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Costs and Benefits of Native Language Similarity for Non-native Word Learning

The present study examined the costs and benefits of native language similarity for non-native vocabulary learning. Because learning a second language (L2) is difficult, many learners start with easy words that look like their native language (L1) to jumpstart their vocabulary. However, this approac...

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Autores principales: Marian, Viorica, Bartolotti, James, van den Berg, Aimee, Hayakawa, Sayuri
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8194348/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34122235
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.651506
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author Marian, Viorica
Bartolotti, James
van den Berg, Aimee
Hayakawa, Sayuri
author_facet Marian, Viorica
Bartolotti, James
van den Berg, Aimee
Hayakawa, Sayuri
author_sort Marian, Viorica
collection PubMed
description The present study examined the costs and benefits of native language similarity for non-native vocabulary learning. Because learning a second language (L2) is difficult, many learners start with easy words that look like their native language (L1) to jumpstart their vocabulary. However, this approach may not be the most effective strategy in the long-term, compared to introducing difficult L2 vocabulary early on. We examined how L1 orthographic typicality affects pattern learning of novel vocabulary by teaching English monolinguals either Englishlike or Non-Englishlike pseudowords that contained repeated orthographic patterns. We found that overall, the first words that individuals learned during initial acquisition influenced which words they acquired later. Specifically, learning a new word in one session made it easier to acquire an orthographically similar word in the next session. Similarity among non-native words interacted with native language similarity, so that words that looked more like English were easier to learn at first, but they were less effective at influencing later word learning. This demonstrates that although native language similarity has a beneficial effect early on, it may reduce learners' ability to benefit from non-native word patterns during continued acquisition. This surprising finding demonstrates that making learning easier may not be the most effective long-term strategy. Learning difficult vocabulary teaches the learner what makes non-native words unique, and this general wordform knowledge may be more valuable than the words themselves. We conclude that native language similarity modulates new vocabulary acquisition and that difficulties during learning are not always to be avoided, as additional effort early on can pay later dividends.
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spelling pubmed-81943482021-06-12 Costs and Benefits of Native Language Similarity for Non-native Word Learning Marian, Viorica Bartolotti, James van den Berg, Aimee Hayakawa, Sayuri Front Psychol Psychology The present study examined the costs and benefits of native language similarity for non-native vocabulary learning. Because learning a second language (L2) is difficult, many learners start with easy words that look like their native language (L1) to jumpstart their vocabulary. However, this approach may not be the most effective strategy in the long-term, compared to introducing difficult L2 vocabulary early on. We examined how L1 orthographic typicality affects pattern learning of novel vocabulary by teaching English monolinguals either Englishlike or Non-Englishlike pseudowords that contained repeated orthographic patterns. We found that overall, the first words that individuals learned during initial acquisition influenced which words they acquired later. Specifically, learning a new word in one session made it easier to acquire an orthographically similar word in the next session. Similarity among non-native words interacted with native language similarity, so that words that looked more like English were easier to learn at first, but they were less effective at influencing later word learning. This demonstrates that although native language similarity has a beneficial effect early on, it may reduce learners' ability to benefit from non-native word patterns during continued acquisition. This surprising finding demonstrates that making learning easier may not be the most effective long-term strategy. Learning difficult vocabulary teaches the learner what makes non-native words unique, and this general wordform knowledge may be more valuable than the words themselves. We conclude that native language similarity modulates new vocabulary acquisition and that difficulties during learning are not always to be avoided, as additional effort early on can pay later dividends. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-05-28 /pmc/articles/PMC8194348/ /pubmed/34122235 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.651506 Text en Copyright © 2021 Marian, Bartolotti, van den Berg and Hayakawa. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Marian, Viorica
Bartolotti, James
van den Berg, Aimee
Hayakawa, Sayuri
Costs and Benefits of Native Language Similarity for Non-native Word Learning
title Costs and Benefits of Native Language Similarity for Non-native Word Learning
title_full Costs and Benefits of Native Language Similarity for Non-native Word Learning
title_fullStr Costs and Benefits of Native Language Similarity for Non-native Word Learning
title_full_unstemmed Costs and Benefits of Native Language Similarity for Non-native Word Learning
title_short Costs and Benefits of Native Language Similarity for Non-native Word Learning
title_sort costs and benefits of native language similarity for non-native word learning
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8194348/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34122235
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.651506
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