People differ in the size of their social network, and thus in the properties of the linguistic input they receive. This article examines whether differences in social network size influence individuals' linguistic skills in their native language, focusing on global comprehension of evaluative language. Study 1 exploits the natural variation in…

Using a Chinese Word Associates Test (WAT-C), this study examined the vocabulary depth of second language learners of Chinese and its contribution to the learners' reading comprehension. Results showed no significant effects of word frequency, word class (i.e., adjectives vs. verbs), and type of association relationships (i.e., paradigmatic vs.…

The basic questions that guide this study are: (a) what percentage of vocabulary from a passage would a Spanish learner need to know to demonstrate "adequate" (a score of 70 out of 100) comprehension of it? And, (b) what type of curve would best describe the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension? Fifty-three…

Learning spoken word forms is a vital part of second language learning, and CALL lends itself well to this training. Not enough is known, however, about how auditory variation across speech tokens may affect receptive word learning. To find out, 144 Thai university students with no knowledge of the Patani Malay language learned 24 foreign words in…

This study investigated the receptive vocabulary growth of advanced EFL learners in an English-medium degree programme. The study used the Vocabulary Size Test in a cross-sectional design to measure the vocabulary size of learners at various stages of study. The effect of word frequency on vocabulary development and the presence of an…

Background: The conclusion that children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) do not use eye gaze in the service of word learning is based on one-trial studies. Aims: To determine whether children with ASD come to use gaze in the service of word learning when given multiple trials with highly reliable eye-gaze cues. Methods & Procedures:…

Vocabulary has always been one of the significant issues that affect the English language learning and teaching. The current study aims to improve primary stage pupils' EFL vocabulary learning and retention skills through using mnemonics. Sixty four 6th grade primary school pupils were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. The…

This study examines the genetic and environmental etiology underlying the development of oral language and reading skills, and the relationship between them, over a long period of developmental time spanning middle childhood and adolescence. It focuses particularly on the differential relationship between language and two different aspects of…

An experiment was conducted to investigate methods that enable college students to learn the meaning of unknown words as they read discipline-specific academic text. Forty-one college students read specific passages aloud during three sessions. Participants were randomly assigned to three vocabulary learning interventions or a control condition.…

The present study investigates English-learning infants' early understanding of the link between the grammatical category "verb" and the conceptual category "event," and their ability to recruit morphosyntactic information online to learn novel verb meanings. We report two experiments using an infant-controlled…

This paper moves away from reminiscent mechanical repetition and drills, which were in vogue when teaching vocabulary before the rise of technology. With the support of technology, innovative methodologies that are more effective and enjoyable can be implemented into vocabulary teaching. In this particular context, there seems to be a lack of…

The purpose of this study was to determine if picture books in high school classrooms could enhance word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. Previous research has not fully considered employing picture books as mentor texts in high schools. Twelve participants from two low-performing 10th grade English classes were identified as low-,…

When students read more, vocabulary knowledge increases (Cunningham & Stanovich, 2003; Krashen, 2004). Out of every 100 unknown words that students encounter while reading, they learn an average of 15 of them from text alone (Swanborn & de Glopper, 1999). In addition, as students age, they are more likely to infer word meanings, indicating…

The present study examined whether knowledge of connectives contributes uniquely to expository text comprehension above and beyond reading fluency, general vocabulary knowledge and metacognitive knowledge. Furthermore, it was examined whether this contribution differs for readers with different language backgrounds or readers who vary in reading…

This study used a novel method to explore different schedules of spacing in young EFL learners. In doing so, we taught young EFL learners English-Farsi word pairs using different spacing schedules (massed vs. spaced). In the massed condition, learners studied five-word pairs in session one and five-other word pairs one week later. In the spaced…