Task-essentialness and productive use of new words in goal-directed activity may positively affect vocabulary learning and retention¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 2015 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? McCafferty, Roebuck, and Wayland found that increased mental effort and productive use of new words in peer interviews might positively affect learning and retention, with task-essentialness important for lexical learning. → Restrepo Ramos 2015

Evidence¶

Restrepo Ramos 2015¶

Restrepo Ramos, F. D. (2015). Incidental vocabulary learning in second language acquisition: A literature review. PROFILE Issues in Teachers' Professional Development, 17(1), 157-166. http://dx.doi.org/10.15446/profile.v17n1.43957

q2 · i? · causal · r1

The review reports, citing McCafferty et al. (2001), a preliminary study applying Vygotsky's activity theory with five native English speakers in a third-semester Spanish class, comparing a writing task control with peer-interview experimental conditions; findings are hedged with might.

"Findings showed that increased mental effort and the productive use of new words in the experimental condition might positively affect learning and retention. Moreover, the researchers argue that task-essentialness"

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Vocabulary — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Vocabulary Knowledge Grows Incrementally With Repeated Encounters In Varied Contexts — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
• Digital game-based learning supports long-term retention of second-language vocabulary — related
• Prompting learners to self-explain, one generative strategy, improves learning by a moderate average amount; other generative activities are not tested by the evidence recorded here — a broader claim this one bears on
• Marginal glosses, dictionary use, and repeated occurrence of unknown words each positively affect incidental vocabulary learning — related
• Highly informative contexts produce higher retention of word meaning, with context affecting knowledge of meaning rather than form — related
• Deeper processing of target language improves lexical retention and long-term learning — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• MACE participation increased students' use of daily (tier 1) geometrical words, but not academic (tier 2) geometrical words, which decreased in all conditions — related
• Effort investment is driven differently in CLT (data-driven, task difficulty) versus SRL theories (goal-driven, motivation) — related
• Motivational processes are proposed to be instrumental for essential as well as generative processing — related
• Emotion affects motivation, which in turn affects mental effort investment during learning — related
• In-between learning activities increased invested mental effort in reading the second text unit (Experiment 2) — related