The Effects of Sentence Writing as Semantic Elaboration on the Allocation of Processing Resources and Second Language Lexical Acquisition
Barcroft, Joe
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Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/86185
Description
Title
The Effects of Sentence Writing as Semantic Elaboration on the Allocation of Processing Resources and Second Language Lexical Acquisition
Author(s)
Barcroft, Joe
Issue Date
2000
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Bill VanPattten
Department of Study
Spanish
Discipline
Spanish
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Literature, Romance
Language
eng
Abstract
Research suggests that semantic elaboration facilitates learning for lists of known words (e.g., Craik & Lockhart, 1972) and for unknown words recoded as known words (e.g., Atkinson & Raugh, 1975). Other studies have found no positive effect for semantic elaboration on new word definition recall (e.g., Pressley, Levin, Kuiper, Bryant, & Michener, 1982). In view of these findings and the inverse relationship found between processing second language (L2) input for meaning and for form (VanPatten, 1990), it is hypothesized that semantic elaboration may negatively affect word form learning. To test this hypothesis, a study was conducted operationalizing semantic elaboration as writing new words in sentences. In this study, L2 Spanish learners ( N = 60) attempted to learn 24 new Spanish concrete nouns while viewing each word along with its picture on a television screen. The study compared two learning conditions, one in which participants were shown four repetitions of each word for 6 seconds each (no sentence writing) and one in which they were shown one repetition of each word for 48 seconds each and asked to write each word in a Spanish sentence (sentence writing). After the exposure phase, the participants completed three posttests (immediately after exposure, 2 days later, 1 week later) on which they wrote Spanish words when presented with pictures only. The data were submitted to two analyses of covariance for actual scores and for scores in words per minute. Condition, time, gender, and experience were independent variables. Class and presentation order were blocking variables. Number of lexical items produced (score) was the dependent variable. Results indicated a negative effect for sentence writing on lexical items produced, suggesting that semantic processing can inhibit form learning by exhausting processing resources that could otherwise be directed at new forms.
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