INCIDENTAL VERSUS INTENTIONAL WORD LEARNING FROM CONTEXT

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine incidental word learning from context, that is, whether students would spontaneously focus on and acquire meanings for unknown words encountered in text. Sixty‐five eleventh graders constituted two treatment groups, incidental and intentional learning, and a control group. Materials included (a) a U.S. history text passage embedding 10 target words, and (b) a newspaper article passage on a similar topic which did not embed these words. As a pretest, all subjects were given a list of the target words and 10 distractors; they were asked to indicate whether they knew each word and to supply a definition. Then, the intentional learning group read the text passage with the target words underlined and completed a redefinition task. The incidental learning group read a second form of the passage without the words emphasized, while the control group read the newspaper passage. The following day, all subjects were posttested on the same self‐report and definition tasks. Results showed that while the intentional learning group made the greatest gains, the incidental learning group did acquire some knowledge and confidence in that knowledge. The control group gained little in either case. These findings provide support for incidental word learning, an important factor in the content areas where, due to lack of vocabulary instruction, students may rely on the textbook for information. However, given the greater gains by the intentional learning group, vocabulary instruction is strongly advised.