Grounding Second Language Vocabulary Instruction in Cognitive Science

Cognitive neuroscience has gained significant insight into the mechanisms underlying mental lexicon and their impact on second language vocabulary learning. However, relatively little effort been put understanding how these may instructional practices. We attempt to bridge this gap. Towards that end, we first describe three main properties of lexicon: words have distinct form meaning representations; representations are organized in multilingual network structures by similarity; differ strength. Next, translate a visual framework use reflect upon knowledge affects important choices instruction: composing word lists, selecting an instruction method, consolidating newly acquired words. Lastly, discuss opportunities for both science practice, highlighting importance improving ecological validity scientific models theories, developing methods grounded cognitive science.