Automaticity and speed of lexical access : acquisition and assessment
Vocabulary knowledge has been conceptualized as consisting of four components: the size of the mental lexicon, the depth or quality of knowledge of the individual lexical items in the lexicon, the degree to which those items are connected to each other (organlzation], and the speed at which those items can be retrieved and employed (e.g. Chapelle, 1998; Quian, 2002; Read, 2004; Schmitt, 2010b). There is now a considerable literature on each of the first three aspects, but lexical processing speed has hardly been explored outside the laboratory. In vocabulary acquisition research, studies have mainly focused on the acquisition of new words' form and meaning but research into the learning conditions leading to automaticity of vocabulary knowledge is still scarce. Furthermore, in the field of vocabulary testing, measures of automaticity and fluency of lexical access have seldom been used as an indication of participants' actual vocabulary knowledge of the words being assessed. This thesis attempts to address this lack in research in vocabulary acquisition and assessment. The first two studies of this thesis (Study 1 and Study 2) examine the acquisition of automaticity in the language classroom, comparing the
Pellicer-SĂĄnchez, Ana
Automaticity and speed of lexical access : acquisition and assessment. Vocabulary knowledge has been conceptualized as consisting of four components: the size of the mental lexicon, the depth or quality of knowledge of the individual lexical items in the lexicon, the degree to which those items are connected to each other (organlzation], and the speed at which those items can be retrieved and employed (e.g. Chapelle, 1998; Quian, 2002; Read, 2004; Schmitt, 2010b). There is now a considerable literature on each of the first three aspects, but lexical processing speed has hardly been explored outside the laboratory. In vocabulary acquisition research, studies have mainly focused on the acquisition of new words' form and meaning but research into the learning conditions leading to automaticity of vocabulary knowledge is still scarce. Furthermore, in the field of vocabulary testing, measures of automaticity and fluency of lexical access have seldom been used as an indication of participants' actual vocabulary knowledge of the words being assessed. This thesis attempts to address this lack in research in vocabulary acquisition and assessment. The first two studies of this thesis (Study 1 and Study 2) examine the acquisition of automaticity in the language classroom, comparing the
speed lexical_access acquisition assessment vocabulary_knowledge conceptualize consist_four component size mental_lexicon depth quality knowledge individual lexical_item lexicon degree item connect speed item retrieve employ read considerable literature first_three aspect lexical_processing speed hardly explore outside laboratory vocabulary_acquisition study mainly_focus acquisition new_word form_meaning learning_condition lead vocabulary_knowledge still scarce furthermore field vocabulary testing measure fluency lexical_access seldom use indication participant actual vocabulary_knowledge word assess attempt_address lack vocabulary_acquisition assessment first_two study study study examine acquisition language_classroom compare