THE INFLUENCE OF PHONOLOGICAL SIMILARITY IN ADULTS LEARNING WORDS IN A SECOND LANGUAGE
Issue Date
2010-06-29Author
Stamer, Melissa K.
Publisher
University of Kansas
Format
137 pages
Type
Dissertation
Degree Level
Ph.D.
Discipline
Curriculum and Teaching
Rights
This item is protected by copyright and unless otherwise specified the copyright of this thesis/dissertation is held by the author.
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Show full item recordAbstract
Neighborhood density refers to the number of similar sounding words to a target word (Luce & Pisoni, 1998) and influences first language word learning in adults learning English (Storkel, Armbruster, & Hogan, 2006). There are two processes in word learning: lexical configuration and lexical engagement (Leach & Samuel, 2007). Lexical configuration refers to the speaker learning the sounds of the word. Lexical engagement refers to when the novel word is integrated into the lexicon and participates in lexical processes such as competition. The present work is the first to examine how neighborhood density influences lexical configuration and lexical engagement in second language word learning. Third-semester Spanish students performed four word learning tasks. The present results suggest neighborhood density influences lexical configuration and lexical engagement where words from a dense neighborhood are learned more accurately than words from a sparse neighborhood. The psycholinguistic and pedagogical implications of these findings are discussed.
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