Cover not available

Article published In: Approaches to learning, testing, and researching L2 vocabulary
Edited by Stuart Webb
[ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics 169:1] 2018
► pp. 5–29

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

Eye movements in vocabulary research

 | UCL Institute of Education, UK
 | Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Published online: 16 April 2018
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.00004.pel
Abstract
The field of vocabulary research is witnessing a growing interest in the use of eye-tracking to investigate topics that have traditionally been examined using offline measures, providing new insights into the processing and learning of vocabulary. During an eye-tracking experiment, participants’ eye movements are recorded while they attend to written or auditory input, resulting in a rich record of online processing behaviour. Because of its many benefits, eye-tracking is becoming a major research technique in vocabulary research. However, before this emerging trend of eye-tracking based vocabulary research continues to proliferate, it is important to step back and reflect on what current studies have shown about the processing and learning of vocabulary, and the ways in which we can use the technique in future research. To this aim, the present paper provides a comprehensive overview of current eye-tracking research findings, both in terms of the processing and learning of single words and formulaic sequences. Current research gaps and potential avenues for future research are also discussed.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The eye-tracking methodology
  • 3.Processing of single words
    • 3.1Cross-language activation: Cognates, interlingual homographs and orthographic neighbourhood
  • 4.Processing of formulaic language
    • 4.1Processing of figurative formulaic sequences
      • 4.1.1L1 influence on L2 idiom processing
    • 4.2Processing of compositional formulaic sequences
  • 5.Learning of single words
  • 6.Learning of formulaic language
  • 7.Conclusions and directions for future research
    • 7.1Processing of words and formulaic sequences
    • 7.2Learning of words and formulaic sequences
  • Notes
  • References
References (55)
References
Balota, D., Pollatsek, A., & Rayner, K. (1985). The interaction of contextual constraints and parafoveal visual information in reading. Cognitive Psychology, 171, 364–390. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bisson, M. -J., Van Heuven, W., Conklin, K., & Tunney, R. (2015). The role of verbal and pictorial information in multi-modal incidental acquisition of foreign language vocabulary. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 68(7), 1306–1326. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carpenter, P., & Just, M. (1983). What your eyes do while your mind is reading. In K. Rayner (Ed.), Eye movements in reading: Perceptual and language processes (pp. 275–307). New York, NY: Academic Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carreiras, M., Perea, M., & Grainger, J. (1997). Effects of orthographic neighborhood in visual word recognition: Cross-task comparisons. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 231, 857–871.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carrol, G., & Conklin, K. (2015). Cross language priming extends to formulaic units: Evidence from eye tracking suggests that this idea “has legs”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 20(2), 299–317. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carrol, G., Conklin, K., & Gyllstad, H. (2016). Found in translation: The influence of L1 on the processing of idioms in L2. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 38(3), 403–443. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chaffin, R., Morris, R. K., & Seely, R. E. (2001). Learning new word meanings from context: A study of eye movements. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 271, 225–235.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Choi, S. (2017). Processing and learning of enhanced English collocations: An eye-movement study. Language Teaching Research, 21(3), 403–426. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cieslicka, A. (2006). Literal salience in on-line processing of idiomatic expressions by second language learners. Second Language Research, 221, 115–144. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coltheart, M., Davelaar, E., Jonasson, J. T., & Besner, D. (1977). Access to the internal lexicon. In S. Dornic (Ed.), Attention and performance VI1 (pp. 535–555). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Conklin, K., & Pellicer-Sánchez, A. (2016). Using eye-tracking in applied linguistics and second language research. Second Language Research, 32(3), 453–467. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cop, U., Dirix, N., Drieghe, D., & Duyck, W. (2017). Presenting GECO: An eye-tracking corpus of monolingual and bilingual sentence reading. Behavior Research Methods, 49(2), 602–615. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Desmet, T., & Duyck, W. (2007). Bilingual language processing. Language and Linguistics Compass, 1(3), 168–194. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dirix, N., Cop, U., Drieghe, D., Duyck, W., & Hartsuiker, R. J. (2017). Cross-lingual neighborhood effects in generalized lexical decision and natural reading. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 43(6), 887–915.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Duyck, W., Van Assche, E., Drighe, D., & Hartsuiker, R. (2007). Visual word recognition by bilinguals in a sentence context: Evidence for nonselective lexical access. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 33(4), 663–679.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Elgort, I., Brysbaert, M., Stevens, M., & Van Assche, E. (2017). Contextual word learning during reading in a second language: An eye movement study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 1–26. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Godfroid, A., Boers, F., & Housen, A. (2013). An eye for words: Gauging the role of attention in incidental L2 vocabulary acquisition by means of eye tracking. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 351, 483–517. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grainger, J., O’regan, J. K., Jacobs, A. M., & Segui, J. (1989). On the role of competing word units in visual word recognition: The neighborhood frequency effect. Perception & Psychophysics, 45(3), 189–195. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Inhoff, A. W., & Rayner, K. (1986). Parafoveal word processing during eye fixations in reading: Effects of word frequency. Perception and Psychophysics, 401, 431–439. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Joseph, H. S. S. L., Wonnacott, E., Forber, P., & Nation, K. (2014). Becoming a written word: Eye movements reveal order of acquisition effects following incidental exposure to new words during silent reading. Cognition, 1331, 238–248. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kliegl, R., Grabner, E., Rolfs, M., & Engbert, R. (2004). Length, frequency, and predictability effects of words on eye movements in reading. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 161, 262–284. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lemhöfer, K., Dijkstra, T., & Michel, M. C. (2004). Three languages, one echo: Cognate effects in trilingual word recognition. Language and Cognitive Processes, 191, 585–611. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Libben, M. R., & Titone, D. A. (2009). Bilingual lexical access in context: Evidence from eye movements during reading. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 351, 381–390.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lowell, R., & Morris, R. K. (2014). Word length effects on novel words: Evidence from eye movements. Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, 761, 179–189. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McConkie, G., & Rayner, K. (1975). The span of the effective stimulus during a fixation in reading. Perception and Psychophysics, 171, 578–586. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mohamed, A. A. (2015). The roles of context and repetition in incidental vocabulary acquisition from L2 reading: An eye movement study (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Michigan State University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2017). Exposure frequency in L2 reading. An eye-movement perspective of incidental vocabulary learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition. Online first view, Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Molinaro, N., Canal, P., Vespignani, F., Pesciarelli, F., & Cacciari, C. (2013). Are complex function words processed as semantically empty strings? A reading time and ERP study of collocational complex Prepositions. Language and Cognitive Processes, 28(6), 762–788. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Montero Perez, M., Peters, E., & Desmet, P. (2015). Enhancing vocabulary learning through captioned video: An eye-tracking study. The Modern Language Journal, 99(2), 308–328. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pellicer-Sánchez, A. (2016). Incidental L2 vocabulary acquisition from and while reading: An eye tracking study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 381, 97–130. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pellicer-Sánchez, A., & Siyanova-Chanturia, A. An eye-tracking investigation of incidental collocation learning during reading. Paper presented at the Annual conference of the American Association of Applied Linguistics, 8–12 April 2016, Orlando, Florida.
Perea, M., & Pollatsek, A. (1998). The effects of neighborhood frequency in reading and lexical decision. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 241, 767–779.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pollatsek, A., Perea, M., & Binder, K. (1999). The effects of “neighborhood size” in reading and lexical decision. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 251, 1142–1158.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Radach, R., & Kennedy, A. (2004). Theoretical perspectives on eye movements in reading: Past controversies, current issues, and an agenda for the future. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 161, 3–26. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rayner, K. (2009). The 35th Sir Frederick Bartlett Lecture: Eye movements and attention during reading, scene perception, and visual search. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 621, 1457–1506. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rayner, K., & Bertera, J. H. (1979). Reading without a fovea. Science, 2061, 468–69. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rayner, K., & Duffy, S. (1986). Lexical complexity and fixation times in reading: Effects of word frequency, verb complexity, and lexical ambiguity. Memory and Cognition, 141, 191–201. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rayner, K., & Well, A. (1996). Effects of contextual constraint on eye movements in reading: A further examination. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 31, 504–509. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roberts, L., & Siyanova-Chanturia, A. (2013). Using eye-tracking to investigate topics in L2 acquisition and L2 sentence and discourse processing. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 35(2), 213–235. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Siyanova-Chanturia, A., Conklin, K., & Schmitt, N. (2011a). Adding more fuel to the fire: An eye-tracking study of idiom processing by native and nonnative speakers. Second Language Research, 271, 251–272. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Siyanova-Chanturia, A., Conklin, K., & van Heuven, W. (2011b). Seeing a phrase ‘time and again’ matters: The role of phrasal frequency in the processing of multi-word sequences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Language, Memory and Cognition, 371, 776–84.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Titone, D., Libben, M., Mercier, J., Whitford, V., & Pivneva, I. (2011). Bilingual lexical access during L1 sentence reading: The effects of L2 knowledge, semantic constraint, and L1-L2intermixing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 371, 1412–1431.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Underwood, G., Schmitt, N., & Galpin, A. (2004). The eyes have it: An eye-movement study into the processing of formulaic sequences. In N. Schmitt (Ed.), Formulaic sequences (pp.153–72). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van Assche, E., Drieghe, D., Duyck, W., Welvaert, M., & Hartsuiker, R. J. (2011). The influence of semantic constraints on bilingual word recognition during sentence reading. Journal of Memory and Language, 641, 88–107. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van Assche, E., Duyck, W., Hartsuiker, R. J., & Diependaele, K. (2009). Does bilingualism change native-language reading? Psychological Science, 201, 923–927. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van Heuven, W. J. B., Dijkstra, T., & Grainger, J. (1998). Orthographic neighborhood effects in bilingual word recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 391, 458–483. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vilkaite, L. (2016). Are nonadjacent collocations processed faster? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 42(10), 1632–1642.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vilkaite, L., & Schmitt, N. (2017). Reading collocations in an L2: Do collocation processing benefits extend to non-adjacent collocations? Applied Linguistics. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Von Studnitz, R. E., & Green, D. W. (2002). The cost of switching language in a semantic categorization task. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 51, 241–251. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Whitford, V., & Titone, D. (2012). Second language experience modulates first- and second- language word frequency effects: Evidence from eye movement measures of natural paragraph reading. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 191, 73–80. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Whitford, V., Pivneva, I. & Titone, D. (2016). Eye movement methods to investigate bilingual reading. In R. R. Heredia, J. Altarriba & A. B. Cieślicka (Eds.), Methods in bilingual reading comprehension research (pp. 183–211). Dordrecht: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
William, R. S., & Morris, R. K. (2004). Eye movements, word familiarity, and vocabulary acquisition. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 161, 312–339. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wolter, B., & Gyllstad, H. (2011). Collocational links in the L2 mental lexicon and the influence of L1 intralexical knowledge. Applied Linguistics, 321, 430–449. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wolter, B., & Yamashita, J. (2015). Processing collocations in a second language: a case of first language activation? Applied Psycholinguistics, 361, 1193–1221. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (22)

Cited by 22 other publications

Cangır, Hakan
2025. Corpus Linguistics Meets Psycholinguistics. In Exploration of the Intersection of Corpus Linguistics and Language Science, ► pp. 27 ff. DOI logo
Chytry, Vlastimil, Nikola Mundokova & Milan Kubiatko
2025. Using Eye-Tracking in Education—A Review Study. Education Sciences 15:7 ► pp. 853 ff. DOI logo
Johnson, Tamara Marie
2025. Effects of frame-semantically (in)congruent food labels on taste in non-native English speakers. Lingua 315 ► pp. 103875 ff. DOI logo
Siyanova-Chanturia, Anna & Suhad Sonbul
2025. The processing of multi-word expressions: A research agenda for the next 10 years. Language Teaching ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Fioravanti, Irene & Anna Siyanova-Chanturia
2024. Eye movements in the investigation of different properties of multi-word expressions: A systematic review. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics 3:1 ► pp. 100092 ff. DOI logo
Hou, Jiarui, James F. Lee & Stephen Doherty
2024. Attentional differences in L2 learners’ word learning strategies between mobile-assisted and in-print reading: An eye tracking study. Computer Assisted Language Learning ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Huang, Lingshan & Jingyang Jiang
2024. How do L1 glosses affect EFL learners’ reading comprehension performance? An eye-tracking study. Linguistics Vanguard 10:1 ► pp. 321 ff. DOI logo
Nahatame, Shingo, Tomoko Ogiso, Yukino Kimura & Yuji Ushiro
2024. TECO: An Eye-tracking Corpus of Japanese L2 English Learners’ Text Reading. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics 3:2 ► pp. 100123 ff. DOI logo
Ryu, Hyeran & Sungmook Choi
2024. Metalinguistic explanations and their impact on incidental grammar acquisition: An eye-movement study. Language Teaching Research DOI logo
Valentini, Alessandra, Rachel E. Pye, Carmel Houston‐Price, Jessie Ricketts & Julie A. Kirkby
2024. Online Processing Shows Advantages of Bimodal Listening‐While‐Reading for Vocabulary Learning: An Eye‐Tracking Study. Reading Research Quarterly 59:1 ► pp. 79 ff. DOI logo
Wang, Yu & Min Gui
2024. Unveiling cognitive activities associated with longer reading times on unknown words in L2 reading: An eye-tracking case study. System 123 ► pp. 103359 ff. DOI logo
Kim, Hayoung, Sungmook Choi, Soo-Ok Kweon & Kathy Conklin
2023. Effects of announcing a vocabulary test before reading a glossed text on reading behaviors and vocabulary acquisition: An eye-tracking study. PLOS ONE 18:1 ► pp. e0280552 ff. DOI logo
Mohsen, Mohammed, Hassan Saleh Mahdi & Manar Almanea
2023. The Landscape of Vocabulary Acquisition Research: A Psycholinguistic Exploration through Citation Metrics. PSYCHOLINGUISTICS 34:2 ► pp. 48 ff. DOI logo
Andras, Filip, Marta Rivera, Teresa Bajo, Paola E Dussias & Daniela Paolieri
2022. Cognate facilitation effect during auditory comprehension of a second language: A visual world eye-tracking study. International Journal of Bilingualism 26:4 ► pp. 405 ff. DOI logo
Kang, Hyeonah, Soo-Ok Kweon & Sungmook Choi
2022. Using eye-tracking to examine the role of first and second language glosses. Language Teaching Research 26:6 ► pp. 1252 ff. DOI logo
Malagnini, Francesca & Irene Fioravanti
2022. Tra testo, lessico e morfosintassi: analisi descrittiva di testi di italiano L2. Cuadernos de Filología Italiana 29 ► pp. 181 ff. DOI logo
Serra, Judit & Roger Gilabert
2021. Algorithmic versus teacher‐led sequencing in a digital serious game and the development of second language reading fluency and accuracy. British Journal of Educational Technology 52:5 ► pp. 1898 ff. DOI logo
Jiang, Shang, Xin Jiang & Anna Siyanova-Chanturia
2020. The processing of multiword expressions in children and adults: An eye-tracking study of Chinese. Applied Psycholinguistics 41:4 ► pp. 901 ff. DOI logo
Pellicer-Sánchez, Ana
2020. Expanding English Vocabulary Knowledge through Reading: Insights from Eye-tracking Studies. RELC Journal 51:1 ► pp. 134 ff. DOI logo
Montero Perez, Maribel
2019. Pre-learning vocabulary before viewing captioned video: an eye-tracking study. The Language Learning Journal 47:4 ► pp. 460 ff. DOI logo
Vandenberghe, Bert, Maribel Montero Perez, Bert Reynvoet & Piet Desmet
2019. The role of Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) as sensitive measures in L2 vocabulary acquisition research. Journal of the European Second Language Association 3:1 ► pp. 35 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2022. Research Methods in Vocabulary Studies [Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 2], DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 30 march 2026. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue