The fluctuating development of cross-linguistic semantic awareness: a longitudinal multiple-case study

Abstract

Second language (L2) learners’ awareness of first language-second language (L1–L2) semantic differences plays a critical role in L2 vocabulary learning. This study investigates the long-term development of eight university-level Chinese English as a foreign language learners’ cross-linguistic semantic awareness over the course of 10 months. A longitudinal multiple-case study approach was adopted and the learners’ introspective think-aloud protocols, elicited by a custom-built vocabulary depth test, were explored. Qualitative data analysis of the learners’ verbal reports revealed that the development of cross-linguistic semantic awareness was slow, unpredictable, and characterised by phases of incremental growth, stabilisation, and attrition. The fluctuating development of such awareness implicates the deep entrenchment of L1 lemma information and a competitive relationship between L1 and L2 lemma information. The pedagogical implications for instructed L2 vocabulary learning and teaching are that continued reinforcement is needed to draw learners’ attention to the overall differences of the L1 and L2 lexical systems.

Keywords:

• vocabulary learning
• cross-linguistic awareness
• L1 lemma mediation
• longitudinal study
• think-aloud protocols

Acknowledgements

My gratitude first goes to the eight participants for their time and devotion. I would like to thank the editors and the two anonymous reviewers for their careful reading and constructive feedback. The study was supported in part by the China Ministry of Education Humanities and Social Sciences Research Fund Youth Project (12YJC740150).

Notes

1. The eight participants volunteered to join the study and did not receive any payment; but to thank them for their time and participation, a small gift was given to them as a token of gratitude at the end of the study. They all signed an informed consent form during the first research session.

2. One of the reviewers pointed out the incompatible part of speech of the meaning associate ‘planning’ of ‘deliberate’. Admittedly, ‘planned’ should be a better option in the present case. However, as ‘planning’ was designed in the original WAF (Read, 1998), it was not changed in the current adapted version VDT.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yongyan Zheng

Yongyan Zheng is an associate professor in the College of Foreign Languages and Literature, Fudan University, China. Her research interests include second language vocabulary learning, second language development, L2 learning motivation, and academic literacy development.