The purpose of this experimental study was to investigate the effect of stereoscopic three-dimensional (S3D) images on productive and receptive recall of foreign language vocabulary. S3D images are highly-realistic and differ from non-stereoscopic three-dimensional (NS3D) images in that they provide the impression of the added third dimension of depth. This within-subject study exposed the participants (N = 82) in a controlled setting to a series of carefully designed and randomly distributed NS3D and S3D images. The subjects were then given immediate productive and receptive tests of foreign language vocabulary items that were represented by NS3D and S3D images. Quantitative data consisted of the scores from the vocabulary tests. Qualitative data, gathered through background questionnaires and follow-up surveys, included a mixture of open-ended and Likert questions. The statistical analyses of the data using a series of paired t-tests showed NS3D and S3D images to be equally effective for vocabulary recall. In addition, significantly more subjects found S3D images to be engaging and/or more useful, while subjects also indicated that they perceived the main benefits of learning with S3D images to come from enhanced focus, realism, engagement, and association. At the same time, some learners reported being distracted and experiencing discomfort while viewing S3D images. Post hoc tests revealed that lower performance on S3D images was driven only by those subgroups that exhibited discomfort and / or lack of experience with S3D technology.

Vocabulary homework is a common feature in the English subject in Sweden. Often the pupils are given a list of words they are to memorize for a pending test. In this literature review the author aims to analyze what the current research says about homework and how homework can be used effectively for EFL learners in elementary school, with a focus on both homework and vocabulary learning research. Cognitive linguistics has been used as a theoretical perspective to help answer the research questions. Results indicate that homework has limited effect on younger learners and should not be used, while, some researchers claim that it can be effective if introduced properly. Regarding vocabulary learning, it is important that vocabulary is relevant to the learner and that words are taught through a meaningful context. Therefore, vocabulary homework for EFL learners in elementary school should consist of words and phraseology which have a personal relevance to the learner, or key words for subjects taught in class. The conclusion of the study is that it is up to the teachers to determine if they should use vocabulary homework or not when teaching EFL, as long as the decision is based on current research. / <p>engelska</p>

The aim with this essay is to examine how relevant the strategies compiled by the National Agency for Education are to English language teachers in Sweden.  The main focus is on the area of strategies in general but in order to go further into depth in a specific area, there is a selective focus on vocabulary learning strategies as well. Moreover, this study has been facilitated with the help from teachers. The teachers answered a number of questions through a quantitative questionnaire. The teachers selected to participate in this study all teach at high school level. A total of eight teachers participated as informants. As the main theory, this study used the original classification framework designed by Chamot and O’Malley (1990). The conclusions drawn from the results is that teachers found all strategies listed by the Swedish National Agency for Education to have importance even though some were more important than others. Furthermore, with regards to the vocabulary learning, the conclusion has been drawn that teachers use several techniques in their teaching. However, the summary of the vocabulary strategies shows the importance to vary. Some informants answered that they use the strategies frequently although in quite a few cases they answered that they use them infrequently, which awakens the question of relevance in the daily teaching practice.

English has been taught as a core and compulsory subject in China for decades. Recently, the demand for English in China has increased dramatically. China now has the world’s largest English-learning population. The traditional English-teaching method cannot continue to be the only approach because it merely focuses on reading, grammar and translation, which cannot meet English learners and users’ needs (i.e., communicative competence and skills in speaking and writing). This study was conducted to investigate if the Picture-Word Inductive Model (PWIM), a new pedagogical method using pictures and inductive thinking, would benefit English learners in China in terms of potential higher output in speaking and writing. With the gauge of Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), specifically, its redundancy effect, I investigated whether processing words and a picture concurrently would present a cognitive overload for English learners in China. I conducted a mixed methods research study. A quasi-experiment (pretest, intervention for seven weeks, and posttest) was conducted using 234 students in four groups in Lianyungang, China (58 fourth graders and 57 seventh graders as an experimental group with PWIM and 59 fourth graders and 60 seventh graders as a control group with the traditional method). No significant difference in the effects of PWIM was found on vocabulary acquisition based on grade levels. Observations, questionnaires with open-ended questions, and interviews were deployed to answer the three remaining research questions. A few students felt cognitively overloaded when they encountered too many writing samples, too many new words at one time, repeated words, mismatches between words and pictures, and so on. Many students listed and exemplified numerous strengths of PWIM, but a few mentioned weaknesses of PWIM. The students expressed the idea that PWIM had a positive effect on their English teaching. As integrated inferences, qualitative findings were used to explain the quantitative results that there were no significant differences of the effects of the PWIM between the experimental and control groups in both grade levels, from four contextual aspects: time constraints on PWIM implementation, teachers’ resistance, how to use PWIM and PWIM implemented in a classroom over 55 students.

The increased need for digital education in upper secondary schools of Sweden during the COVID-19 outbreak showcased that there is a lack of professional knowledge in regards to what tools to use in order to vary the experience for the students in a virtual teaching environment. In this paper, we investigate whether Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) could assist English vocabulary acquisition of Swedish upper secondary students and what their attitudes are towards it. By finding and synthesizing studies that have been published on MALL in regards to vocabulary acquisition, we hoped to gauge the possible outcomes of applying it in Swedish classrooms as well. The majority of the analyzed studies showed positive results on both vocabulary acquisition and the students' attitudes. However, the methods of the experiments and the attitude questionnaires, along with the innate cultural differences, made us question whether we would see the same results in Swedish schools, but when considering the curriculum, the empirical evidence and learning theories, we still found enough relevancy and validity in the method to claim that MALL could work to assist vocabulary acquisition in the English classroom of Swedish upper secondary school.

Vocabulary learning is a fundamental aspect in second language acquisition, yet it produces difficulties due to the use of translation as its most common means. An interesting thesis in this field is the connection between words and culture. But what are the actual theories and tools that make this connection worthwhile? How could it be operative for teachers of FLE (French: French as a foreign language) in Sweden? On the first place, a theoretical framework is established in order to formulate pedagogical propositions. It will examine the connection between vocabulary and culture through a wide array of literature in the field of second language learning. Thus, the intercultural context of language learning offers a relevant platform where notions such as intercomprehension, “lexiculture”, cultural and lexical competences and authentic texts are at play. Based on this theoretical framework, a practical teaching proposition is elaborated. Exercises, ways to introduce new words or examples of the use of intercomprehension in language learning are thus explored. This proposition is supported by two interviews made in dialogue with two French teachers. Their answers tend to confirm in part the relevancy of the theoretical notions explained earlier such as intercomprehension. However, the connection between vocabulary and culture seems to remain vague in the field of word learning. It seems this assumption is rather a context or a framework that emphasizes the complexity of word acquisition and that offers the ability to develop a certain desire in learning new words.

This research explores the efficacy of word cards as a deliberate vocabulary learning technique and investigates the effects of testing on motivation for deliberate vocabulary study. While word cards are a widely supported method of deliberately studying target foreign language vocabulary, there is a surprising lack of research-based evidence supporting them, and very few researchers have asked students how they feel about word card learning. In addition, it is well known that testing can increase extrinsic motivation, but the motivational effects of regular vocabulary testing has so far been largely overlooked. The first two experiments in this study investigated the learning outcomes associated with making and studying from word cards. Experiment 1 is unique in that it is the first known study to isolate the learning outcomes of making word cards. The results indicated that the process of making word cards results in significant initial vocabulary learning, but a substantial amount of this new knowledge is lost in a relatively short period of time if no further study is carried out. The second experiment compared the use of self-made word cards with premade cards. The results indicated that although both methods are effective in the short and long-term, learners might be better studying from premade cards. However, the results of the third experiment led to the conclusion that premade cards are best suited to motivated learners. Qualitative data analysis revealed that learners generally have positive views of word card learning and understand the benefits it offers over other methods such as learning from lists or notebooks. The final experiment in this study examined the motivational effects of regular student-generated vocabulary testing and investigated whether learners can act as reliable raters of their peers’ vocabulary development. Results indicated that peer-to-peer vocabulary testing increases motivation for deliberate vocabulary learning even if test scores do not affect the students’ grades. Surprisingly, the student-generated and administered tests were more intrinsically motivating than extrinsically so. Taken together, the results of the various experiments offer support for the use of word cards for foreign language vocabulary learning and indicate that motivation for such types of learning can be increased by through peer testing. / Teaching & Learning

Popular music is ever-present and widely available in students’ lives and the value of it as a factor in the language learning process has been a part of the pedagogical literature for many years. One of the often-discussed benefits is the potential for vocabulary learning through songs; however, few researchers have examined whether songs are a suitable source of input for vocabulary learning for English language learners. To address this need, this corpus-driven study investigated the vocabulary demands of popular English songs. A comprehensive corpus of popular English song lyrics was created for this study. Songs for the corpus were selected according to their impact and influence on culture. A song’s impact on culture was determined by its ranking from experts in the music industries in the United States and the United Kingdom and by its popularity based on radio airplay, sales data, and streaming data in the United States and sales and streaming data in the United Kingdom. The corpus contained 2,175 songs and 678,309 tokens. The total listening time was 135 hours and 22 minutes. The lyrics in the corpus were analyzed to determine the vocabulary size necessary to reach 95% and 98% coverage of the words in songs. The songs in the corpus were divided into two varieties of English—American and British, six decades—1950s to 2000s, and four genres—Urban Roots, Formative Rock, Progressive Rock, and Mainstream Listening. An analysis was first completed over the whole corpus and then over the songs from each variety of English, decade, and genre. This study also examined the potential to incidentally learn vocabulary from listening to songs and whether songs are more similar to spoken or written discourse. The results showed that knowledge of the most frequent 2,000 word families, proper nouns, and marginal words provided 96.05% coverage, and knowledge of the most frequent 5,000 word families, proper nouns, and marginal words provided 98% coverage of songs. Both American and British songs reached 95% coverage at the 2,000 word frequency level. However, the British songs reached 98% coverage at the 5,000 word frequency level, while the American songs reached 98% coverage at the 6,000 word frequency level. A vocabulary of the most frequent 2,000 word families, proper nouns, and marginal words was sufficient to reach 95% coverage in all six decades. However, the vocabulary size needed to reach 98% coverage in the six decades ranged from the most frequent 4,000 to 8,000 word families plus proper nouns and marginal words. A vocabulary of the most frequent 2,000 word families, proper nouns, and marginal words was adequate to reach 95% coverage in all four genre categories. However, the vocabulary size necessary to reach 98% coverage in the different genres ranged from the most frequent 5,000 to 6,000 word families plus proper nouns and marginal words. The results indicated that there would be a relatively low number of meetings of the same low-frequency word families if learners listened to a small or large number of popular songs. However, there would be a relatively high number of encounters of the same mid-frequency and high-frequency word families if learners listened to a large number of popular songs. This result suggests that there is a greater potential for incidental vocabulary learning of mid-frequency and high-frequency vocabulary through songs. Lastly, in terms of vocabulary, songs are more similar to unscripted spoken discourse than written discourse. Overall, the findings indicate that songs have the potential to be an appropriate source of input for English language learners and might be beneficial for incidental vocabulary learning, especially when listening to a large number of songs. This study provides insights into the kinds of vocabulary used in popular songs and suggests implications for teaching and learning with songs. / Language Arts

This study is based on an investigation of the effect of contextual and non-contextual vocabulary strategies carried out among three different sections of middle school students in the researcher's own beginning level Spanish classroom. Although all students participated in the same textbook related classroom activities, students in Group 1 received explicit instruction on contextual (wrote novel sentences, used a bilingual dictionary and morphological analysis) and non-contextually based vocabulary strategies (cognitive and semantic processing); students in Group 2 used bilingual dictionaries, analyzed base words and affixes, and created novel sentences with the words; students in Group 3 did not receive explicit instruction on vocabulary strategies, but were encouraged to use whatever methods they chose. The vocabulary used included words obtained from student textbooks, and Spanish word families. Primary data sources included quiz and test scores, an open-ended questionnaire, and a vocabulary learning dialogue journal. Data analysis consisted of (a) statistical assessment of quiz and test data, and (b) qualitative assessment of an open-ended questionnaire that evaluated student test-taking strategies, and assessment of student self-report data gathered from the dialogue journals. Results of testing instruments indicated that students in the contextually based strategy group had improved in their test taking scores in a more notable manner than the other two groups, and that students in the full-strategy group had achieved notable gains on the vocabulary quizzes. Qualitative analysis of the questionnaire showed the main strategy used by all participants on the vocabulary tests to be Spanish base word analysis. Assessment of the journals indicated a preference for rote and rehearsal strategies over cognitive and semantic processing among students in Group 1. The study suggests a combination of contextually based strategies entailing a focus on L2 base words and affixes may improve student vocabulary test taking scores. / Spanish

英語為目前使用的最為普遍的國際語言，英語能力已成為每個學生都需要養成的基本能力，而英語字彙的學習，更是學好英語的最重要基礎，因此如何幫助學生學好英語也就越顯重要。 隨者資訊科技日新月異的發展，透過電腦輔助語言學習已成為發展趨勢，近年來利用自律機制輔助數位學習的研究，已證實自律機制有助於提升學習成效，然而目前仍少有研究將自律學習機制應用於英語學習，特別是英語字彙學習。因此本研究所發展一「具自律學習機制支援之英語字彙學習APP」，可以讓學習者監控並提醒自己所設定的英語字彙自律學習目標，希望藉由敦促學習者達成自己所設定的自律學習目標，促進學生利用零碎時間學習，提升學習者的英語字彙學習成效。為了驗證「具自律學習機制支援之英語字彙學習APP」是否有助於提升英語字彙學習成效，本研究隨機選取國小六年級二個班級學生為研究對象，將其中一班隨機分派為採用「具自律學習機制支援之英語字彙學習APP」的實驗組，另一班為採用「無自律學習機制支援之英語字彙學習APP」的控制組，分別進行為期三週的英語字彙學習活動。實驗結果發現： (1).實驗組學習者學習成效及學習動機顯著優於控制組學習者 (2)實驗組場地相依學習者學習成效及學習動機顯著優於控制組場地相依學習者 (3).實驗組男性學習者在學習成效及學習動機均顯著優於控制組男性學習者 (4).實驗組女性學習者在學習成效及學習動機均顯著優於控制組女性學習者 (5).實驗組學習者進行自律學習後的學習成效及學習動機均顯著提升 (6).實驗組女性學習者學習成效及學習態度優於實驗組男性學習者 綜合本研究之研究結果，建議未來可以延長實驗時間，進行自律鷹架的去除，瞭解學生是否會因此養成自律學習的能力。此外根據學生的回應，希望APP中具休閒的功能，故亦可往遊戲化學習方向進行研究。 關鍵字： 自律學習(Self-regulated Learning)、學習成效(Learning Performance)、認知風格(Cognitive Style)、英語字彙學習(English Vocabulary Learning) / English is currently the commonest international language. English competence has become the basic competence of each student. English vocabulary learning is a primary basis to learn English well. How to help students learn English well therefore becomes more important. Following the changeable development of information technology, computer assisted language learning has become a development trend. Research on utilizing self-regulatory mechanisms for e-learning proved that self-regulatory mechanism could enhance learning performance. Nonetheless, there is little research on the application of self-regulatory learning mechanism to English learning, particularly to English vocabulary learning. For this reason, a “self-regulatory learning supported English vocabulary learning APP” is developed in this study, allowing learners monitoring and reminding themselves of the preset English vocabulary self-regulatory learning goal. It is expected to promote learners’ English vocabulary learning performance by urging learners to achieve the preset self-regulatory learning goal and enhance students learning with trial time. To verify that the “self-regulatory learning supported English vocabulary learning APP” could enhance English vocabulary learning performance, two classes of G6 students are randomly selected as the research subjects. A class is randomly assigned as the experiment group with the “self-regulatory learning supported English vocabulary learning APP”, and the other class is the control group without the “self-regulatory learning supported English vocabulary learning APP” for the three-week English vocabulary learning. The experiment findings show that (1) Learners in the experiment group present significantly better learning performance and learning motivation than those in the control group. (2) Site-dependent learners in the experiment group show remarkably better learning performance and learning motivation than those in the control group. (3) Male learners in the experiment group reveal notably better learning performance and learning motivation than male learners in the control group. (4) Female learners in the experiment group appear significantly beter learning performance and learning motivation than femal learners in the control group. (5) Learners in the experiment group remarkably enhance the learning performance and learning motivation after the self-regulatory learning. (6) Femal learners in the experiment group reveal better learning performance and learning attitudes than male learners in the experiment group. Summing up the research results, it is suggested that the future experiment time could be extended and the self-regulatory scaffolding could be removed to understand whether students would cultivate the self-regulatory learning ability. According to the students’ responses, it is further expected that the APP could show the function of leisure. In this case, the gamification of learning could be studied in the future. Keywords：Self-regulated Learning, Learning Performance, Cognitive Style, English Vocabulary Learning