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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