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Factors affecting foreign language learners’ receptive and productive word knowledge in English, French, German, and Spanish

ORCiD logo with link | University of Antwerp
ORCiD logo with link | Ghent University
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with University of Antwerp.

Published online: 8 January 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.25004.boo
Abstract
This study investigates the effect of first language (L1) and second language (L2) frequency, cognateness, concreteness, and word length on language learners’ receptive and productive word knowledge in English, French, German, and Spanish. A group of Dutch-speaking non-language students (N = 529) completed a meaning recognition test and a form recall test in English, French, German or Spanish. Meaning recognition in English was influenced by L1 frequency and concreteness. In French and German, it was affected by L2 frequency and cognateness, and in Spanish by L2 frequency. Regarding form recall, L2 frequency was the only significant predictor across all four languages. Our findings suggest that factors affecting word knowledge may depend on the type of knowledge tested and/or the context in which a language is learned.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Background literature
    • Defining and measuring receptive and productive L2 word knowledge
    • Factors affecting receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge
  • Frequency
  • Cognateness
  • Concreteness
  • Word length
  • The current study
  • Method
    • Research context
    • Participants
    • Instruments and procedure
  • Vocabulary tests
  • Variables in the study
    • L1 frequency
    • L2 frequency
    • Cognateness
    • Concreteness
    • Word length
    • Scoring and analysis
  • Results
    • Descriptive results
  • Discussion
  • Limitations and future work
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
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