Incidentally acquired vocabulary is retained over time while intentionally learned (focus-on-form) words are rapidly forgotten¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · reviewr1·q2
Currency · newest study 2011 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q2 i? Re-analysis of File and Adams data (Mason & Krashen 2010) shows subjects retained incidentally acquired words at delayed test, while focus-on-form (intentionally learned) words were rapidly forgotten within 16 days after treatment. → Ponniah 2011
Evidence¶
Ponniah 2011¶
Ponniah, R. J. (2011). The Effectiveness of the Comprehension Hypothesis: A Review on the Current Research on Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition. i-manager's Journal on English Language Teaching, 1(2), April-June 2011. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1071042 doi:10.26634/jelt.1.2.1452
q2 · i? · review · r1
Re-analysis (Mason & Krashen 2010) of File and Adams' data reported in the review. Table 1 gives pretest, posttest and delayed scores for Incidental (Reading), Integrated, and Isolated groups; the incidental group's gains persisted at delayed test while isolated-group gains fell back.
"Re analysis of the data (Mason and Krashen 2010) of File and Adam confirms that subjects could retain the incidentally acquired words and the focus-on-form words (intentional learning) were rapidly forgotten in 16 days, after the treatment period"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Adult ESL students who read a short story could use incidentally acquired words in sentences, while students who learned word meanings in isolation could not — related
- Incidental vocabulary acquisition through comprehensible input is more powerful than intentional vocabulary learning — a broader claim this one bears on
- Generation effects are larger in incidental than intentional learning studies, though the direct intentional-vs-incidental contrast was not significant — related
- Combining intentional and incidental vocabulary learning produces greater gains and better retention than either mode alone — reports the opposite
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
incidental-vocabulary-retained-intentional-forgotten |
title |
Incidentally acquired vocabulary is retained over time while intentionally learned (focus-on-form) words are rapidly forgotten |
description |
Incidentally acquired vocabulary is retained over time while intentionally learned (focus-on-form) words are rapidly forgotten |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
weak |
newest_evidence |
2011 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-09-28 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — ponniah-2011 |
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