Atomistic and incidental lexical acquisition

1
Atomistic and incidental lexical acquisition
2
Introductory

• The impression is sometimes given in the SLA
  literature that there is an incompatibility
  between subscribing to the view that L2 learners
  need to focus on the memorization of individual
  lexical expressions the atomistic approach
  and adopting a perspective which relies on the
  assumption that new vocabulary will be picked up
  incidentally through interaction in the L2,
  reading passages, etc. without deliberate
  memorization being involved.
• In fact, context-based and atomistic lexical
  learning both have an important role to play.

3
Atomistic techniques

• Rote-learning
• Much criticized (discrediting of behaviourism).
• BUT N.B. evidence that repetition forms a normal
  and natural part of lexical acquisition.
• More generally, verbal memory research indicates
  that the recall of memorized items is improved by
  a longer opportunity for rehearsal.
• In L2, repetition is effective in respect of
  learning vocabulary for productive purposes.

4
Atomistic techniques (contd.)

• Semantic-associative links
• The making of such connections is a natural part
  of the process of acquiring new vocabulary.
• Learners constantly seek to make connections
  between new words they encounter in their target
  language and words they already know in either
  their L1 or the L2 in question - even when the L1
  and the L2 are unrelated cf. also learners use
  of mnemonic devices.

5
Atomistic techniques (contd.)

• Keyword technique
• Involves the learner in constructing a mental
  image which links the newly encountered word with
  a word which is already known.
• The keyword approach works well across a range of
  populations and across a range of vocabulary item
  types, and that its effectiveness is robust
  across different methods of presentation and
  test-types. The use of image as a general
  approach is applicable to longer stretches of
  language too.

6
Atomistic techniques (contd.)

• Criticism
• A possible argument against atomistic approaches
  is that it is unnatural to treat individual words
  in isolation from context and that it fails to
  prepare learners for dealing with words in
  connected discourse and text.
• BUT a prominent aspect of the way in which
  caregivers interact with young children in many
  cultures is ostensive definition. Also, acquirers
  naturally rehearse new items.
• In any case, given that some atomistic techniques
  are very effective in promoting the retention of
  new vocabulary, the above argument would carry
  weight only if the proposal were to deploy only
  such techniques.

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Incidental vocabulary acquisition

• According to Schmitt (2000 116), incidental
  vocabulary learning is learning through exposure
  when ones attention is focused on the use of
  language, rather than on learning itself.
• Such learning is possible because of context.
  Learners are adept at exploiting help provided by
  context when dealing with unfamiliar L2 words.
  The point of contention is whether working out
  the meaning and function of words from context of
  itself has an effect in relation to the retention
  of vocabulary.
• The general argument in favour of the notion that
  we acquire vocabulary from context is that the
  amount of vocabulary we assimilate far exceeds
  any reasonable assessment of the capacity of
  special teaching.

8
Incidental vocabulary acquisition (contd.)

• Reading-related research
• Schouten-van Parreren claims that inferring
  meaning from context in L2 reading leads to
  better retention than isolated presentation. She
  recommends a 3-phase action-sequence guessing
  the meaning of the unknown word, verifying the
  guess and analysing the word form (Schouten-van
  Parreren 1989 79).
• Hulstijns research leads him to the following
  conclusions
• words are acquired incidentally from context in
  reading
• the relevance of an unknown word to the needs of
  the learner influences the amount of attention
  given to that word
• making an effort to derive the meaning of words
  from contextual and formal clues improves words'
  chances of being retained.

9
Incidental vocabulary acquisition (contd.)

• Criticism
• Mondria Wit-de Boer (1991) found that the
  guessability of words from particularly
  pregnant L2 contexts had no effect on their
  retention. However, this finding was almost
  certainly connected with the fact that in their
  experiment the guessing stage was followed by a
  learning stage.
• Other negative evidence comes from studies of
  extensive L2 reading programmes (Tudor Hafiz,
  1989 Hafiz Tudor 1990) resulting in
  improvements in reading and writing, but,
  according to the researchers, no change in the
  vocabulary base Given the importance of lexical
  knowledge in L2 reading and writing there seems
  to be a contradiction between these two findings.

10
Incidental vocabulary acquisition (contd.)

• Oral input-related research
• Duquette's (1993) study of context-based L2
  vocabulary learning from audio and video input
  records notes significant gains from both input
  types.
• Another contribution in this connection is the
  research of Rod Ellis dealing with L2 lexical
  learning from various kinds of oral interaction.
  In all cases vocabulary was found to have been
  acquired and in all cases the processes of
  lexical internalisation involved can be
  characterized as incidental.

11
Incidental vocabulary acquisition and lexical
representation

• Jiang (2000) cites evidence in support of the
  view that L2 lexical items begin by being
  associated with L1 forms, go on to become
  associated with L1 meanings, and finally evolve
  autonomous L2-internal form-meaning connections.
  For Jiang, atomistic vocabulary-learning
  techniques may delay the development of an
  autonomous L2 lexicon, whereas the context-based
  approach encourages the inference of genuinely L2
  meanings.

12
Incidental vocabulary acquisition and lexical
representation (contd.)

• However, as Jiang concedes, many questions
  remain to be answered (p. 70). Moreover, it has
  often been noted that not all contexts are
  equally rich in terms of the information they
  make available in respect of unfamiliar words,
  with the result that the meanings derived are not
  always particularly specific. Drum Konopak
  (1987 85) comment
• We do know that most word meanings are learned in
  context. It would be hard to imagine any other
  way that the vast semantic information we have
  concerning culturally conventionalised meanings
  could be acquired. But these meanings are not
  very precise, no more precise than the
  contextual information provided as cues for
  meaning.

13
Defining incidental

• Paribakht Wesche (1996, 1997) investigated the
  effects on L2 vocabulary acquisition of (a)
  reading plus comprehension exercises plus further
  reading and (b) reading plus comprehension
  exercises plus further related exercises
  involving selective attention to words. The
  results indicate that, while both treatments
  resulted in gains in vocabulary, the gains of the
  groups who did the further exercises were
  significantly greater than those of the groups
  who did not. Paribakht Wesche's interpretation
  is that contextualized instruction can improve on
  incidental learning and that vocabulary
  instruction based on reading texts appears to
  recommend itself as a pedagogical procedure.
  However, incidental is here used in a rather
  narrow sense.

14
Defining incidental (contd.)

• Laufer Hulstijn (2001) point out (p. 10) that
  in psychology the distinction between incidental
  and intentional learning has to do simply with
  whether or not subjects in an experiment are told
  in advance that they will be tested on retention.
  If they are not explicitly encouraged to memorize
  material, whatever kinds of focusing experience
  and operations the experimental task involves,
  any items retained are regarded as having been
  acquired incidentally. Laufer Hulstijns own
  literature survey leads them to the view that
  incidental learning takes place when there is a
  high degree of involvement load in terms of
  learners need for a given item, in terms of
  his/her searching for a given form or meaning,
  and in terms of his/her evaluating a particular
  item in context.

15
Concluding summary

• L2 lexical acquisition has both an atomistic and
  a context-based dimension and both dimensions
  have a valuable contribution to make to the
  process the value of both atomistic and
  context-based approaches has in fact been
  implicitly assumed by course designers.