2010 Deliberate Learning and Vocabulary Acquisition in a Second Language(Irina Elgort)Language Learning pp. 1–47.pdf

Language Learning ISSN 0023-8333 Deliberate Learning and Vocabulary Acquisition in a Second Language Irina Elgort Victoria University of Wellington This study investigates outcomes of deliberate learning on vocabulary acquisition in a second language (L2). Acquisition of 48 pseudowords was measured using the lexical decision task with visually presented stimuli. The experiments drew on form prim- ing, masked repetition priming, and automatic semantic priming procedures. Data analyses revealed a prime lexicality effect (Experiment 1), repetition priming effect (Experiment 2), and semantic priming effect (Experiment 3) for the deliberately learned pseudowords. The outcomes of deliberate learning were further examined using a co- efficient of variability (CVRT ) calculated for the participants’ response latencies in Experiments 2 and 3. The results showed that the learned pseudowords were processed with a higher degree of automaticity than nonwords and low-frequency L2 words. Taken together, the findings provide evidence that deliberate learning triggered the acquisition of representational and functional aspects of vocabulary knowledge. Keywords vocabulary acquisition; deliberate learning In applied linguistics, learning in the behaviorist tradition of paired-associate learning involving repeated retrieval of the form and meaning of a word (such as learning from word cards) fell out of favor in the 1980s, when it was re- placed by the communicative language teaching approaches that underscore the importance of meaningful contexts (Dupuy Krashen, 1993; Elley, 1991) and learning through meaning-focused instruction (DeKeyser, 1998). One of the best known advocacies of learning from context put forward by Stephen Krashen goes as far as to claim that deliberate learning is not useful because it does not affect the acquisition of linguistic knowledg