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Measuring child L2 vocabulary acquisition through immersion in school.
Jim Milton,
Shadan Roghani
Current Trends in Second/Foreign Language Teaching and Teacher Education: Research Perspectives.
Swansea University Author: Jim Milton
Abstract
Vocabulary uptake among young learners in classroom settings is well documented. The uptake of vocabulary from young learners in immersion settings appear non-existent. This study examines the vocabulary growth of an ab ibitio EFL learner from Persia, acquiring English solely from immersion in a Bri...
| Published in: | Current Trends in Second/Foreign Language Teaching and Teacher Education: Research Perspectives. |
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| Published: |
2015
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa26019 |
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| Abstract: |
Vocabulary uptake among young learners in classroom settings is well documented. The uptake of vocabulary from young learners in immersion settings appear non-existent. This study examines the vocabulary growth of an ab ibitio EFL learner from Persia, acquiring English solely from immersion in a British school. It emerges that the learner makes very rapid initial progress, with learning focussed on the most frequent vocabulary ranges, enough probably to be orally proficient at the end of the academic year. A frequency-based test appears very well able to capture this kind of knowledge, as it does among L2 FL learners. When compared with an English native speaker of the same age, and other Persian speakers in the same school, it is clear there are significant differences with native speaker knowledge both in quantity and quality, the words learned, and that these differences will persist over many years. The assumption made by his teachers, that after a year such learners are effectively native-like, appears quite wrong. This deficiency has the potential to compromise the learners’ ultimate educational attainment. |
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| Keywords: |
child language, language development, vocabulary |
| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |