Towards a Model of Advanced Learners’ Vocabulary Acquisition: An Investigation of L2 Vocabulary Acquisition and Retention by Taiwanese English Majors
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Barry Lee Reynolds
Barry Lee Reynolds is an assistant professor in the Education Center for Humanities and Social Sciences at National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan. He mainly teaches EAP undergraduate literacy courses. His research interests include both intentional and incidental vocabulary acquisition, digital game based language learning, and second language writing instruction.
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Wei-Hua Wu
Wei-Hua Wu is a graduate student in the Department of English at National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan and a junior high school English teacher in Taipei, Taiwan. She hopes to assist her teaching and facilitate her students’ learning by focusing her research on improvement of students’ English performance through strategic instruction.
Hui-Wen Liu, a graduate student in the Department of English at National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan, has taught English as a foreign language to learners for over 12 years. She is mainly interested in researching motivational teaching strategies.
Shu-Yuan Kuo, a graduate student in the Department of English at National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan, has taught English as a foreign language to children for over 7 years. He is interested in how cognitive proficiency in English among English teachers affects their instruction.
Ching-Hua Yeh is a graduate student in the Department of English at National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan. Her current research interest is in what role vocabulary learning plays in second language acquisition.
Abstract
Development of vocabulary is one of the fundamental elements for second language acquisition; it is important to meaning transfer and successful communication as well (Barcroft 2004). The purpose of the research reported in this paper was to investigate to what extent the characteristics of vocabulary affect Taiwanese English language majors’ second-language vocabulary acquisition and retention. This research builds upon similar research conducted by Willis and Ohashi (2012), which found a relationship between acquisition and a word’s frequency, cognateness, and length for Japanese learners of English. Our results indicate a significant relationship between acquisition and a word’s frequency, level of polysemy, and part of speech. Correlation results show that polysemy and frequency are both strongly related to acquisition. Nevertheless, a negative correlation between phonemes and acquisition was also shown. The findings indicate that high frequency words and polysemous words are both easily acquired and retained; in contrast, words with more phonemes require more effort by Taiwanese English language majors to learn and retain. Findings from a multiple regression analysis further suggest that high frequency polysemous nouns are easily acquired and retained by Taiwanese English language majors. Pedagogical implications concerning the variables investigated are provided.
About the authors
Barry Lee Reynolds is an assistant professor in the Education Center for Humanities and Social Sciences at National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan. He mainly teaches EAP undergraduate literacy courses. His research interests include both intentional and incidental vocabulary acquisition, digital game based language learning, and second language writing instruction.
Wei-Hua Wu is a graduate student in the Department of English at National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan and a junior high school English teacher in Taipei, Taiwan. She hopes to assist her teaching and facilitate her students’ learning by focusing her research on improvement of students’ English performance through strategic instruction.
Hui-Wen Liu, a graduate student in the Department of English at National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan, has taught English as a foreign language to learners for over 12 years. She is mainly interested in researching motivational teaching strategies.
Shu-Yuan Kuo, a graduate student in the Department of English at National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan, has taught English as a foreign language to children for over 7 years. He is interested in how cognitive proficiency in English among English teachers affects their instruction.
Ching-Hua Yeh is a graduate student in the Department of English at National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan. Her current research interest is in what role vocabulary learning plays in second language acquisition.
Acknowledgement
This research is based upon work supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, R.O.C. under Grant No. MOST 103-2410-H-010-015-.
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©2015 by De Gruyter Mouton
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Note from the Editors
- Rethinking Reader and Writer Responsibility in Academic English
- When and How Students Take the Reins: Specifying Learner Initiatives in Tutoring Sessions with Preschool-Aged Children
- Intercultural Communication Systems and Discourses of Cultural Identity
- Nine Types of Turn-taking in Interpreter-mediated GP Consultations
- River-Crabbed Shitizens and Missing Knives: A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Trends in Chinese Language Use Online as a Result of Censorship
- Towards a Model of Advanced Learners’ Vocabulary Acquisition: An Investigation of L2 Vocabulary Acquisition and Retention by Taiwanese English Majors
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Note from the Editors
- Rethinking Reader and Writer Responsibility in Academic English
- When and How Students Take the Reins: Specifying Learner Initiatives in Tutoring Sessions with Preschool-Aged Children
- Intercultural Communication Systems and Discourses of Cultural Identity
- Nine Types of Turn-taking in Interpreter-mediated GP Consultations
- River-Crabbed Shitizens and Missing Knives: A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Trends in Chinese Language Use Online as a Result of Censorship
- Towards a Model of Advanced Learners’ Vocabulary Acquisition: An Investigation of L2 Vocabulary Acquisition and Retention by Taiwanese English Majors
