Higher L2 reading proficiency, motivation, and involvement load are associated with larger incidental vocabulary gains¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · review r1–r2 · q2–q3
Currency · newest study 2019 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Advanced-level students achieved a greater number of words through reading than intermediate and upper-intermediate students, and higher reading proficiency predicted larger gains. → Zou 2019 q2 i? A meta-analysis of twelve studies found higher involvement load while performing a reading task associated with more vocabulary gained, with output tasks and time-on-task positively related to gains. → Zou 2019 (2)

Evidence¶

Zou 2019¶

Zou, F., & Yan, X. (2019). Incidental English Vocabulary Acquisition Through Reading: A Review in the Last Two Decades. English Language Teaching, 12(12). https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v12n12p39

q2 · i? · review · r1

The review reports, citing Tekmen and Daloğlu (2006), that advanced learners gained more words through reading than intermediate and upper-intermediate learners; Lee and Pulido (2017) are also cited as finding higher proficiency resulted in more gains. No effect size is printed.

"Tekmen and Daloǧlu (2006) found that the advanced-level students achieved a positively greater number of words through reading than the intermediate-level and upper intermediate-level students."

Zou 2019 (2)¶

Zou, F., & Yan, X. (2019). Incidental English Vocabulary Acquisition Through Reading: A Review in the Last Two Decades. English Language Teaching, 12(12). https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v12n12p39

q3 · i? · review · r2

The review reports a meta-analysis of twelve studies (six published, six unpublished) coded for effect sizes and five mediator variables; it found output tasks while reading enhanced gains and time-on-task length was positively correlated with incidental vocabulary learning. No pooled effect size is printed.

"In a meta-analytic study of twelve separate studies, Huang, Eslami and Willson (2012) stated that the higher degree of involvement load a learner is carrying when performing a reading task, the more vocabulary the learner tends to gain."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Incidental vocabulary learning anxiety positively predicts L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading — related
• L2 learners pick up vocabulary incidentally from meaning-focused input, with reading the most-studied mode and listening yielding similar proportions of words learned — a broader claim this one bears on
• Tasks with higher involvement load, involving search and evaluation, are conducive to better word retention, with marginal glosses efficient for incidental learning — related
• L2 proficiency positively predicts L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Motivation did not significantly predict L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading — reports the opposite
• The more often learners meet a word while reading, the more likely they are to learn it incidentally; a meta-analysis of correlational studies finds a moderate correlation — related
• Reading and listening yield similar proportions of incidental vocabulary learning, with reading ahead only on some immediate posttests — related
• Incidental vocabulary exposure produces reliable learning, but learners pick up only a small share of the unknown words they meet — related
• Reading proficiency level moderates incidental vocabulary gains: higher-proficiency readers gained more, consistent with i+1 — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Meaning-focused exposure to spoken L2 input yields large vocabulary gains (g = 1.05) in incidental word learning — related
• L2 proficiency, anxiety, and mastery of strategies jointly explain 18% of variance in incidental vocabulary acquisition — related