Aim: From the perspective of cognitive load theory, the present study examined the relative effectiveness of the sequential use of L1 and bilingual subtitles on incidental English vocabulary learning. Methods: A total of 162 upper-intermediate Chinese learners of English as a foreign language watched an English clip in one of 4 subtitling…

Collocational knowledge is central to communicative competence, but many second language (L2) learners struggle to acquire this aspect. To address this limitation, the present study investigated if textual enhancement and frequency manipulation would affect incidental learning of collocations from reading. Fifty-four first language (L1) Cantonese…

With the aim of investigating effective approaches to extensive reading in Thailand, this study examined the vocabulary uptake and retention rate from reading 350 headwords graded reader. To determine the effects of reading a graded reader on students' vocabulary knowledge and retention, 20 words within four bands of different frequencies of…

This study examined the effectiveness of bilingual subtitles relative to captions, subtitles, and no subtitles for incidental vocabulary learning. Learners' processing of novel words in the subtitles and its relationship to learning gains were also explored. While their eye movements were recorded, 112 intermediate to advanced Chinese learners of…

This study examines the effects of monologic and dialogic task sequences on incidental vocabulary learning among 115 students in four intact classes of a Chinese vocational high school. Twenty vocabulary items including words, phrases and fixed expressions ranging from high to low frequency levels were targeted. Students were required to complete…

Despite increasing number of studies on incidental vocabulary learning through viewing in a foreign language, glosses, which have been proven to have facilitative effects in incidental vocabulary learning via other modes of input, have remained underexplored in audiovisual input. The current study investigates the effects of (1) traditional gloss…

Studies have shown that vocabulary can be acquired in second language reading, but researchers have not explicitly examined which vocabulary coping strategies lead to higher rates of vocabulary learning. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the effect of various strategies using eye tracking and navigation tracking. The strategies…

There has been limited research on the efficacy of captioned second language (L2) television in facilitating the incidental acquisition of multiword expressions (MWEs). The present study aims to fill this gap. Additionally, this study examines the role of typographic enhancement and repetition. One-hundred and twenty-two L2 learners were assigned…

This article reports on a study that combined two strands of research: studies of incidental vocabulary learning and studies of the classroom lexical environment (in which vocabulary exposure is measured and the potential for learning estimated). The study looked at the orthographic lexical environment in a language classroom over a semester and…

Researchers have investigated the promise of unimodal and bimodal input in enhancing vocabulary learning from meaning-focused activities. Compared to unimodal input, the simultaneous presentation of written and aural input in bimodal input has been argued to direct L2 learners' attention to words and enhance the form-meaning links for new…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of word-related factors (i.e. frequency, range, dispersion and cognateness) on first-language English (L1E) readers' (n = 20) and second-language English (L2E) readers' (n = 20) incidental acquisition of vocabulary through the reading of an authentic novel.…

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…

Vocabulary knowledge is very crucial for learners who want to be competent in a language. Vocabulary knowledge means having the knowledge of or command over words of a language and their usages in real-life contexts. Vocabulary knowledge can be gained incidentally and intentionally. The paper compares the effectiveness of the reading-only…

Providing glosses that explain the meanings of unknown words is a common method of promoting learners' learning of new words. Numerous studies have shown that compared with no-gloss condition, glosses benefit the learning of the meaning of new words. This study combines both online (i.e., eye-tracking) and offline (i.e., immediate vocabulary…

Sonbul and Schmitt (2013) showed that exposure to second language (L2) collocations in reading texts can produce gains in explicit knowledge, but they found no evidence of gains in implicit knowledge. This study is a conceptual replication and extension of Sonbul and Schmitt's research. Sixty-two advanced English as a second language (ESL)…