The focus of this dissertation is the development and testing of a CALL tool which assists learners of German with the extensive reading of German texts of their choice. The application provides functionality that enables learners to acquire new vocabulary, analyse the meaning of complex word forms and to study a word’s semantic and syntactic features with the help of corpora and online resources. It is also designed to enable instructors to create meaningful exercises to be used in classroom activities focusing on vocabulary acquisition and word formation rules. The detailed description of the software development and implementation is preceded by a review of the relevant literature in the areas of German morphology and word formation, second language acquisition and vocabulary acquisition in particular, studies on the benefits of extensive reading, the role of motivation in second language learning, CALL, and natural language processing technologies. The user study presented at the end of this dissertation shows how a first test group of learners was able to use the application for individual reading projects and presents the results of an evaluation of the software conducted by three German instructors assessing the affordances of the applications for students and potential applications for language instructors.

The focus of this dissertation is the development and testing of a CALL tool which assists learners of German with the extensive reading of German texts of their choice. The application provides functionality that enables learners to acquire new vocabulary, analyse the meaning of complex word forms and to study a word’s semantic and syntactic features with the help of corpora and online resources. It is also designed to enable instructors to create meaningful exercises to be used in classroom activities focusing on vocabulary acquisition and word formation rules. The detailed description of the software development and implementation is preceded by a review of the relevant literature in the areas of German morphology and word formation, second language acquisition and vocabulary acquisition in particular, studies on the benefits of extensive reading, the role of motivation in second language learning, CALL, and natural language processing technologies. The user study presented at the end of this dissertation shows how a first test group of learners was able to use the application for individual reading projects and presents the results of an evaluation of the software conducted by three German instructors assessing the affordances of the applications for students and potential applications for language instructors.

Students in high school have a need to be able to remember a lot of information during their years of schooling. The purpose of this study was to investigate if mnemonic techniques could help the participating students to become more efficient in recalling new English vocabulary. If the results were to indicate an increase in efficiency with either of the two techniques selected, it would make a case for using this technique in foreign- and second language learning contexts. The students who participated were taught the reminiscent technique and the loci method because these techniques focus on connecting vocabulary to existing memories, thus enabling encodement to long-term memory. Research within second language studies recommends using mnemonic techniques as a help to retrieve words. The students’ recall of vocabulary was tested after an introduction to each technique. They were given three initial tests containing 15 new English words each, a total of 45 words. The first such set tested the efficiency of the students’ own techniques, while the second and third set tested the reminiscent technique and loci method, respectively. After a period of three weeks there was a final test on all the 45 new words at once, testing the possible encodement to long-term memory. The most interesting results were found regarding the percentages of lowest difference in "decrease of retrieval rate" of each vocabulary item between the first initial tests and the final test. The smaller the decrease could indicate a stronger encodement to long-term memory. The top two recalled words were linked to the reminiscent technique and the one in third place to the loci method. Thus, there was some indication that these helped to achieve a stronger encodement to long-term memory. However, when comparing the total number of recalled words, the students’ own technique came out as the winner.

The present project aimed to characterize the role of serial order within the working memory and language domains by first addressing a) whether serial order processing is domain-general and then b) whether serial order processing underlies vocabulary acquisition. Experiment 1 revealed that order memory in the visuo-spatial domain is qualitatively similar to order memory for verbal memoranda by reporting visuo-spatial equivalents of two well-known effects in verbal STM for serial order, repetition inhibition (e.g., Crowder, 1968) and repetition facilitation (Crowder, 1968). The effects were, however, accompanied by critical differences that may be due to modality-specific processes. Experiment 2 directly investigated whether verbal and visuo-spatial STM rely on common ordering mechanisms using a delayed recall dual-task design that contrasted two types of visuo-spatial interference tasks during a concurrent verbal serial order memory task (digit sequence memory). The visuo-spatial tasks probed either serial order STM or non-serial order (item) STM. Serial-order specific interference effects with the concurrent verbal serial order STM task were found. In experiment 3, we replicated the investigations of Experiment 2 using a word-learning paradigm as a concurrent task in place of the verbal serial order STM task that was previously used. Again interference by a visuo-spatial STM task was found only when it required memory for serial order. In sum, the results suggest that verbal and visuo-spatial STM subsystems rely on common mechanisms for serial order processing. These in turn appear to communicate with domain-specific processing substrates involved in item-level memory representations. Furthermore, the results indicate that such domain-general serial ordering mechanisms are also involved in novel word-learning. Taken together, the present findings provide crucial constraints for modeling of order representations. They also offer insight into mechanisms shared by vocabulary acquisition and STM tasks. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / This experimental study examined the effects vocabulary acquisition strategies and story discussion styles on the English vocabulary acquisition and story comprehension of ESL preschoolers. Eighty preschool-aged, typically-developing, native speakers of Portugese who are also second language learners of English were pretested in L1 (Portugese) receptive vocabulary and L2 (English) receptive and expressive vocabulary to determine a baseline of vocabulary knowledge in each language. Matched according to age, gender, and pretest L2 receptive vocabulary scores, subjects were assigned to experimental or control groups. Subjects in the experimental group heard eight stories read three times with rich explanations of target vocabulary words and with several discussion questions within either a didactic-labeling style of discussion (i.e., explicit questions requiring children to recall basic facts or to recite text) or a performance-oriented style of discussion (i.e., implicit questions requiring children to analyze and integrate information within the text). Subjects in the control group heard eight stories read three times without explanation of target vocabulary words and without discussion questions. Parents of all participants returned questionnaires about children's home reading experience. Results for target vocabulary acquisition showed a strong and significant effect of treatment (i.e., rich explanation of new vocabulary) on ESL preschoolers' target vocabulary acquisition. Regression analyses showed that treatment, initial L2 receptive skill, home reading practices, and story comprehension accounted for 69% of the variance in target vocabulary scores. Initial Ll skill did not have a significant effect on target vocabulary acquisition. Results for story comprehension showed a weak but significant effect of the performance-oriented discussion style on children's story comprehension. Regression analyses showed that L2 receptive skill, treatment (i.e., performance-oriented style of discussion), L2 expressive skill, target vocabulary acquisition, and home reading practices accounted for 60% of the variance in story comprehension scores. Initial Ll skill did not have a significant effect on story comprehension. In conclusion, L2 skills are paramount to children's vocabulary acquisition and story comprehension. Moreover, the supportiveness of adult input (i.e., rich explanations and cognitively challenging discussion questions) and home reading practices make important contributions to ESL preschoolers' English vocabulary acquisition and story comprehension.

<p>Based on the survey of Chinese students in a Sweden university,the present study finds out that Chinese EFL learners at a low level can benefit from incidental English vocabulary acquisition through reading aided by glosses, that they prefer glosses in reading materials, and whether Chinese gloss and English gloss differ in effectiveness on incidental vocabulary learning.</p>

Based on the survey of Chinese students in a Sweden university,the present study finds out that Chinese EFL learners at a low level can benefit from incidental English vocabulary acquisition through reading aided by glosses, that they prefer glosses in reading materials, and whether Chinese gloss and English gloss differ in effectiveness on incidental vocabulary learning.

Learning words have shown to be a very crucial part of learning a second language and the one most important factor to make pupils with Swedish as a second language succeed in school. To make sure that all pupils get the right conditions to learn from all subjects and their entire content a wide vocabulary is necessary. Even so it is found that there are shortcomings regarding this kind of teaching in Swedish schools. Through interviews and observations of two teachers that teach pupils with Swedish as a second language, and also with a short reading test for the pupils, the possible strategies that these teachers use for learning words have been studied. The result shows that the teachers are using several strategies and that they are actively working with transmitting these to the pupils, but there are some areas that need developing.

Video recordings can be subtitled in three ways: with first language (L1) subtitles, with second language (L2) subtitles, or with first language plus second language (bilingual or L1+L2) subtitles. The first two types of subtitles are widely discussed in previous research with regard to how they affect language learning. However, the effects of bilingual subtitles have not been widely studied. This study aims to examine the pedagogical effects of bilingual subtitles on vocabulary acquisition in the L2 classroom. A seven-week quasi-experimental study was conducted with four English-major classes in year-3 in a Chinese university: three experimental groups and one control group. Students in the three experimental classes were exposed to three documentary films on very similar topics with the three different types of subtitles in turn. They then took a vocabulary test relating to the lexical items encountered in the films. At the end of the experiment, they were given a questionnaire to explore their opinions towards differential subtitles in relation to their language learning. The results demonstrated a significant advantage of bilingual subtitling in videos for students’ receptive vocabulary knowledge and recall at post-test and this advantage was maintained at delayed post-test. The bilingual subtitles probably are more effective than monolingual subtitles with regard to students’ vocabulary acquisition in short-term and long-term. Also, bilingual subtitles were preferred by a majority of students in respect of video understanding and vocabulary learning. L2 subtitles were favoured by more students for improving their listening comprehension. Pedagogical implications for the use of differential subtitles in the L2 classroom are discussed.