a variable on memory for words (Barcroft, 2002).…”

“…Coomber, Ramstad, & Sheets, 1986;Barcroft, 2002). The reason might be the way researchers attempted to operationalize semantic elaboration (Barcroft, 2002).…”

“…Coomber, Ramstad, & Sheets, 1986;Barcroft, 2002). The reason might be the way researchers attempted to operationalize semantic elaboration (Barcroft, 2002). In the literature, researchers have utilized various techniques to make participants perform semantic elaboration including definition and example matching (Coomber et al, 1986), making a sentence using the target word (Barcroft, 2000), giving a rating to the target word on a scale of pleasantness (Barcroft, 2002), answering a question about the word (Barcroft, 2003), and using varied visual representation of referents for target vocabulary (Sommers & Barcroft, 2013).…”

Metalinguistic awareness in L2 vocabulary acquisition: which factors influence learners’ motivations of form-meaning connections?

“…Once the word has been noticed, however, the chances of it being committed to memory are enhanced if the learner actively elaborates upon -or put differently, cognitively engages with -this word (e.g. Barcroft, 2002Barcroft, , 2003Hulstijn, 2001). The more the learner engages with this word, the stronger its memory trace will be in the learner's mind (Laufer & Hulstijn, 2001;Schmitt, 2008).…”

“…Since learners' processing capacities tend to be too limited to focus on both the meaning and the form of new vocabulary during online processing, they are more likely to pay attention to meaning when encountering a new word (VanPatten, 1990). In addition, word form is limited in terms of the opportunities it gives learners to engage with it (Barcroft, 2002;Deconinck et al, 2014Deconinck et al, , 2017. It is then the teacher's task to explicitly draw the learners' attention to the form of the new L2 vocabulary (Boers & Lindstromberg, 2008b: LauferDvorkin, 2006, for instance by pointing out how a certain word or multiword unit is motivated.…”