Griffin, Gerard Francis (1992) Aspects of the psychology of second language vocabulary list learning. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The learning of second language vocabulary in lists of word-pairs is a widespread practice
despite the disapproval of many in the second language learning domain. There is an
acknowledged mismatch between psychological theories on the one hand and techniques of
vocabulary learning on the other. Psychology does not address the relevant issues directly
and second language learning practice is often atheoretical and unprincipled. This thesis
reviews aspects of psychology which appear to be relevant to second language vocabulary
learning and their applicability. A series of experiments is conducted with comprehensive
school students learning French, aged 11-13.
The first part of the study deals with the presentation of vocabulary items to be
learned. Presenting items in the order First Language - Second Language is the more
versatile form of presentation if both generation and comprehension are required on the part
of the learner. The transferability of list learning to testing in a sentential context depends
on the ability of the learner and the task involved. Higher-ability list learners are inhibited
in a generation task but not in a comprehension task; the opposite is true for lower-ability
learners. Learning in a context improves the performance of higher-ability learners in
generation but makes little difference to lower-ability learners. An explanation is suggested
in terms of transfer-appropriate processing. The position of items in the list is not a reliable
indicator of learnability. Primacy, recency, and serial effects may be obtained but none of
them is consistent. The same conclusion applies to different ways of presenting wordpairs.
The second part of the study examines aspects of word learnability. Objective word
frequency is not a reliable indicator of learnability in this context. Word category and the
presence of an English word embedded in a French word are promising indicators of
leamability.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB1603 Secondary Education. High schools
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Second language acquisition, Language and languages -- Study and teaching -- Psychological aspects, French language -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Great Britain, French language -- Vocabulary, Vocabulary tests
Official Date:	September 1992
Dates:	Date Event September 1992 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Psychology
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Harley, Trevor A.
Extent:	356 leaves
Language:	eng

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