1st Edition
Researching Incidental Vocabulary Learning in a Second Language
Incidental language acquisition is the language that is learned informally, outside the constraints of the typical classroom, and vocabulary is one of the key elements in language learning and knowledge. This unique text is the first comprehensive overview and hands-on methodological guide for researching second language (L2) incidental vocabulary acquisition.
Expert contributors from around the world synthesize the state of the art by defining key concepts and laying out the major theoretical perspectives, research methodologies, empirical findings, and pedagogical considerations involved in incidental L2 vocabulary learning research. By connecting research techniques to the theory that underpins them, detailing practical steps for designing and conducting rigorous new studies, and highlighting areas that deserve additional research attention, they further set the agenda for future work in this field and put readers in a strong position to understand and carry out this research independently.
This book will be an invaluable resource to advanced students and researchers of second language acquisition, vocabulary studies, applied linguistics, education, and related areas.
Editors
List of contributors
Preface
Mark Feng Teng
Foreword
Batia Laufer
1. Introduction to Researching Incidental Vocabulary Learning in a Second Language
Mark Feng Teng
Part I: Pedagogy
2. Incidental vocabulary learning from extensive reading
Paul Nation and Rob Waring
3. Incidental vocabulary learning from watching audio-visual input
Maribel Montero Perez, Tetyana Sydorenko, and Lizz Huntley
Part II: Methodology
4. Methodological features of studies of incidental vocabulary learning
Stuart Webb
5. Cognitive/behavioral methods for investigating incidental vocabulary acquisition
Kathy Conklin, Ana Pellicer-Sánchez, and Manuel F. Pulido
6. Incidental learning of multi-word expressions: methodological considerations and future directions
Suhad Sonbul and Anna Siyanova-Chanturia
7. Data science and incidental vocabulary learning
Clarence Green
Part III: Individual differences
8. Understanding teachers’ and learners’ perceptions of incidental vocabulary learning: another piece of the puzzle
Averil Coxhead
9. Factors affecting incidental vocabulary learning
Mark Feng Teng and Takumi Uchihara
10. Motivation, task-induced involvement load and incidental vocabulary learning
Christine Muir and Paweł Szudarski
Part IV: Future directions
11. Meta-analytic studies of second language incidental vocabulary learning
Akifumi Yanagisawa
12. Bridging intentional and incidental vocabulary learning
Frank Boers
13. Concluding remarks on researching incidental vocabulary learning in a second language
Mark Feng Teng
Index
Biography
Mark Feng Teng is Associate Professor in Applied Linguistics in the Faculty of Languages and Translation at Macao Polytechnic University. He is the author of Language Learning through Captioned Videos: Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition (2021), co-author of Cognitive Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition (2023), and co-editor of Theory and Practice in Vocabulary Research in Digital Environments (forthcoming, 2025).
Barry Lee Reynolds is Associate Professor of English Language Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of Macau. He is sole editor of Vocabulary Learning in the Wild (2023) and co-editor of Innovative Approaches in Teaching English Writing to Chinese Speakers (2021) and English Literacy Instruction for Chinese Speakers (2019).
