Incidental vocabulary acquisition from synchronous reading-while-listening vs. asynchronous reading-and-listening: A randomised trial

Abstract

Incidental vocabulary learning appears to be crucial for language acquisition. Vocabulary can be learnt incidentally from reading, but this is a slow process, so scholars have sought techniques to speed it up. One such technique is simultaneously reading-while-listening to a text, which appears to be a more effective way of facilitating incidental vocabulary learning. However, cognitive load theory suggests that reading-while-listening may not be an optimal approach, because it imposes a heavy load on working memory. An alternative method, asynchronous reading-and-listening, may be less demanding of working memory and therefore facilitate incidental vocabulary learning even more effectively. The present study compares the effects of asynchronous reading-and-listening vs. synchronous reading-while-listening on incidental vocabulary learning. Twenty-seven participants, all adult English learners at B1 to C1 level, were assigned randomly to two comparison groups: synchronous and asynchronous. All participants read-and-listened to three stories, which contained 24 target words. After completing the stories, all participants immediately took surprise vocabulary tests on their knowledge of the target words, followed by delayed vocabulary tests one week later. Results showed that the asynchronous group gained statistically significantly higher scores on the immediate form-meaning test (p=.04). This suggests that the asynchronous approach was more effective in facilitating the incidental acquisition of at least some dimensions of vocabulary knowledge. However, there were no statistically significant differences between groups on the delayed vocabulary tests, so this advantage may not have been maintained over time. The dissertation concludes that asynchronous reading-and-listening appears to be an effective technique which deserves further study.