This multisite study replicates Webb, Newton, and Chang's (2013) study on the effect of repetition on incidental learning of multiword units (MWUs). Even though more researchers have started to investigate MWUs, most data have been collected from university students. Furthermore, the large effect of MWU repetition on learning reported by Webb…

Mobile technology is one of the most important approaches to facilitating vocabulary learning. However, despite an increasing use of mobile devices for this purpose, there is currently no dedicated evaluation framework to examine whether the vocabulary-learning applications on the market are well designed. Building on prior research from the…

The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of implementing animated videos to enhance vocabulary comprehension among English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. A total of sixty primary students in the fourth Grade at a public primary school in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) participated in this study. They were taking EFL…

Multiple-choice questions (MCQs) are popular in vocabulary software because they can be scored automatically and are compatible with many input devices (e.g., touchscreens). Answering MCQs is beneficial for learning, especially when learners retrieve knowledge from memory to evaluate plausible answer alternatives. However, such retrieval may not…

Background: Despite evidence that synthetic phonics teaching has increased reading attainments, a sizable minority of children struggle to acquire phonics skills and teachers lack clear principles for deciding what types of "additional" support are most beneficial. Synthetic phonics teaches children to read using a decoding strategy to…

Flashcard is viewed as one of the interesting and effective teaching media to teach English in general and vocabulary in particular. To enrich students' vocabulary, flashcards can be used as a personal dictionary for students or as an instrument to play a game applied as a strategy that facilitates active and fun learning. This study aims to solve…

Since Swain's (1985) Output Hypothesis, producing output in second language (L2) has been assumed to be a crucial cognitive process that promotes L2 acquisition, by actively facilitating various cognitive processes (e.g., noticing, hypothesis testing, conscious reflections of own language use, and automatization of the linguistic knowledge) (de…

Most language use is displaced, referring to past, future, or hypothetical events, posing the challenge of how children learn what words refer to when the referent is not physically available. One possibility is that iconic cues that imagistically evoke properties of absent referents support learning when referents are displaced. In an…

Recognizing the roles that English vocabulary, social interaction, academic performance, and learning motivation play in language learning can be useful in chiefly enhancing EFL language acquisition. This research explores the challenges that the pre-college EFL students encounter while expanding their word learning knowledge, communicating in the…

Second language (L2) enjoyment has gained recent interest, but little research has attended to the sources of L2 vocabulary learning enjoyment. Drawing on the regulatory focus theory and the assumption that advancing toward a goal can contribute greatly to learning enjoyment, this study examined the extent L2 vocabulary selves and capacity for…

A 7-year longitudinal study was conducted as part of the French national cohort ELFE (N = 1095). The aim was to identify how and why early language skills at 2 years might predict later literacy skills assessed successively at 5, 7, and 9 years (LitSk5y; 7y; 9y). Using one and the same model, we also examined the relations between literacy skills…

Although decades of research attest to the importance of vocabulary teaching and learning, and recent research points to principles of effective vocabulary instruction, the small number of studies on actual classroom practice suggest that teachers continue to use the least effective approaches, often focusing on memorization of definitions.…

Vocabulary is an essential component of language learning. Despite the fact that form-focused instruction (hereinafter FFI) has been demonstrated to be effective in language learning, it remains unclear when and how FFI can contribute to vocabulary learning. To address this question, this study takes the timing of FFI into consideration and…

In July 2023, Governor DeWine and the General Assembly enacted bold literacy reforms via his budget plan (House Bill 33) that require Ohio elementary schools to follow the Science of Reading starting in 2024-25. This approach to reading instruction emphasizes phonics to help students "decode" words, as well as knowledge- and…

Working memory (WM) is essential to vocabulary learning. However, limited attention has been paid to young beginner learners' vocabulary development under various task conditions from the perspective of WM. This study investigates how two types of WM--complex WM and phonological short-term memory--may influence two instructional approaches (i.e.,…