Article published In: ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 176:1 (2025) ► pp.44–75
The role of working memory and attention control in incidental L2 vocabulary learning from reading-while-listening
Published online: 14 February 2025
https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.24001.jun
https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.24001.jun
Abstract
This study investigated the role of working memory and attention control in incidental L2 vocabulary learning from
engaging in reading-while-listening. Fifty-nine Cantonese ESL learners engaged in reading-while-listening to two English stories
in which twelve adjective-pseudonoun collocations appeared three times in meaningful contexts. Immediately after the
reading-while-listening task and again one week later, participants completed unannounced posttests that measured their receptive
and productive knowledge about the pseudonouns and their collocations. Their working memory was assessed with an automated
operation span task, and attention control ability was measured with three squared tasks that consisted of Stroop, Flanker, and
Simon squared tasks. The results indicated that attention control played a significant role in remembering the target pseudonoun
forms and their collocational features for both recall and recognition. The working memory, by contrast, did not emerge as a
determinant factor. The implications of the findings were discussed in the context of L2 vocabulary learning.
Article outline
- Introduction
- Literature review
- L2 vocabulary learning from reading-while-listening
- The role of working memory in incidental L2 vocabulary learning
- Attention control as a potential individual difference factor
- The current study
- Methodology
- Design
- Participants
- The target collocations and measurement tools
- Reading-while-listening task
- Working memory capacity and attention control tasks
- Operation span task (Ospan)
- Three squared tasks (ThreeSquared)
- Stroop squared task (Stroop)
- Flanker squared task (Flanker)
- Simon squared task (Simon)
- Procedure
- Analysis
- Results
- The role of working memory and attention control in incidental vocabulary learning from reading-while-listening
- The role of working memory and attention control in incidental collocation learning from reading-while-listening
- Discussion
- The role of working memory and attention control in incidental vocabulary learning from reading-while-listening
- The role of working memory and attention control in incidental collocation learning from reading-while-listening
- Conclusion
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