Contextual learning of L2 word meanings: Second language proficiency modulates behavioural and ERP indicators of learning.

New word learning occurs incidentally through exposure to language. Hypothesizing that effectiveness of contextual word learning in a second language (L2) depends on the quality of existing lexical semantic knowledge, we tested more and less proficient adult bilinguals in an incidental word learning task. One day after being exposed to rare words in an L2 (English) reading task, the bilinguals read sentences with the newly-learned words in the sentence-final position, followed by related or unrelated meaning probes.

Early stage visual-orthographic processes predict long-term retention of word form and meaning: a visual encoding training study.

Adult learners of Chinese learned new characters through writing, visual chunking or reading-only. Following training, ERPs were recorded during character recognition tasks, first shortly after the training and then three months later. We hypothesized that the character training effects would be seen in ERP components associated with word recognition and episodic memory.