LEARNING VOCABULARY THROUGH READING, LISTENING, AND VIEWING WHICH MODE OF INPUT IS MOST EFFECTIVE?

• Published in: Studies in second language acquisition Vol. 42; no. 3; pp. 499 - 523
• Main Authors: Feng, Yanxue, Webb, Stuart
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Cambridge University Press 01.07.2020
• Subjects: Audiovisual Instruction; Check Lists; Classrooms; Coding theory; College Students; Comparative Analysis; Correlation; English (Second Language); English as a second language; English as a second language learning; Foreign Countries; Frequency of occurrence; Incidental Learning; Knowledge; Language Tests; Learning Theories; Linguistic Input; Listening; Listening Comprehension; Multiple choice; Multiple Choice Tests; Pretests Posttests; Prior Learning; Programming (Broadcast); Reading; Reading Materials; Reading Processes; Retention (Psychology); Second Language Instruction; Second Language Learning; Second language vocabulary learning; Teaching Methods; Television; Television Viewing; Vocabulary Development; China
• ISSN: 0272-2631; 1470-1545
• DOI: 10.1017/S0272263119000494

This study used a pretest-posttest-delayed posttest design at one-week intervals to determine the extent to which written, audio, and audiovisual L2 input contributed to incidental vocabulary learning. Seventy-six university students learning EFL in China were randomly assigned to four groups. Each group was presented with the input from the same television documentary in different modes: reading the printed transcript, listening to the documentary, viewing the documentary, and a nontreatment control condition. Checklist and multiple-choice tests were designed to measure knowledge of target words. The results showed that L2 incidental vocabulary learning occurred through reading, listening, and viewing, and that the gain was retained in all modes of input one week after encountering the input. However, no significant differences were found between the three modes on the posttests indicating that each mode of input yielded similar amounts of vocabulary gain and retention. A significant relationship was found between prior vocabulary knowledge and vocabulary learning, but not between frequency of occurrence and vocabulary learning. The study provides further support for the use of L2 television programs for language learning.