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Incidental vocabulary learning from listening, reading, and viewing captioned videos: frequency and prior vocabulary knowledge

  • Mark Feng Teng

    Mark Feng Teng is Associate Professor at Macao Polytechnic University. He was the recipient of the 2017 Best Paper Award from the Hong Kong Association for Applied Linguistics (HAAL), as well as the Social Science Research Awards by the Ministry of Education, China (2023). His research portfolio mainly focuses on L2 vocabulary acquisition, and metacognition in L2 writing. His publications have appeared in international journals, including Applied Linguistics, TESOL Quarterly, Language Teaching Research, System, Applied Linguistics Review, Computer Assisted Language Learning, Computers & Education, Foreign Language Annals, and IRAL, among others. His recent monographs were published by Routledge, Springer, and Bloomsbury. He also edited and co-edited special issues for international journals, including Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, TESOL Journal, among others.

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Published/Copyright: February 7, 2024
Applied Linguistics Review
From the journal Applied Linguistics Review Volume 16 Issue 1

Abstract

The present study, given increasing attention to incidental vocabulary learning, explores how different input modes (i.e., listening, reading, and viewing captioned videos) affect such learning while considering frequency and prior vocabulary knowledge. One hundred twenty Chinese university students learning English as a foreign language were allocated to three treatment groups and one (test-only) control group. Target words included 48 terms appearing at various frequencies (1–6 occurrences) in a documentary video. Incidental vocabulary learning outcomes were measured through form and meaning recognition. Mixed effects models showed that the caption viewing condition led to the most pronounced incidental vocabulary learning and retention outcomes, followed by the reading and listening conditions. A significant interaction effect was identified between time, group, and prior vocabulary knowledge. A significant interaction effect was also observed between time, group, and frequency. Meanwhile, frequency was less important for incidental vocabulary learning than prior vocabulary knowledge. Pedagogical implications are discussed based on these findings.

Keywords: incidental vocabulary learning; listening; reading; viewing captioned videos; frequency; prior vocabulary knowledge
Corresponding author: Mark Feng Teng, Faculty of Languages and Translation, Macao Polytechnic University, Macau SAR, China, E-mail:

About the author

Mark Feng Teng

Mark Feng Teng is Associate Professor at Macao Polytechnic University. He was the recipient of the 2017 Best Paper Award from the Hong Kong Association for Applied Linguistics (HAAL), as well as the Social Science Research Awards by the Ministry of Education, China (2023). His research portfolio mainly focuses on L2 vocabulary acquisition, and metacognition in L2 writing. His publications have appeared in international journals, including Applied Linguistics, TESOL Quarterly, Language Teaching Research, System, Applied Linguistics Review, Computer Assisted Language Learning, Computers & Education, Foreign Language Annals, and IRAL, among others. His recent monographs were published by Routledge, Springer, and Bloomsbury. He also edited and co-edited special issues for international journals, including Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, TESOL Journal, among others.

  1. Conflict of interest: The author declares that there are no competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Supplementary Material

This article contains supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2023-0106).

Received: 2023-05-23
Accepted: 2024-01-18
Published Online: 2024-02-07
Published in Print: 2025-01-29

© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2023-0106
Keywords for this article
incidental vocabulary learning; listening; reading; viewing captioned videos; frequency; prior vocabulary knowledge

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Special Issue: Tribal Epistemologies and the discursive construction of COVID-19 knowledge; Guest Editor: Rodney H. Jones
  3. Disciplinary tribes and the discourse of mainstream media expert opinion articles: evidencing COVID-19 knowledge claims for a public audience
  4. Ways of seeing and discourse strategies of naming the novel coronavirus in the US and Hong Kong
  5. Who is our friend and who is our enemy? The enregisterment of tribalising digital discourse during the COVID-19 pandemic
  6. “By the way I want to give you some masks”: exploring multimodal stance-taking in YouTube videos
  7. Affective geographies and tribal epistemologies: studying abroad during COVID-19
  8. Editorial
  9. Tribal epistemologies and the discursive construction of COVID-19 knowledge
  10. Special Issue: Against Epistemological Theft and Appropriation; Guest Editors: Othman Z. Barnawi and Hamza R’boul
  11. The myopic focus on decoloniality in applied linguistics and English language education: citations and stolen subjectivities
  12. The bidirectionality of epistemological theft and appropriation: contrastive rhetoric in China
  13. Attempts at including, mediating and creating ‘new’ knowledges: problematising appropriation in intercultural communication education and research
  14. Epistemological theft and appropriation in qualitative inquiry in applied linguistics: lessons from Halaqa
  15. Can the subaltern speak in autoethnography?: knowledging through dialogic and retro/intro/pro-spective reflection to stand against epistemic violence
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  21. Objects are not just a thing – (re)negotiating identity through using material objects within the Kurdish diaspora in the UK
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  23. Walking with: understandings and negotiations of the mundane in research
  24. Translanguaging art – Questioning boundaries in Monika Szydłowska’s Do you miss your country?
  25. Reinventing the self through participatory art: writing and performing among rough sleepers
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  27. Expectation-practice discrepancies: a transcultural exploration of Chinese students’ oral discourse socialization in German academia
  28. Perceived teacher feedback practices, student feedback motivation and engagement in English learning: a survey of Chinese university students
  29. Incidental vocabulary learning from listening, reading, and viewing captioned videos: frequency and prior vocabulary knowledge
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  31. Secondary students’ L2 writing motivation and engagement: the impact of teachers’ instructional approaches and feedback practices
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