Reading is claimed to be the major source of vocabulary growth in L1, but is it also the main source of L2 vocabulary? This paper surveys some experiments in acquiring L2 vocabulary from reading that report very small vocabulary gains from short and long texts. By comparison, reading supplemented with word-focused tasks yields better results. Similarly, when reading is compared with a word-focu...

Little research has explored how preschools can support children’s second-language (L2) vocabulary development. This study keenly followed the progress of twemty-six Turkish immigrant children growing up in Norway from preschool (age five) to fifth grade (age ten). Four different measures of preschool talk exposure (amount and diversity of teacher-led group talk and amount and diversity of peer...

This study investigated the effects of captioned texts on second/foreign (L2) listening comprehension and vocabulary gains using a computer multimedia program. Additionally, it explored the caption ordering effect (i.e. captions displayed during the first or second listening), and the interaction of captioning order with the L2 proficiency level of language learners in listening comprehension a...

As English dominates the Internet, most education systems need to prepare pupils perform L2 information searches. Generating efficient search terms and understanding retrieved requires good vocabulary knowledge. This study examined relationship between knowledge, online searching, attitudes towards searching. A sample of Swedish pupils’ abilities in locating suitably difficult texts learning wo...

The  major  aim  of  this  paper  was  to  investigate  the  validity  of  language  and intelligence  factors  for  classifying  Iranian  English  learners`  writing  performance. Iranian  participants  of  the  study  took  three  tests  for  grammar,  breadth,  and  depth  of vocabulary, and two tests for verbal and narrative intelligence. They also produced a corpus  of  argumentative  writ...

Previous work on bilingual language processing indicates that native-language skills can influence second-language acquisition. The goal of the present work was to examine the influence of second-language experiences on native-language vocabulary and reading skills in two groups of bilingual speakers. English-Spanish and English-Mandarin bilingual adults were tested on vocabulary knowledge and ...

This paper reports on a study investigating the relationship between metacognitive strategy awareness in reading and reading ability in L1 and L2. Forty Malaysian secondary school students responded to a reading metacognitive awareness questionnaire. They also completed four sets of reading comprehension tests to determine their reading competence in L1 and L2. Results indicate that reading met...

BACKGROUND This study examines the role of decoding and vocabulary skills as longitudinal predictors of reading comprehension in young first (L1) and second (L2) language learners. METHODS Two-group latent growth models were used to assess differences in growth and predictions of growth between the 198 L1 and 90 L2 language learners. RESULTS L1 learners had better initial reading comprehens...