Incidental learning is a well-known process of acquiring new knowledge, vocabulary, or information without intention. Traditional or intentional learning is widely practiced in classroom environments, while incidental one receives less attention from educators, schools, and scholars. English Language Learners encounter various problems when they…

Recreational reading is in a decline for upper elementary aged readers, and along with this decline comes consequent declines in students' ability to make meaning from what they read and their acquisition of different language forms, including the acquisition of new vocabulary words. However, one reading format is increasing in popularity: graphic…

This study examines the reflections of using Pixton, the digital comics Web 2.0 tool, on the basic language skills of international exchange students under the Erasmus+ program. For this purpose, student-made comic strips were used to teach the basic grammar of the language, which resulted in using the language in their daily lives and supporting…

The development of lexical competence in foreign languages is one of the skills that presents difficulties in the teaching-learning process, as it requires stimulation and retention on the part of the student and creativity from the teacher. In this sense, digital resources emerge as a conducive means to promote new knowledge and consolidate…

For the first time, this study investigated whether children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) children matched on language comprehension (M age equivalent = ~ 44 months) are more likely to retain words when learning from colour photographs than black-and-white cartoons. Participants used mutual exclusivity to fast…

Two word-learning experiments were conducted to investigate the understanding of negative sentences in 18- and 24-month-old children. In Experiment 1, after learning that "bamoule" means "penguin" and "pirdaling" means "cartwheeling," 18-month-olds (n = 48) increased their looking times when listening to…

Growing up in the digital era, young children are exposed to numerous educational applications and programs, some with well-designed curricula and others focused more on entertainment or game-like qualities. With the increasing popularity of mobile language-learning applications among young children, this dissertation raises a crucial question: do…

Language can alter our mental conceptions of space, time, and categories. While there is compelling evidence that thought can be shaped by syntactic, morphological, and lexical features of a language, less is known about the impact of phonology on thought. This dissertation uses novel objects (alien cartoon figures) and pseudoword names in three…

Despite empirical evidence from research showing that the use of text-picture combination is beneficial for second language (L2) learning, little is known about the effectiveness of reading comic books for incidental vocabulary acquisition. This study investigated the effects of engaging with comic books on incidental learning of L2 Italian…

This study investigated the constructs underlying second language (L2) word association (WA) with regard to three dimensions of lexical competence--size, organization, and accessibility--and the lexical performance of speech. One-hundred and thirteen Japanese learners of English completed a computer-delivered oral WA task along with three…

First language acquisition is implicit, in that explicit information about the language structure to be learned is not provided to children. Instead, they must acquire both vocabulary and grammar incrementally, by generalizing across multiple situations that eventually enable links between words in utterances and referents in the environment to be…

Multimodal learning refers to teaching strategies that involve multiple sensory systems simultaneously. Teachers can create materials for students with different learning styles (auditory, visual, kinesthetic reading, and writing). Multimodal learning keeps students engaged, encourages them to apply what they learn in real-life situations,…

This study investigates the differential effects of the iPad on first and second language learning by Saudi children in the home environment. The subjects consisted of 78 parents and 118 children. The children were grouped into: 1-6 years old (young children in kindergarten and pre-school); 7- 9 years (grades 1-3); and 10-12 years (grades 4-6).…