The Relative Effectiveness of Incidental and Intentional Learning of L2 Vocabulary

The main purpose of the study was to investigate the relative effectiveness of incidental and intentional learning of second language (L2) vocabulary. The study was conducted with twenty sixth graders from an elementary school. They were randomly assigned to two groups (i.e., incidental meaning- focused reading group and intentional word-focused learning group) where they were given each treatment. For data collection, three aspects of word knowledge (i.e., form, meaning, and use) were measured by receptive and productive tests immediately after the treatments and two weeks later. The results of the immediate post-tests revealed that word-focused learning was more effective than meaning-focused reading in acquiring receptive and productive knowledge of “form” and“meaning.” On the other hand, meaning-focused reading was much more effective in acquiring the “use” aspect of word knowledge. On delayed post-tests, both groups showed significant loss in retention of the three aspects of word knowledge. However, the relative effectiveness of the two learning approaches was still evident.