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Vocabulary acquisition and young learners: Different tasks, similar involvement loads

  • Breno Silva EMAIL logo and Agnieszka Otwinowska

Abstract

Laufer and Hulstijn (2001) suggest that the motivational-cognitive construct of involvement may explain and predict different levels of effectiveness for vocabulary-learning tasks. Drawing on their original work and on later research on the involvement load hypothesis (ILH), this study set out to compare the effectiveness of carefully-designed tasks for incidental vocabulary acquisition in children. Thirty-eight EFL elementary-level 10-year-olds from a public school in Warsaw, Poland, participated in the experiment. Divided into three groups, the participants performed three different sequences of tasks, each sequence inducing similar levels of involvement load. In order to measure receptive lexical learning and retention of meaning and spelling, the children were tested with an orthography test, an L2-L1 translation test, and a multiple-choice test immediately after the treatment, and one week later. In support of the ILH, the MANOVA results showed no significant differences between the treatments (irrespective of them being input- or output-based) in any of the test measurements, either in the immediate or in the delayed posttest. We discuss the results in light of the ILH, and outline some limitations and possible implications for pedagogy.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the late Magdalena Szpotowicz for her invaluable comments and corrections when designing and running the study. May her soul rest in peace.

We are also grateful to Marek Muszyński for his statistical advice.

This work was supported by the National Science Centre Poland under grant number 2016/21/B/HS6/01129 awarded to Agnieszka Otwinowska-Kasztelanic.

Appendix A: Treatments and tasks

Sentence writing (Treatment 1)

Name and surname:_____________________________________________________

Age:_______________

Napisz 5 zdań używając w każdym z nich jednego słowa. Każde zdanie powinno zawierać przynajmniej 4 słów. Nie kopiuj z tekstu.

Example:CAR

My father has a big car.

DAMSEL

  • 1 -_____________________________________________________________________

INGRESS

  • 2 - ____________________________________________________________________

FLAMBEAU

  • 3 - ____________________________________________________________________

TREAD

  • 4 - ____________________________________________________________________

WAIL

  • 5 - ____________________________________________________________________

SHUTTERS

  • 6 - ____________________________________________________________________

Comprehension questions (Treatments 2 and 3)

Name and surname:_____________________________________________________

Age:___________

Zaznacz właściwą odpowiedź.

  • 1 – Dlaczego Tom i Jess byli zainteresowani domem?

  • (a) Był piękny.

  • (b) Widzieli coś dziwnego w środku.

  • (c) Zadzwonił do nich kolega.

  • 2 – Dlaczego zdecydowali się iść do domu?

  • (a) Widzieli w nim kogoś i łatwo było się dostać do środka.

  • (b) Chcieli stamtąd coś wziąć.

  • (c) Na zewnątrz było zimno.

  • 3 – Tom nie bał się wejść do domu, ponieważ:

  • (d) Miał coś, co pozwalało mu widzieć w ciemności.

  • (e) Jest chłopakiem.

  • (f)Jess była z nim.

  • 4 – Czego Tom i Jess szukali w domu?

  • (a) Mapy.

  • (b) Źródła hałasu.

  • (c) Mężczyzny.

  • 5 – Pod koniec tej historii, Jess zacząła się bać, bo:

  • (d) Zobaczyła coś.

  • (e) Zaatakowało ją zwierzę.

  • (f) Usłyszała coś.

Picture matching (Treatment 2)

Name and surname: ________________________________________________

Napisz słowo, które nauczyciel pokazuje na obrazku. Pisz słowa w takiej kolejności, jak pokazuje je nauczyciel. Przeczytaj przykład.

WAILSHUTTERSFLAMBEAUTREADINGRESSDAMSEL

Example: __________ (the teacher will show a car, so write “car”)

Picture 1: __________

Picture 2: __________

Picture 3: __________

Picture 4: __________

Picture 5: __________

Picture 6: __________

[Example picture presenting “car”]

[Picture 1 presenting “damsel”]

[Picture 2 presenting “ingress”]

[Picture 3 presenting “flambeau”]

[Picture 4 presenting “wail”]

[Picture 5 presenting “shutters”]

[Picture 6 presenting “tread”]

Multiple-choice glosses (Treatment 3)

Name and surname:_____________________________________________________

Age:_____________

Użyj tekstu, aby dopasować słowo do właściwej definicji.

Example: CAR (a) samochód (b) ciężarówka (c) motor

Shutters: (a) rodzaj okna (b) dziura w dachu (c) mała uliczka

Damsel: (a) młody mężczyzna (b) młoda kobieta (c) zwierzę

Ingress: (a) roślina (b) pies (c) drzwi

Flambeau: (a) obiekt, który wytwarza światło (b) samochód (c) ołówek

Tread: (a) dźwięk kroków (b) cień (c) pokój

Wail: (a) muzyka (b) śmiejąca się osoba (c) krzyk

Association (Treatment 3)

Name and surname:_____________________________________________________

Napisz jedno słowo związane z danym słowem (w języku polskim lub angielskim):

Examples:

CAR: drive

TREE: wspinać się

TALL: short

BIG: large

TREAD:____________________

SHUTTERS:_________________

FLAMBEAU:________________

DAMSEL:___________________

WAIL:______________________

INGRESS:___________________

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Published Online: 2017-5-13
Published in Print: 2018-5-25

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