THE EFFECTS OF TALKER VARIABILITY AND FREQUENCY OF EXPOSURE ON THE ACQUISITION OF SPOKEN WORD KNOWLEDGE

Abstract Eighty Japanese learners of English as a foreign language encountered 40 target words in one four experimental conditions (three encounters, six three encounters with talker variability, and variability). A picture-naming test was conducted times (pretest, immediate posttest, delayed posttest) elicited speech samples were scored terms form-meaning connection (spoken form recall) word stress accuracy (stress placement vowel duration ratio). Results suggested that frequency exposure consistently promoted the recall spoken forms, whereas variability more closely related to enhancement accuracy. These findings shed light on how input quantity (frequency) quality (variability) affect different stages lexical development provide implications for vocabulary teaching.