Previous research has shown that the knowledge structure (KS) complexity of a first language (L1) under certain conditions can strongly influence the KS complexity established in a second language (L2), and then this more complex L2 KS reciprocally influences L2 text comprehension. This present experimental investigation seeks to identify the…

The present study examines the effects of cognitive-based metaphoric mapping instruction (MMI) on English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners' retention and awareness of figurative language at different levels of English proficiency. Ninety-one Taiwanese EFL learners participated in the study, and were separated into a control group that received…

Associating a content word to its rational semantic relations is regarded as a language learning strategy which explicitly contributes to mental lexicon. Semantic mapping herein seems to constitute an efficacious pattern for its practice in language instruction. Conversely, it appears to be among the least frequently used vocabulary learning…

The present study aimed to identify the effect of using electronic Mind Maps on the academic achievement of the fifth-grade primary female students in the English language curriculum compared to the traditional teaching method adopted in the teacher's guide. It also aimed to indicate the attitudes of the fifth-grade female students towards the use…

This study analyses the expression of locative and existential predicates elicited through an oral production task in the speech of two groups of learners of Spanish as a second language (L2) (first language English, n = 18; first language Moroccan Arabic, n = 14), and a native control group (n = 18). A total of 25,000 words were analysed, with…

This dissertation investigates second language (L2) development in the domains of morphosyntax and semantics. Specifically, it examines the acquisition of definiteness and specificity in Russian within the Feature Re-assembly framework (Lardiere, 2009), according to which the hardest L2 learning task is not to reset parameters but to reconfigure,…

The literature on learning with animations has focused so far on subject matters in which changes over time depicted in the animation are mapped onto changes over time in the reality of the concepts to be learned. The experiments presented in this article, however, suggest that also a nontemporal mapping of facts, as in paired-associate learning…

To investigate the effects of semantic mapping, thematic clustering, and notebook keeping on L2 vocabulary recognition and production, four groups of intermediate level learners in an EFL institute in Zanjan, Iran participated in the study. Three experimental groups consisted of semantic mapping, semantic feature analysis, and vocabulary notebook…

This study focused on the effect of teaching vocabulary through semantic mapping on the awareness of two affective dimensions, evaluation and potency dimensions of deep vocabulary knowledge as well as the general vocabulary knowledge of EFL students. Sixty intermediate EFL female adult learners participated in this study; they were chosen among 90…

There is little agreement on the mechanisms involved in second language (L2) processing of regular and irregular inflectional morphology and on the exact role of age, amount, and type of exposure to L2 resulting in differences in L2 input and use. The article contributes to the ongoing debates by reporting the results of two experiments on Russian…