When learning high- and mid-frequency words, approximately 5,000 words might be inadequate for learners to survive in a career as a tourist guide. This paper aims to construct technical word lists for Thai tourist guides to serve as supplementary learning materials. Different word lists need different criteria for their construction. Three main…

This study is a case study of the effects of tonal L1 on the acquisition of tonal L2, comparing two groups of tonal L1 learners, namely, Chinese Zhuang (C+Z) and Chinese non-Zhuang (C-Z) in the same classroom. The two groups of learners read aloud 60 words from a Thai wordlist, then their tone production was analyzed in two dimensions. The…

The present study investigated the role of Arabic diacritics in word recognition and their impact on Arabic L2 learners' reading speed, accuracy, and comprehension at different stages of Arabic L2 acquisition. Fifty-four English L2 learners of Arabic from 3 proficiency levels (beginner, intermediate, and advanced) participated in the study. They…

Graded readers are a great asset to learners acquiring the vocabulary of another language. Homonyms, on the other hand, are a recognized source of trouble for students with that same goal. Publishers of graded readers control the presentation of old and new words, but does this control extend to homonyms? Are only the word forms controlled for--in…

Urdu language is a member of Indo-European family tree and within the zone of Indo-Iranian branch, whereas Turkish language is a member of Altaic family tree. Both of these languages belong to different family trees, but these languages have many words in common. Urdu language has 41 consonant sounds and 11 vowel sounds, whereas Turkish language…

Long-term memory knowledge is considered to impact short-term maintenance of item information in working memory, as opposed to short-term maintenance of serial order information. Evidence supporting an impact of semantic knowledge on serial order maintenance remains weak. In the present study, we demonstrate that semantic knowledge can impact the…

Memory performance exhibits a high level of variability from moment to moment. Much of this variability may reflect inadequately controlled experimental variables, such as word memorability, past practice and subject fatigue. Alternatively, stochastic variability in performance may largely reflect the efficiency of endogenous neural processes that…

Fluency in reading is crucial for comprehension of the written word. Traditionally we concentrate on fluency once a child is a proficient reader. However, fluency is a skill that can be successfully addressed with beginning readers. This article presents practical strategies to help beginning readers become fluent readers. Of course, these…

Chunking is the recoding of smaller units of information into larger, familiar units. Chunking is often assumed to help bypassing the limited capacity of working memory (WM). We investigate how chunks are used in WM tasks, addressing three questions: (a) Does chunking reduce the load on WM? Across four experiments chunking benefits were found not…

The purpose of morphology instruction is to: (1) support accurate and fluent polysyllabic (poly = more than one) reading; (2) improve spelling of polysyllabic words; and (3) aid vocabulary development and reading comprehension. Thus, instruction needs to move from part (morphemes) to whole (polysyllabic words). This guide includes information…

The current study explored the vocabulary use and examined the rhetorical move structure of World Health Organization Emergencies Press Conferences on the Coronavirus Disease. Vocabulary use was described using a corpus of 140 press conferences containing 1,139,248 running words that was analysed based on three indicator variables: vocabulary…

A growing number of studies have probed the effectiveness of certain exercise formats in the learning of multi-word expressions (MWEs) in classroom settings. However, a number of important variables, such as MWE retention over an extended period of time and the role of repetition, have so far not been considered. Furthermore, studies have focused…

Textbooks are an important source of knowledge input on which the transmission of academic knowledge often relies, especially in the early stages of academic learning. Adopting a corpus-based approach, this study evaluates the text difficulty of science textbooks used in secondary English-medium instruction schools in Hong Kong, with a focus on…

Four papers by Brandon Kramer, Tohru Matsuo, Aaron Sponseller, Young Ae Kim, Suzuka Nishiyama, and Stuart McLean; Stuart Benson and Naheen Madarbakus-Ring; Michael McGuire and Jennifer Larson-Hall; and Atsushi Mizumoto, Geoffrey Pinchbeck, and Stuart McLean were presented in the morning session of the 2021 Vocabulary SIG Symposium held in Kyoto,…

To date, attempts at empirically validating a construct of academic vocabulary in the form of a frequency list in languages other than English remain conspicuously absent in peer-reviewed journals. This study aims to close this gap by using Russian as a case study to develop an academic vocabulary list and prove its viability through a variety of…