Home Linguistics & Semiotics Chapter 15. Foreign language vocabulary learning
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Chapter 15. Foreign language vocabulary learning

Word-type effects during the labeling stage
  • Annette M.B. de Groot and Rosanne C.L. van den Brink
View more publications by John Benjamins Publishing Company
To Publisher Page
Language Acquisition across Linguistic and Cognitive Systems
This chapter is in the book Language Acquisition across Linguistic and Cognitive Systems

Abstract

This chapter reviews the results of a set of experiments that examined foreign-language (FL) vocabulary learning by late learners, exploiting the paired-associate-learning (PAL) paradigm. The effects on acquisition and retention of the concreteness and frequency of the native-language (L1) words, the (phonotactical) typicality of the FL words, and the cognate relation between the L1 words and their FL translations were studied. To determine long-term retention a retest took place one week after learning. The results showed substantial effects of concreteness, typicality and cognate status: More concrete, typical, and cognate words were learned than abstract, atypical, and non-cognate words, respectively. Learning was also better for frequent than for infrequent words, but this effect was relatively small. Furthermore, the retest indicated that the words acquired best during the learning phase were also those retained best: The forgetting functions were steeper for abstract, atypical, and non-cognate words than for concrete, typical, and cognate words. We explain these effects in terms of differential pre-experimental long-term memory knowledge (concreteness and frequency), phonological short- and long-term memory (typicality), and a retrieval cue that exists for cognates but not for non-cognates (cognate status).

Abstract

This chapter reviews the results of a set of experiments that examined foreign-language (FL) vocabulary learning by late learners, exploiting the paired-associate-learning (PAL) paradigm. The effects on acquisition and retention of the concreteness and frequency of the native-language (L1) words, the (phonotactical) typicality of the FL words, and the cognate relation between the L1 words and their FL translations were studied. To determine long-term retention a retest took place one week after learning. The results showed substantial effects of concreteness, typicality and cognate status: More concrete, typical, and cognate words were learned than abstract, atypical, and non-cognate words, respectively. Learning was also better for frequent than for infrequent words, but this effect was relatively small. Furthermore, the retest indicated that the words acquired best during the learning phase were also those retained best: The forgetting functions were steeper for abstract, atypical, and non-cognate words than for concrete, typical, and cognate words. We explain these effects in terms of differential pre-experimental long-term memory knowledge (concreteness and frequency), phonological short- and long-term memory (typicality), and a retrieval cue that exists for cognates but not for non-cognates (cognate status).

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction. New perspectives in the study of first and second language acquisition 1
  4. Part I. Emergence and dynamics of language acquisition and disorders
  5. Chapter 1. A tale of two paradigms 17
  6. Chapter 2. Dynamic systems methods in the study of language acquisition 33
  7. Chapter 3. Early bootstrapping of syntactic acquisition 53
  8. Chapter 4. Language acquisition in developmental disorders 67
  9. Part II. First language acquisition
  10. Chapter 5. Language development in a cross-linguistic context 91
  11. Chapter 6. A typological approach to first language acquisition 109
  12. Chapter 7. Linguistic relativity in first language acquisition 125
  13. Chapter 8. On the importance of goals in child language 147
  14. Chapter 9. Promoting patients in narrative discourse 161
  15. Chapter 10. On-line grammaticality judgments 179
  16. Chapter 11. The expression of finiteness by L1 and L2 learners of Dutch, French, and German 205
  17. Part III. Bilingualism and second language acquisition
  18. Chapter 12. Age of onset in successive acquisition of bilingualism 225
  19. Chapter 13. The development of person-number verbal morphology in different types of learners 249
  20. Chapter 14. Re-thinking the bilingual interactive-activation model from a developmental perspective (BIA-d) 267
  21. Chapter 15. Foreign language vocabulary learning 285
  22. Chapter 16. Cerebral imaging and individual differences in language learning 299
  23. Chapter 17. The cognitive neuroscience of second language acquisition and bilingualism 307
  24. Index of languages 323
  25. Index of subjects 325
https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.52.19gro

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction. New perspectives in the study of first and second language acquisition 1
  4. Part I. Emergence and dynamics of language acquisition and disorders
  5. Chapter 1. A tale of two paradigms 17
  6. Chapter 2. Dynamic systems methods in the study of language acquisition 33
  7. Chapter 3. Early bootstrapping of syntactic acquisition 53
  8. Chapter 4. Language acquisition in developmental disorders 67
  9. Part II. First language acquisition
  10. Chapter 5. Language development in a cross-linguistic context 91
  11. Chapter 6. A typological approach to first language acquisition 109
  12. Chapter 7. Linguistic relativity in first language acquisition 125
  13. Chapter 8. On the importance of goals in child language 147
  14. Chapter 9. Promoting patients in narrative discourse 161
  15. Chapter 10. On-line grammaticality judgments 179
  16. Chapter 11. The expression of finiteness by L1 and L2 learners of Dutch, French, and German 205
  17. Part III. Bilingualism and second language acquisition
  18. Chapter 12. Age of onset in successive acquisition of bilingualism 225
  19. Chapter 13. The development of person-number verbal morphology in different types of learners 249
  20. Chapter 14. Re-thinking the bilingual interactive-activation model from a developmental perspective (BIA-d) 267
  21. Chapter 15. Foreign language vocabulary learning 285
  22. Chapter 16. Cerebral imaging and individual differences in language learning 299
  23. Chapter 17. The cognitive neuroscience of second language acquisition and bilingualism 307
  24. Index of languages 323
  25. Index of subjects 325
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 9.11.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/lald.52.19gro/html
Scroll to top button