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INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY LEARNING THROUGH VIEWING VIDEO

THE ROLE OF VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE AND WORKING MEMORY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2020

Maribel Montero Perez Open the ORCID record for Maribel Montero Perez [Opens in a new window]
Maribel Montero Perez*
Affiliation:
KU Leuven
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Maribel Montero Perez, ITEC, imec Research Group at KU Leuven, KU Leuven, Etienne Sabbelaan 53, BE-8500 Kortrijk, Belgium. E-mail: maribel.monteroperez@kuleuven.be
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Abstract

There is growing evidence that L2 learners pick up new words while viewing video but little is known about the role of individual differences. This study explores incidental learning after viewing a French documentary containing 15 pseudowords and investigates whether learning is moderated by participants’ prior vocabulary knowledge and working memory. Sixty-three higher-intermediate learners of French participated in this study. Prior vocabulary knowledge was measured by means of a French meaning recognition test. Participants also took a forward digit-span (phonological short-term memory), a backward digit-span, and an operation-span task (complex working memory). After viewing the video, four surprise vocabulary tests on form and meaning were administered. Results revealed that learning gains occurred at the level of form and meaning recognition. Vocabulary knowledge was positively related to picking up new words from video. Complex working memory correlated with the recognition tests showing more incidental learning gains for learners with higher complex working memory.

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Type
Research Article
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Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 42 , Issue 4 , September 2020 , pp. 749 - 773
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© Cambridge University Press 2020

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Footnotes

The experiment in this article earned an Open Materials badge for transparent practices. The materials are available at https://www.iris-database.org/iris/app/home/detail?id=york:937077.

I would like to thank the editor and anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and Elke Peters for her suggestions on an earlier draft of this article. I am also grateful to Bert Vandenberghe and Isabeau Fievez for helping me organize the data collection and Belén Fernández-Castilla for her help with the statistical analyses.

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