Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T11:36:58.423Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Incidental acquisition of new words during reading in L2: Inference of meaning and its integration in the L2 mental lexicon*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2014

DENISA BORDAG ,
AMIT KIRSCHENBAUM ,
ERWIN TSCHIRNER  and
ANDREAS OPITZ
DENISA BORDAG*
Affiliation:
University of Leipzig
AMIT KIRSCHENBAUM
Affiliation:
University of Leipzig
ERWIN TSCHIRNER
Affiliation:
University of Leipzig
ANDREAS OPITZ
Affiliation:
University of Leipzig
*
Address for correspondence: Denisa Bordag, Herder-Institut, University of Leipzig, Beethovenstr. 15, 04107 Leipzig, Germanydenisav@uni-leipzig.de
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A novel combination of several experimental and non-experimental paradigms was applied to explore initial stages of incidental vocabulary acquisition (IVA) during reading in German as a second language (L2). The results show that syntactic complexity of the context positively affects incidental acquisition of new words, triggering the learner's shift of attention from the text level to the word level. A subsequent semantic priming task revealed that the new words establish associations with semantically related representations in the L2 mental lexicon after just three previous occurrences and without any consolidation period. The semantic inhibition effect for the new words (contrary to semantic facilitation for known L2 words), however, indicates that the memory traces of the new semantic representation are still very weak and that their retrieval is probably hindered by stronger semantically related representations that have much lower activation thresholds and higher potential for being selected.

Keywords

incidental vocabulary acquisitionreadingL2meaning inferencemental lexiconself-paced readingsemantic priming
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , July 2015 , pp. 372 - 390
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

We would like to thank Thomas Pechmann and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the earlier version of the manuscript, as well as Kornelia Bochniak, Marcel Fuchs and Tabea Verma for running the experiments. The research was a part of a project grant provided to Denisa Bordag (BO-3615/2-1) by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation).

References

Altarriba, J., & Basnight-Brown, D. M. (2007). Methodological considerations in performing semantic and translation priming experiments across languages. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 1–18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Altarriba, J., & Canary, T. M. (2004). Affective priming: The automatic activation of arousal. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 25, 248–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arya, D. J., Hiebert, E. H., & Pearson, P. D. (2011). The effects of syntactic and lexical complexity in the comprehension of elementary science texts. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 4, 107–125.Google Scholar
Baayen, R. H., Piepenbrock, R., & Gulikers, L. (1995). The CELEX Lexical Database (CD-ROM). Philadelphia, PA: Linguistic Data Consortium, University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Baker, E. L., Atwood, N. K., & Duffy, T. M. (1988). Cognitive approaches to assessing the readability of text. In Davison, A. & Green, G. (eds.), Linguistic complexity and text comprehension, pp. 55–81. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Bentin, S., Deutsch, A., & Liberman, I. (1990). Syntactic competence and reading ability in children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 49, 147–172.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bordag, D., Kirschenbaum, A., Opitz, A., & Tschirner, E. (2014a). To store, or not and if so, where? An experimental study on incidental vocabulary acquisition by adult native speakers of German. Ms. University of Leipzig. [To appear in Torrens, V. & Escobar, L. (eds.), The processing of lexicon and morphosyntax. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.]Google Scholar
Bordag, D., Kirschenbaum, A., Rogahn, M., & Tschirner, E. (2014b). The influence of form (a)typicality on incidental and intentional vocabulary acquisition. Ms., University of Leipzig.Google Scholar
Borovsky, A., Elman, J. L., & Kutas, M. (2012). Once is enough: N400 indexes semantic integration of novel word meanings from a single exposure in context. Language Learning and Development, 8, 278–302.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Borovsky, A., Kutas, M., & Elman, J. (2010). Learning to use words: Event-related potentials index single-shot word learning. Cognition, 116, 289–296.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Breitenstein, C., Zwitserlood, P., de Vries, M. H., Feldhues, C., Knecht, S., & Dobel, C. (2007). Five days versus a lifetime: Intense associative vocabulary training generates lexically integrated words. Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, 25, 493–500.Google ScholarPubMed
Britton, B. K., Glynn, S. M., Meyer, B. J., & Penland, M. J. (1982). Effects of text structure on use of cognitive capacity during reading. Journal of Educational Psychology, 74, 51–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, R., Waring, R., & Donkaewbua, S. (2008). Incidental vocabulary acquisition from reading, reading-while-listening, and listening to stories. Reading in a Foreign Language, 20, 136–163.Google Scholar
Carr, T. H., & Dagenbach, D. (1990). Semantic priming and repetition from masked words: Evidence for a center-surround attentional mechanism in perceptual recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 16, 341–350.Google ScholarPubMed
Chung, H. (1995). Effects of elaborative modification on second language reading comprehension and incidental vocabulary learning. Master's thesis. University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, Honolulu.Google Scholar
Clay, F., Bowers, J. S., Davis, C. J., & Hanley, D. A. (2007). Teaching adults new words: The role of practice and consolidation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 33, 970–976.Google Scholar
Cobb, T., & Horst, M. (2004). Is there room for an AWL in French? In Harley, B. & Hulstijn, J. (eds.), Selected papers from the Leiden-Haifa SLVA Symposium. (Language Learning and Language Teaching Series), pp. 15–38. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Crossley, S. A., Louwerse, M. M., McCarthy, P. M., & McNamara, D. S. (2007). A linguistic analysis of simplified and authentic texts. The Modern Language Journal, 91, 15–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dagenbach, D., Carr, T. H., & Barnhardt, T. M. (1990a). Inhibitory semantic priming of lexical decisions due to failure to retrieve weakly activated codes. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 16, 328–340.Google Scholar
Dagenbach, D., Horst, S., & Carr, T. H. (1990b). Adding new information to semantic memory: How much learning is enough to produce automatic priming. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 16, 581–591.Google ScholarPubMed
Davis, M. H., & Gaskell, M. G. (2009). A complementary systems account of word learning: Neural and behavioural evidence. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364, 3773–3800.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Deutsch, A., & Bentin, S. (1996). Attention factors mediating syntactic deficiency in reading disabled children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 63, 386–415.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Devitto, Z., & Burgess, C. (2004). Theoretical and methodological implications of language experience and vocabulary skill: Priming of strongly and weakly associated words. Brain and Cognition, 55, 295–299.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elgort, I. (2011). Deliberate learning and vocabulary acquisition in a second language. Language Learning, 61, 367–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elgort, I., & Nation, I. S. P. (2010). Vocabulary learning in a second language: Familiar answers to new questions. In Seedhouse, P., Walsh, S. & Jenks, C. (eds.), Conceptualising ‘learning’ in applied linguistics, pp. 89–104. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, R. (2008). The study of second language acquisition (2nd edn.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, R., & Barkhuizen, G. P. (2005). Analysing learner language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Favreau, M., & Segalowitz, N. (1983). Automatic and controlled processes in the first- and second-language reading of fluent bilinguals. Memory & Cognition, 11, 565–574.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ferreira, F. (2003). The misinterpretation of noncanonical sentences. Cognitive Psychology, 47, 164–203.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frenck-Mestre, C., & Prince, P. (1997). Second language autonomy. Journal of Memory and Language, 37, 481–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grabe, W. (2009). Reading in a second language: Moving from theory to practice. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Greve, A., van Rossum, M. C. W., & Donaldson, D. I. (2007). Investigating the functional interaction between semantic and episodic memory: Convergent behavioural and electrophysiological evidence for the role of familiarity. Neuroimage, 34, 801–814.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Horst, M., Cobb, T., & Meara, P. (1998). Beyond a Clockwork Orange: Acquiring second language vocabulary through reading. Reading in a Foreign Language, 11, 207–223.Google Scholar
Houghton, G., & Tipper, S. P. (1994). A model of inhibitory mechanisms in selective attention. In Dagenbach, D. & Carr, T. H. (eds.), Inhibitory processes in attention, memory, and language, pp. 53–112. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Huckin, T., & Coady, J. (1999). Incidental vocabulary acquisition in a second language: a review. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 21, 181–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hulstijn, J. H. (1992). Retention of inferred and given word meanings: Experiments in incidental vocabulary learning. In Arnaud, P. J. L. & Béjoint, H. (eds.), Vocabulary and applied linguistics, pp. 113–125. Basingstoke: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hulstijn, J. H. (1993). When do foreign language readers look up the meaning of unfamiliar words? The influence of task and learner variables. Modern Language Journal, 77, 139–147.Google Scholar
Hulstijn, J. (2003). Incidental and intentional learning. In Doughty, C. J. & Long, M. H. (eds.), The handbook of second language acquisition, pp. 349–381. Oxford: Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Isel, F., Gunter, T. C., & Friederici, A. D. (2003). Prosodyassisted head-driven access to spoken German compounds. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 29, 277–288.Google ScholarPubMed
Iwashita, N. (2006). Syntactic complexity measures and their relation to oral proficiency in Japanese as a foreign language. Language Assessment Quarterly: An International Journal, 3, 151–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jiang, N. (2004). Semantic transfer and its implications for vocabulary teaching in a second language. The Modern Language Journal, 88, 416–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jiang, N., & Forster, K. I. (2001). Cross-language priming asymmetries in lexical decision and episodic recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 44, 32–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson-Laird, P. N. (1983). Mental models: Towards a cognitive science of language, inference and consciousness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Keatley, C. W., Spinks, J. A., & de Gelder, B. (1994). Asymmetrical cross-language priming effects. Memory & Cognition, 22, 70–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keuleers, E., & Brysbaert, M. (2010). Wuggy: A multilingual pseudoword generator. Behavior Research Methods, 42, 627–633.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kotz, S. A., & Elston-Güttler, K. E. (2004). The role of proficiency on processing categorical and associative information in the L2: Reaction times and event-related potentials. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 17, 215–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroll, J. F., & Stewart, E. (1994). Category interference in translation and picture naming: Evidence for asymmetric connections between bilingual memory representations. Journal of Memory and Language, 33, 149–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laufer, B. (2001). Reading, word-focused activities and incidental vocabulary acquisition in a second language. Prospect, 16, 44–54.Google Scholar
Laufer, B. (2005). Focus on form in second language vocabulary learning. EUROSLA Yearbook, 5, 223–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leach, L., & Samuel, A. (2007). Lexical configuration and lexical engagement: When adults learn new words. Cognitive Psychology, 55, 306–353.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leikin, M., & Assayag-Bouskila, O. (2004). Expression of syntactic complexity in sentence comprehension: A comparison between dyslexic and regular readers. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 17, 801–821.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindsay, S., & Gaskell, M. G. (2010). A complementary systems account of word learning in L1 and L2. Language Learning, 60, 45–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindsay, S., & Gaskell, M. G. (2013). Lexical integration of novel words without sleep. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 39, 608–622.Google ScholarPubMed
McClelland, J. L., McNaughton, B. L., & O’Reilly, R. C. (1995). Why there are complementary learning systems in the hippocampus and neocortex: Insights from the successes and failures of connectionist models of learning and memory. Psychological Review, 102, 419–457.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McDonough, K., & Trofimovich, P. (2008). Using priming methods in second language research. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
McNamara, T. P. (2005). Semantic priming: Perspectives from memory and word recognition. New York: Psychology Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mestres-Misse, A., Camara, E., Rodriguez-Fornells, A., Rotte, M., & Münte, T. F. (2008). Functional neuroanatomy of meaning acquisition from context. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20, 2153–2166.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mestres-Misse, A., Rodriguez-Fornells, A., & Münte, T. F. (2007). Watching the brain during meaning acquisition. Cerebral Cortex, 8, 1858–1866.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, D. E., & Schvaneveldt, R. W. (1971). Facilitation in recognizing pairs of words: Evidence of a dependence between retrieval operations. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 90, 227–234.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nagy, W. E., Anderson, R. C., & Herman, P. A. (1987). Learning word meanings from context during normal reading. American Educational Research Journal, 24, 237–270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nation, I. S. P. (1983). Testing and teaching vocabulary. Guidelines, 5, 12–25.Google Scholar
Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nation, I. S. P. (2007). The four strands. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 1, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pallotti, G. (2009). CAF: Defining, refining and differentiating constructs. Applied Linguistics, 30, 590–601.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paribakht, T. S., & Wesche, M. (1993). The relationship between reading comprehension and second language development in a comprehensionbased ESL programme. TESL Canada Journal, 11, 9–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paribakht, T. S., & Wesche, M. (1997). Vocabulary enhancement activities and reading for meaning in second language vocabulary acquisition. In Coady, J. & Huckin, T. (eds.), Second language vocabulary acquisition: A rationale for pedagogy, pp. 174–200. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Parker, K., & Chaudron, C. (1987). The effects of linguistic simplifications and elaborate modifications on L2 comprehension. University of Hawai‘i Working Papers in ESL, 6, 107–133.Google Scholar
Perfetti, C., Landi, N., & Oakhill, J. (2005). The acquisition of reading comprehension skill. In Snowling, M. & Hulme, C. (eds.), The science of reading, pp. 227–247. Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Phillips, N. A., Segalowitz, N., O’Brien, I., & Yamasaki, N. (2004). Semantic priming in a first and second language: Evidence from reaction time variability and event-related brain potentials. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 17, 237–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pulido, D. (2003). Modeling the role of L2 proficiency and topic familiarity in L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading. Language Learning, 53, 233–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pulido, D. (2004). The effect of cultural familiarity on incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading. The Reading Matrix, 4, 20–52.Google Scholar
Qiao, X., Forster, K., & Witzel, N. (2009). Is Banara really a word? Cognition, 113, 254–257.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Read, L. E. (2004). Stimulus-response compatibility and negative priming without distractors: Implications for perception to action. Ph.D. dissertation, Purdue University.Google Scholar
Rezaee, A. A., & Norouzi, M. H. (2011). Readability formulas and cohesive markers in reading comprehension. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 1, 1005–1010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rieder, A. (2002a). Beiläufiger Vokabelerwerb: Theoretische Modelle und empirische Untersuchungen. Ph.D. dissertation. University of Tübingen.Google Scholar
Rieder, A. (2002b). A cognitive view of incidental vocabulary acquisition: From text meaning to word meaning. VIEWS, 11, 53–71.Google Scholar
Rott, S. (1999). The effect of exposure frequency on intermediate language learners’ incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 21, 589–619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saragi, T., Nation, I. S. P., & Meister, G. F. (1978). Vocabulary learning and reading. System, 6, 72–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shokouhi, H., & Maniati, M. (2009). Learners’ incidental vocabulary acquisition: A case of narrative and expository texts. English Language Teaching, 1, 13–23.Google Scholar
Shtyrov, Y., Nikulin, V. V., & Pulvermüller, F. (2010). Rapid cortical plasticity underlying novel word learning. Journal of Neuroscience, 30, 16864–16867.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simensen, A. M. (1987). Adapted readers: How are they adapted. Reading in a Foreign Language, 4, 41–57.Google Scholar
Szmrecsányi, B. (2004). On operationalizing syntactic complexity. In Purnelle, G., Fairon, C. & Dister, A. (eds.), Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Textual Data Statistical Analysis (vol. 2), pp. 1032–1039. Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain.Google Scholar
Tamminen, J. (2010). Learning new words: Effects of meaning, memory consolidation, and sleep. Ph.D. dissertation, University of York.Google Scholar
Tamminen, J., & Gaskell, M. G. (2012). Novel word integration in the mental lexicon: Evidence from unmasked and masked semantic priming. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 66, 1001–1025.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tipper, S. P. (1985). The negative priming effect: Inhibitory priming by ignored objects. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 37, 571–590.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tipper, S. P. (2001). Does negative priming reflect inhibitory mechanisms? A review and integration of conflicting views. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 54, 321–343.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tunmer, W. E., & Hoover, W. A. (1992). Cognitive and linguistic factors in learning to read. In Gough, P. B., Ehri, L. C. & Treiman, R. (eds.), Reading acquisition, pp. 175–214. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Urano, K. (2000). Lexical simplification and elaboration: Sentence comprehension and incidental vocabulary acquisition. Master's thesis, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.Google Scholar
van den Bussche, E., van den Noortgate, W., & Reynvoet, B. (2009). Mechanisms of masked priming: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 135, 452–477.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Dijk, T. A., & Kintsch, W. (1983). Strategies of discourse comprehension. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Walley, R. E., & Weiden, T. D. (1973). Lateral inhibition and cognitive masking: A neuropsychological theory of attention. Psychological Review, 80, 284–302.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, M. D. (1970). The role of syntactic complexity as a determiner of comprehensibility. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 9, 398–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waring, R., & Takaki, M. (2003). At what rate do learners learn and retain new vocabulary from reading a graded reader? Reading in a Foreign Language, 15, 130–163.Google Scholar
Webb, S. (2008). The effects of context on incidental vocabulary learning. Reading in a Foreign Language, 20, 232–245.Google Scholar
Wesche, M., & Paribakht, T. S., (1996). Enhancing vocabulary acquisition through reading: A hierarchy of text-related exercise-types. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 52, 155–178.Google Scholar
Weyerts, H., Penke, M., Münte, T. F., Heinze, H.-J., & Clahsen, H. (2002). Word order in sentence processing: An experimental study of verb placement in German. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 31, 211–268.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wiese, R. (2000). The phonology of German. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wigglesworth, G. (1997). An investigation of planning time and proficiency level on oral test discourse. Language Testing, 14, 85–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, J. N., & Cheung, A. (2011). Using priming to explore early word learning. In Trofimovich, P. & McDonough, K. (eds.), Applying priming methods to L2 learning, teaching and research: Insights from psycholinguistics, pp. 73–103. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Witzel, N. O., & Forster, K. I. (2012). How L2 words are stored: The episodic L2 hypothesis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 38, 1608–1621.Google ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: PDF

Bordag Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Download Bordag Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 56.6 KB