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Text Encounters of the Frequent Kind: Learning L2 Vocabulary
through Reading
Marlise Horst
A thesis submitted for the degree of
Philosophiae Doctor
University of Wales
Swansea
2000
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my supervisor, Paul Meara, for his help in inspiring and producing
this document. His insights, support and commitment to excellence were invaluable. It
has been a privilege to learn from him. Thanks, too, to Alison Wray for advice in the
initial stages.
I would also like to thank students at Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, and City
University of Hong Kong, and case study subjects in Swansea and Montreal for their
willingness to participate in the experiments reported here. Thanks also to Susanne
D'Souza, Jerry Krauel, and Heike Neumann for help with German materials.
Special thanks to Tom Cobb for constructive criticism and patient encouragement. I am
also grateful to the research team at the TESL Centre at Concordia University for their
support and enthusiasm. Finally, I wish to thank my father, Irvin B. Horst, for setting a
scholarly example.
DECLARATION
This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being
concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree.
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STATEMENT 1
This thesis is the result of my own investigation except where otherwise stated.
Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography
is appended.
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STATEMENT 2
I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for
inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside
organizations.
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Abstract
Text Encounters of the Frequent Kind: Learning L2 Vocabulary through Reading
It is generally believed that reading in a second language is one of the main ways learners
acquire vocabulary. Increased exposure to new words in context is assumed to result in
increased vocabulary knowledge. However, good experimental evidence supporting this
connection is very hard to come by. Most of the available studies report only tiny gains in
vocabulary knowledge as a result of reading. We believe that this problem arises at least
in part because these studies typically use insensitive methodologies, and study the
acquisition of only a handful of words.
Our research addresses these experimental design issues. When we introduced measures
to carefully control the conditions in which L2 learners read a simplified novel, we found
clear evidence of a role for frequent text exposures. Although this experiment made a
stronger case for the benefits of frequent encounters than previous studies, we felt that
growth results were limited by two factors: constraints on learning opportunities in
natural texts and insensitive testing. Repeated readings of the same text proved to be a
pedagogically viable way for learners to meet more new words more frequently than are
normally available, and a four-part ratings scale offered a way of testing knowledge of
many target words more sensitively. We implemented these innovations in two case study
experiments that tracked the acquisition of hundreds of target words over a period of
many weeks.
Reporting results as matrices allowed us to identify patterns of acquisition not picked up
by more standard methodologies. Analysis of the data showed that repeated reading of a
single long text does result in substantial learning, but learning is unstable and non-linear.
Matrix modeling proved to be able to predict patterns of growth surprisingly well.
Learning results indicated that participants acquired increases in knowledge of most of
the targets over the course of repeated text exposures, and that gains were achieved
regardless of the overt informativeness of contexts surrounding unfamiliar items. Thus,
the research confirmed that frequent text encounters with new words play a crucial role in
the incidental acquisition of L2 vocabulary.