Article published In:
EUROSLA Yearbook: Volume 1 (2001)Edited by Susan H. Foster-Cohen and Anna Nizegorodcew
[EUROSLA Yearbook 1] 2001
► pp. 29–49
Edited by Susan H. Foster-Cohen and Anna Nizegorodcew
[EUROSLA Yearbook 1] 2001
► pp. 29–49
The acquisition of word meanings while reading in English as a foreign language
This paper represents an exploration into the effectiveness and nature of vocabulary acquisition through reading in English as a foreign language. The subjects, Polish learners of English, were instructed to read three newspaper articles for comprehension while performing three reading tasks: ‘read only’, read for the main ideas, and read for selected information. Their gains in the knowledge of 60 potentially least known words were then measured. It was found that although all the students showed some vocabulary gains, the medium- and high-proficiency students profited more than the low-proficiency students. The while-reading tasks had a modest effect on learning unfamiliar lexical items, with the ‘read only’ task proving slightly more efficient than the other two tasks. The data did not support the hypothesis that increasing text comprehensibility promotes a proportional increase in vocabulary acquisition.
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Rott, Susanne
2004. A Comparison of Output Interventions and Un-enhanced Reading Conditions on Vocabulary Acquisition and Text Comprehension. The Canadian Modern Language Review 61:2 ► pp. 169 ff.
Shokouh, Ali & Kian Pishkar
2015. Collaborative Method and Vocabulary Retention of Teenage EFL Learners. Theory and Practice in Language Studies 5:11 ► pp. 2395 ff.
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