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68
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Introduction
Irina Elgort works at Victoria University of Wellington. Irina does research in second language acquisition, bilingual lexical development and processing, computer-assisted learning and teacher education.
Skills and Expertise
Publications
Publications (68)
In this study, we examined the effect of previewing unfamiliar vocabulary on the real-time reading behavior of first language (L1) and second language (L2) readers. University students with English as their L1 or L2 read passages with embedded pseudowords. In a within-participant manipulation, definitions of the pseudowords were either previewed be...
What does it mean to learn a word? How can we tell when a sequence of letters or sounds becomes a word in the mind of the learner? While many second language (L2) vocabulary teaching and learning studies continue to use traditional vocabulary tests to measure learning (such as multiple choice, translation, gap-fill), these measures tend to come sho...
Reading affords opportunities for L2 vocabulary acquisition. Empirical research into the pace and trajectory of this acquisition has both theoretical and applied value. Charting the development of different aspects of word knowledge can verify and inform theoretical frameworks of word learning and reading comprehension. It can also inform practical...
Contextual L2 word learning may be facilitated by increasing readers? engagement with form and meaning of novel words. In the present study, two adult L2 populations, Chinese and Dutch speakers, read English sentences that contained novel vocabulary. These contextual exposures were accompanied either by form-focused elaboration (i.e. word-writing)...
This study investigates acquisition of second language (L2) vocabulary from reading a connected authentic text. Advanced and upper-intermediate L2 (English) participants read a long expository text for general understanding, with embedded critical vocabulary items (pseudowords). Explicit knowledge of the critical items was examined using a meaning...
A common way of acquiring multiword expressions is through language input, such as during reading and listening. However, this type of learning is slow. Identifying approaches that optimize learning from input, therefore, is an important language-learning endeavor. In the present study, 85 learners of English as a foreign language read short texts...
Exposure to language input such as through reading and listening is a typical method of learning multi-word expressions (MWEs). Yet, this method can be slow. Therefore, finding strategies to enhance learning from input is crucial for language acquisition. In the present study, 80 Iranian learners of English as a foreign language read short texts wi...
Theories of learning and attention predict a positive relationship between reading times on unfamiliar words and their learning; however, empirical findings of contextual learning studies range from a strong positive relationship to no relationship. To test the conjecture that longer reading times may reflect different cognitive and metacognitive p...
This study investigates the effects of retrieval schedules on the acquisition of second language (L2) collocations. Chinese learners of English first studied 36 target verb-noun collocations using flashcards and form-meaning matching practice. Subsequently, the participants practiced retrieving the target collocations from memory, following either...
Multiple repetitions of collocations in second language (L2) reading produce gains in collocational knowledge. However, it is less clear how typographic enhancement affects the learning of different types of L2 collocations through reading. The present experiment investigated contextual learning of English lexical (verb + noun) and grammatical (pre...
Although typographic enhancement has been effective in drawing learners’ attention to transparent multiword
expressions (MWEs), it has not been effective in the contextual learning of figurative MWEs (Campillo, 2015; ElDakhs et al., 2021). Therefore, further support is needed to facilitate contextual learning of L2 figurative MWEs. This
can be acco...
This presentation is an overview of a planned research project, and we welcome feedback. Providing definitions after supportive texts may lead to superior vocabulary learning compared with giving definitions before the text (Elgort et al., 2019). However, in non-supportive texts, incorrect inferences may affect word knowledge negatively (Elgort, 20...
Eye-movement studies investigating second language (L2) word processing during reading are growing exponentially. However, what information L2 readers are able to process parafoveally is a less researched topic. The gaze-contingent boundary paradigm (Rayner, 1975) allows researchers to manipulate visual information in an upcoming word during readin...
Following Hyland's model of metadiscourse, evidential is defined as an expression that references information from other texts. Evidence in traditional academic writing may include peer-reviewed articles, published books and personal communication with field experts. With a sharp increase in the use of online teaching and learning environments by e...
This article presents the ENglish Reading Online (ENRO) project that offers
data on English reading and listening comprehension from 7,338 university-level advanced
learners and native speakers of English representing 19 countries. The database
also includes estimates of reading rate and seven component skills of English, including
vocabulary, spel...
A great majority of people around the world know more than one language. So, how does knowing one language affect the learning and use of additional languages? The question of cross-language influences is the focus of this book. Do bilinguals hear, understand, and produce language and meaning differently because of the languages they speak? How wel...
A great majority of people around the world know more than one language. So, how does knowing one language affect the learning and use of additional languages? The question of cross-language influences is the focus of this book. Do bilinguals hear, understand, and produce language and meaning differently because of the languages they speak? How wel...
A great majority of people around the world know more than one language. So, how does knowing one language affect the learning and use of additional languages? The question of cross-language influences is the focus of this book. Do bilinguals hear, understand, and produce language and meaning differently because of the languages they speak? How wel...
This handbook brings together scholarship from various subfields, disciplinary traditions, and geographic and geopolitical contexts to understand how student voice is operating in different higher education dimensions and contexts around the world. The handbook helps not only to map the range of student voice practices in college and university set...
Applied linguists increasingly use response time vocabulary tasks, along with traditional, untimed measures, to index lexical knowledge. While these tasks are set up differently, and inherently time sensitive, there is no empirical evidence on whether they also tap into qualitatively different dimensions from what traditional tests measure. In this...
Written for novice and established scholars alike, Instructed Second Language Acquisition Research Methods is a stand-alone research methods guide from an Instructed Second Language Acquisition (ISLA) lens. After offering foundations of conducting ISLA research, the subsequent chapters are organized by four skill areas (listening, speaking, reading...
This presentation is an overview of a planned research project. Previous research has found that retrieving information from memory produces better retention compared to restudying the same material for an equivalent amount of time (e.g., Roediger & Karpicke, 2006b). This effect has been referred to as retrieval practice (Roediger & Butler, 2011)....
Many institutions are making significant investments to build their learning analytics capability. However, creating a successful platform for large scale adoption of learning analytics (LA) is not simple. In this case study we describe the adoption of a three tier model designed for cross institutional engagement and implementation of LA at a medi...
The present study investigated cross-language influences in the processing of binomial expressions (knife and fork), from a first language (L1) to a second language (L2) and from L2 to L1. Two groups of unbalanced bilinguals (Chinese/L1-English/L2 and English/L1-Chinese/L2) and a control group of English monolinguals performed a visual lexical deci...
Lexical knowledge is complex, multidimensional, and difficult to pin down to a set of defined components. The development, organization, and use of lexical knowledge in the first and additional languages are studied in a number of neighbouring disciplines beyond second language acquisition and applied linguistics, including psycholinguistics, neuro...
This research compares the outcomes of two computer-assisted second language (L2) idiom learning conditions: deliberate and contextual. Low-intermediate proficiency Japanese learners of English studied 36 idioms online by either using flashcards or reading them in sentences with contextual clues to their meanings over three learning sessions. Postt...
This chapter proposes a series of studies that can be used to test the effectiveness of three approaches to augmenting L2 contextual word learning: (1) combining reading with deliberate vocabulary learning; (2) adding interactive post-reading activities that facilitate the recycling of vocabulary encountered during reading; and (3) enriching level-...
A key component of lexical development in a second language (L2) is improving the quality of L2 lexical knowledge. Poor lexical quality is a bottleneck in comprehension and a barrier to learning new words. Although reading is the richest source of lexical development, in order to gain new lexical knowledge from reading language learners need to bri...
Studies examining decontextualized associative vocabulary learning have shown that long spacing between encounters with an item facilitates learning more than short or no spacing, a phenomenon known as distributed practice effect. However, the effect of spacing on learning words in context is less researched and the results, so far, are inconsisten...
Access to definitions facilitates the learning of word meanings when novel words are encountered in reading. However, the memorial costs and benefits of inferring word meanings from context, compared to seeing definitions of unfamiliar words before reading, are not yet well understood. We conducted two experiments with adult L1 (English) and L2 (Ch...
One avenue for developing second language (L2) vocabulary knowledge is through Extensive Reading (ER). ER can provide opportunities for incidental learning to occur. Class time is often too restricted for sufficient attention to deliberate learning (Hunt & Beglar, 2005) meaning ER is important for L2 vocabulary development. This article builds on i...
This paper reports on a study looking at the reading and writing proficiency and vocabulary knowledge of Indonesian EFL teachers, the relationship between proficiency and years of service, and the teachers’ own perceptions of their proficiency in English. Three proficiency tests (Vocabulary Levels Test/VLT, Reading and Writing Tests), questionnaire...
Sonbul and Schmitt (2013) showed that exposure to second language (L2) collocations in reading texts can produce gains in explicit knowledge, but they found no evidence of gains in implicit knowledge. This study is a conceptual replication and extension of Sonbul and Schmitt's research. Sixty‐two advanced English as a second language (ESL) speakers...
We report on early lessons from a pilot study to evaluate a new web-based tool for teachers. The tool is designed to support the rapid analysis of written student responses to short answer questions and was conceived to support formative assessment, especially in large-class settings, as well as to provide insights into teaching and learning design...
Students’ communications in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) may offer unique insights into their thinking and engagement with course topics. Is it possible for MOOC instructors to access such insights, short of reading individual posts? This proof of concept study used an online text analysis tool for teachers, Quantext, to examine key topics a...
Having enough vocabulary to engage in a conversation with an English speaker, watch a movie, or read a book in English are ambitious goals for English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. Achieving them requires regular practice, time investment, and understanding of how to learn. This entry first reviews recommendations for teaching and learning...
Technology-mediated vocabulary development (TMVD) in a second language (L2) covers a wide range of instructional and learning treatments, contexts and technologies, and is situated in a broader field of second language vocabulary learning. Vocabulary knowledge is a complex, multidimensional construct that has been interpreted and categorized in sec...
When readers encounter new words they may try to infer their meanings from context. Such contextual inferences may be correct or incorrect. This research considered the effect of incorrect meaning inferences on contextual word learning in English as a second language. Chinese speakers encountered 48 novel vocabulary items in informative single-sent...
The majority of L2 vocabulary studies concentrate on learning word meaning and provide learners with opportunities for semantic elaboration (i.e., focus on word meaning). However, in initial vocabulary learning, engaging in structural elaboration (i.e., focus on word form) with a view to acquiring L2 word form is equally important. The present cont...
This study investigates differences in the language and discourse characteristics of course blogs and traditional academic submissions produced in English by native (L1) and advanced second language (L2) writers. One hundred and fifty two texts generated by 38 graduate students within the context of the same Master’s level course were analysed usin...
The Vocabulary Size Test (VST) is an instrument for investigating the written receptive vocabulary size of first and second/foreign language speakers of English. The original test was developed by Paul Nation at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, as a diagnostic instrument for measuring the vocabulary aspect of linguistic knowledge of...
Writing new L2 vocabulary down can direct a learner’s attention to word form and thus be a helpful technique for structural elaboration (i.e. focusing on word form). This process should be beneficial for word form recall (cfr. Barcroft, 2002). However, studies investigating word writing have produced mixed findings when it comes to the value of thi...
Contextual learning of new words in English as a second language by Chinese and Dutch speakers. Additional information and commentary to supplement Elgort, I., Candry, S., Eyckmans, J., Boutorwick, T.J., & Brysbaert, M. (2016). Contextual word learning with form-focused and meaning-focused elaboration. Applied Linguistics. DOI: 10.1093/applin/amw02...
New word learning occurs incidentally through exposure to language. Hypothesising that effectiveness of contextual word learning in a second language (L2) depends on the quality of existing lexical semantic knowledge, we tested more and less proficient adult bilinguals in an incidental word learning task. One day after being exposed to rare words i...
Deliberate vocabulary learning is common in the L2, however, questions remain about most efficient and effective forms of this learning approach. Bilingual models of L2 word learning and processing can be used to make predictions about outcomes of learning new vocabulary from bilingual (L2–L1) flashcards, and these predictions can be tested experim...
This study examines the development and evaluation of a bilingual Vocabulary Size Test (VST, Nation, 2006). A bilingual (English–Russian) test was developed and administered to 121 intermediate proficiency EFL learners (native speakers of Russian), alongside the original monolingual (English-only) version of the test. A comparison of the bilingual...
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to propose an approach to managing complexity in postgraduate teaching by increasing the variety of educational provisions and creating opportunities for individualisation of learning.
Design/methodology/approach
– This case study examines an approach to course design and delivery based on the attenuation‐amp...
This study investigates outcomes of deliberate learning on vocabulary acquisition in a second language (L2). Acquisition of 48 pseudowords was measured using the lexical decision task with visually presented stimuli. The experiments drew on form priming, masked repetition priming, and automatic semantic priming procedures. Data analyses revealed a...
In this chapter, we argue that cognitive and social approaches to vocabulary learning can complement each other in creating a balanced approach to L2 vocabulary learning, both as a process and a product.
We first discuss what is involved in knowing a word, assuming Nation’s (2001) framework that identifies form, meaning, and use as the three core a...
In the context of a project developing software for pronunciation practice and feedback for Mandarin-speaking learners of English, a key issue is how to decide which features of pronunciation to focus on in giving feedback. We used naïve and experienced native speaker ratings of comprehensibility and nativeness to establish the key features affecti...
What are the consequences of encouraging students to develop an independent learning path through a course? Is the learning space of a course shaped by the type of assessment chosen? How do students interact with feedback? These questions are addressed in a pilot action research study of a postgraduate course in computer assisted language learning...
This study reports on students' and lecturers' perceptions of using wikis as a platform
for conducting assessed group projects in two postgraduate Master's level university
courses. The results highlight the fact that student attitudes to group work, in general,
are mixed, and that the use of wikis per se is not enough to improve these attitudes. O...
Wikis have originally emerged and are most commonly known as social software, but there is also a growing trend to use wikis as a learning and assessment tool in Higher Education. The latter is the focus of the present paper. The effects of task type and instructions on students' decisions about wiki structure and navigation are considered by exami...
Abstract Despite the wide ,use of Information ,and Communication ,Technology (ICT) in university teaching, research on e-learning adoption suggests that it has not reached its full potential. This paper considers possible reasons for this seeming contradiction, using models of adoption ofinnovations,and relating them to recent studies of e-learning...
This paper presents and discusses an experiential learning-based team-based assignment, which makes extensive use of information and communication technology available in Blackboard. Student teams, composed of mature, post-experience graduate students in a knowledge management class, were asked to perform a task requiring creativity and then to ref...
This paper considers attitudes of two groups of students, those from non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB) and native speakers (NS) of English, to working in information and communication technology supported teams in the context of a post graduate Knowledge Management course.
Students from non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB) represent a growing group of learners in the tertiary education sector of New Zealand. However not much is known about their attitudes and expectations in regard to the learning process in general and online learning, in particular. Introduction of a new online learning management system (LMS) a...