Abstract:
The present study aimed to investigate if learning English as an L2 has an effect on word recall and lexical activation among Iranian EFL learners. For this purpose, a sample of 45 male and female EFL learners was selected and they were classified into two experimental and one control group, 15 each. Word recall and oral time-limited tests were conducted within the three groups; they had to listen to 16 non-cognate Farsi words, each by 2 seconds, remember and recall them to resay. For lexical activation, an experiment was carried out by asking them to memorize and retell words shown to them through a computer screen. Outcomes of the word recall test revealed that the mean score of participants with low exposure to English was higher than lower and upper intermediate. Results exhibited that the participants in the first group surpassed those in the experimental group in word recall test. In the lexical activation test, the control group who were participants with low exposure to English performed better than the participants in the other two groups. Results revealed no meaningful difference among the mean scores of the three categories in lexical activation test, though. The results of the present study have some implications for language teachers, material developers and students. In fact, language teachers can provide a link between learners’ vocabulary knowledge of two languages, and this way help their students to activate their L2 vocabulary knowledge more easily and with less cognitive load.
هدف تحقیق حاضر بررسی تاثیر یادگیری زبان انگلیسی به عنوان زبان دوم بر یاداوری و به
کارگیری لغات در بین زبان اموزان ایرانی بود. به این منظور یک نمونه اماری که شامل 45
زباناموز مونث و مذکر بود، انتخاب شدند و به دو گروه ازمایش و کنترل تقسیم شدند. هرکدام
شامل پانزده داوطلب. به منظور ازمون یاداوری لغات یک ازمون با زمان محدود در بین سه گروه
اجرا شد. انها باید به شانزده کلمه فارسی غیر همخانواده گوش میدادند. هرکدام در 2 ثانیه باید
انها را به یاد میاوردند و بازگو میکردند. برای فعالسازی واژگان، یک ازمایش انجام شد که
طی ان شرکت کنندگان باید لغاتی را که بر روی صفحه می دیدند، بازگو کنند. نتایج نشان داد که
شرکتکنندگانی که در معرض اموزش زبان نبودند نسبت به گروه زبان اموزان با سطح متوسطه یا
پایین عملکرد بهتری داشتند. همچنین نمرات گروه اول در ازمون یاداوری لغت از دوگروه دوم
بالاتر بود. در ازمون یاداوری کلمه، میانگین نمرات گروه کنترل از دو گروه دیگر بالاتر بود.
اگرچه نتایج تفاوت معناداری بین سه گروه را در این ازمایش نشان نداد، نتایج تحقیق حاضر
نکاتی برای مدرسان زبان انگلیسی و گرداورندگان مطالب اموزشی دارد. مدرسان میتوانند،
ارتباطی بین دانش واژگان دو زبان پیدا و بیان کنند و از این طریق به زبان اموزان کمک کنند تا
دانش لغوی خود را با بار شناختی کمتری فعال کنند.
Machine summary:
Research conducted in more than a decade has found that activation of words in the memory of a bilingual acts in a nonselective way, even when one language is just needed for the social and linguistic context (Kroll, et.
As with L1 attrition of bilinguals in comparison with monolinguals, researchers established that L2 learning had positive impact on L1 development in terms of vocabulary knowledge (Cunningham & Graham, 2000), L1 writing (Kecskes, 2000) and L1 reading (Yelland, et al.
Thus, in accordance with the previous studies, the current study was conducted to investigate if learning English as an L2 have an effect on L1 regarding word recall and lexical activation among language learners.
Recall Test Considering the statistics shown in Table 1, the mean score of the word recall test, among the participants in the group who were not exposed to English language was 10.
Considering the perspectives of L1 attrition of bilinguals compared with monolinguals, the findings of the present work are comparable with some research which recognized that L2 learning showed positive influence of L2 on development of L1 vocabulary (Cunningham & Graham, 2000), L1 reading (Yelland, Pollard & Mercuri, 1993), L1 writing (Kecskes, 2000).
Considering the perspectives of L1 attrition of bilinguals compared with monolinguals, the findings of the present thesis as with lexical activation are in line with some previous research in which it was recognized that L2 learning showed positive impacts of L2 on development of L1 vocabulary (Cunningham & Graham, 2000), L1 reading (Yelland, Pollard & Mercuri, 1993), L1 writing (Kecskes, 2000).