Examining the Effects of Listening to Stories on Young Second Language Learners' Vocabulary Acquisition

• In Event: 28.091 - Sheraton Roundtable Session Two - Grand Centre
  In Roundtable Session: 28.091-10 - Vocabulary SIG Roundtable

Abstract

The current study examined the effects of listening to storybooks on primary school children’s incidental second language vocabulary learning. The sample included a total of 187 4th and 5th grade students from eight classrooms in one Korean elementary school. One treatment group listened to a teacher reading aloud an English storybook while explaining the target words that appeared in the text, while the other treatment group listened to the read-aloud of the same storybooks without any embellishments. Both interventions involved four storybook listening sessions, with each session lasting approximately 40 minutes. A series of multilevel analysis indicate that modest, incidental second language vocabulary growth from listening is possible, and that gains are enhanced through teacher explanations of target words.

Authors

• Hye Won Shin, Impact Research Lab

• Sarah Sok

• Juhyun Do