The Effect of L1-L2 Lexicalization Mismatch on Incidental Acquisition of Receptive Vocabulary Knowledge
The Effect of L1-L2 Lexicalization Mismatch on Incidental Acquisition of Receptive Vocabulary Knowledge

Summary/Abstract: The researcher was interested to explore the possible effects of L1-L2 lexicalization mismatch on the acquisition and retention of receptive vocabulary knowledge by 90 Persian-speaking EFL learners. Lexicalization mismatch was defined in the context of this study as the lack of a lexically equivalent translation in learners’ L1 (i.e. Persian) for an L2 word (i.e. English). Thus, non-lexicalized words referred to those L2 words that required a longer string of L1 words to cover their essential semantic features. The findings indicated that there were significant differences between lexicalized and nonlexicalized target words in the receptive knowledge of meaning and form and receptive knowledge of associations. Thus, it seems non-lexicalized words are most likely to cause extra difficulty for EFL learners in the semantic aspects of vocabulary knowledge. Using enhanced input within a systematic vocabulary recycling program is recommended to deal with such words.

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