Etymology of Modern English Vocabulary. Content Introduction

3. Individual differences in a variety of tasks concerning
vocabulary learning and reading

The third experiment was carried out in the larger framework of a project on

Mixed Ability Teaching which is still in progress. One of the aims of this experiment was to explore the psychological conditions in greater depth through involving pupils of the first phase of secondary education (12-15 year) of the lowest ability range. The research focused on the differences between (Dutch) pupils of very different ability ranges being educated together when learning French. In order to gain more insight into the nature of the differences with regard to vocabulary learning and reading, I presented 60 pupils with a variety of tasks in this field. In some cases the pupils worked individually and were requested to think aloud. However, if the task allowed it, the pupils worked in pairs of more or less the same ability level in order to create a more natural situation for thinking aloud. The ability level was determined in agreement with the French teachers and in
most cases on the basis of a vocabulary test.
The following tasks were used: while reading a story guessing the meaning of
unknown words from the context, after having read a story memorizing the meaning of unknown words by means of vocabulary cards, reading a relatively difficult illustrated story, recalling the meaning of new words incidentally acquired (or not) while reading a story and doing a reading strategy exercise involving strategies such as: orienting and mobilizing advance knowledge before starting to read, scanning and skimming, and guessing the meaning of unknown words.[18]
The main results of the analysis of the protocol records concerning the embedding of the words in meaningful memory systems and concerning the textual and psychological conditions for vocabulary learning through reading are the following. With respect to the nature of the "embedding" no differences between the pupils were found. Even weak pupils remembered, for instance, the context of a notoriously difficult word like "encore", which they had seen only once (5 months before), because they had very much enjoyed the particular book in which the word had occurred. In other words, when the textual and psychological conditions are favorable, the possibilities of embedding seem, in principle, to be the same for pupils of all ability ranges.
With respect to the textual conditions the findings of the first experiment were confirmed. The results of the second experiment could not be confirmed, because only one type of text (graded readers) was used.
With respect to the psychological conditions more insight was gained into the nature of these conditions for pupils of the lowest ability range. In general, these pupils proved to be weak both in guessing and in analysing. In the protocol records a variety of causes for this result could be traced. They can be indicated here only briefly. As to guessing weak pupils (as compared with their strong counterparts) tended to focus on the unknown word while neglecting the context. Weak pupils often did not take into account, for instance, the structure of the sentence. Characteristically a cue like translating the sentence while leaving the unknown word out (cf. experiment 2) helped these pupils far more than cues concerning the pictures, the wider context or the situation involved. Weak pupils also experienced difficulties because of their more restricted knowledge of the world (partly socially determined), which in some cases hampered guessing.[13]
More generally, weak pupils experienced serious difficulties in integrating information from different sources. In some cases, for instance, the pupils had four sources of information at their disposal: the knowledge they already possess, the text, the illustrations and the cues given in the exercises on the text. Weak pupils
were by no means able to systematically explore these four sources and to integrate the information gained. Instead, they tended to be drawn by the source which happened to attract their attention and to cling to it. For instance, two pupils who associated French "Ville" with "villa" did not change their hypothesis in spite of the verbal context ("Les villas principles du Maroc sont Rabat, Casablanca et Fes"), in spite of the picture (a small map of Maroc with these three towns indicated, and in spite of the given cue.
With respect to analyzing the word form also some differences between weak and strong pupils may be mentioned. Weak pupils (again partly socially determined) have a more restricted vocabulary knowledge in their mother tongue, which reduces the number of possible cognates. For instance, French "arriver" is for these pupils no cognate, whereas for strong pupils it is (Dutch, like English, has two more or less synonymous verbs "komen" (to come) and "arriveren" (to arrive). Weak pupils also experience considerably more difficulties in generalizing from already learned words or word groups to slightly different new words or word groups (e.g. from a bientot to bientot, from tres bon to tres beau, from preferer to prefere).
Pupils of the lowest ability level appeared to need much more time and trials to memorize 15 French words which were presented on vocabulary cards
alternately isolated and in a sentence. So this way of memorizing words is for weak
pupils certainly no solution. Instead, it seems more appropriate to make a distinction between relevant differences concerning vocabulary learning and reading which may or may not be reduced in the French lessons. It seems, for instance, unlikely that French lessons reduce differences in vocabulary knowledge in the mother tongue and general knowledge of the world. Other differences like integrating information from different sources and guessing the meaning of words from the context, might, however, be tackled more successfully in these lessons. Foreign language teaching should, in other words, capitalize on helping weak pupils to master relevant vocabulary learning and reading strategies. This may even have a positive effect on the learning results of these pupils in other subjects as well.[16]
Finally, the case study suggested an additional psychological condition for learning words through reading: the importance of a wide and free choice of books. The procedure of choosing and "grading" books mentioned before contributed considerably to the motivation of the children to read the selected book and probably as well to their retention of the content (cf. Ausubel, 1968, who found already that orienting before reading leads to an enhanced retention of the text). The case study indicated that this also brought about a good retention of a number of words occurring in important passages of the books. Finally, it was remarkable that the amount of interest in the subject appeared to prevail over the degree of difficulty of the language. This phenomenon and the importance of a free and wide choice was also found in a study concerning the relations between leisure reading in the mother tongue and reading French books by Toussaint-Dekker.