ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics - Volume 164, Issue 1, 2012

Abstract

Recent research has shown that semantically oriented tasks may have unfavorable effects on the acquisition of L2 vocabulary. It is argued that paying attention to semantic properties of target words exhaust memory capacity to process both form and meaning. Hoping to throw further light on this issue, the current study, investigated and compared the effects of semantic elaboration via synonym generation and meaningful output production via elicited oral imitation task on the learning of L2 words in both incidental and intentional contexts by Persian EFL learners. One hundred and twenty two L2 learners of English who were homogenous in terms of the target words were randomly assigned to four experimental groups: (a) semantically elaborated intentional learning, (b) semantically elaborated incidental learning, (c) output intentional learning, and (d) output incidental learning. The results of analyses of variance revealed that 1.Subject benfited more fromoral output than from semantic elaboration in the acqusition of target words, 2. Semantically oriented tasks have some negative effects on the acquisition of target words, and 3. Intentional settings are more effective than incidental settings for L2 word learning.

Abstract

The current trend in teaching foreign languages is to conceive the development of pragmatic competence as an essential and inseparable part of communicative competence. Today, progress of Cognitive Neuroscience enables one to consider social behavior in neuroanatomical terms: knowing how the brain integrates complex concepts of pragmatic competence proves highly effective in developing methodologies used in the language classroom to address these issues. The use of games and learning by doing in virtual worlds may be regarded as a very interesting option in order to acquire this competence. In this contribution, we have aimed at combining theoretical principles of Neuroscience and didactics to offer, in the specific case of Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language (TSFL), a relatively new type of teaching material: the Serious Game, as well as to present the results of a first qualitative study of the use of this type of material in the field of language acquisition.

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