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547
548 Language Learning Vol. 53, No. 3
links between this sense and the other senses of a target word.
The meaning will then be processed at a deeper level (Craik &
Lockhart, 1972). In this article we will demonstrate that insights
from cognitive linguistics in combination with Anderson’s theory
on semantic networks lend theoretical support to the beneficial
effect of meaningful links in vocabulary learning, and we will
provide empirical confirmation for this idea.
Guessing Strategies
Bulging Meanings
P-sense 1b
P-sense 1a
P-sense 3a
P-sense 3b
core than others and would imply that, for example, peripheral
sense 1b in the figure may have little or nothing in common with
peripheral sense 3b.
To summarize, a cognitive-linguistic approach to the senses
of a polysemous word involves determining a core sense. In our
experiment we wanted to see if the strategy of guessing in
vocabulary learning could be made more efficient and effective
by giving a core sense of the word to be learned. We illustrate
this idea again with bulge, one of the words used in the experi-
ment. Bulge may occur with different senses, as the following
three sentences make clear:
1. The bulge under his armpit suggested he was carrying a gun.
2. After the war there was a bulge in the birth rate.
3. A breakaway dunk by Raheed Wallace ended a 12–0 run
by the Bullets that gave them their 5-point bulge.
In example 1, bulge is used in its most literal sense, referring to
a kind of bump, but in example 2, bulge is used in a figurative
sense, as it relates to an imaginary bump in a conventionalized
line delineating a sudden increase in numbers. If encountered in
isolation, this sense might be paraphrased as ‘‘sudden increase.’’
In example 3, bulge is also employed in a figurative sense, making
use of a similar image-schematic metaphor as in example 2, but
558 Language Learning Vol. 53, No. 3
Pilot Studies
Method
Results
Table 1
S1 40 10.7 2.7 3 16
S3 38 7.8 2.8 3 13
Table 2
S1 40 17.3 1.2 12 18
S3 38 17.2 1.3 14 18
564 Language Learning Vol. 53, No. 3
Table 3
S1 39 13.0 3.2 4 18
S3 38 10.7 3.8 5 18
18
16
14
Items correct
12
10
Condition:
8 S1
S3
6
Guessing Short Term Long Term
had scored high on the guessing test also scored high on the long-
term retention test, independent of condition. The correlation
between the guessing test and the long-term retention test turned
out to be significant at p < 0.01 (r ¼ .60). Separate analyses for each
condition also showed significant correlations, but the correlation
for participants in the S3 condition was stronger (r ¼ .66, p < 0.01)
than that for participants in the S1 condition (r ¼ .40, p < 0.05).
Interaction. Finally and most importantly, the interaction
was tested between the two conditions, on the one hand, and the
difference in retention between test 2 and test 3, on the other
(see Figure 3). For this purpose a multivariate analysis of vari-
ance was performed run with condition as between-participants
factor and test as within-participants factor. Even though
scores on the first test were quite similar for all participants,
participants who had guessed and learned with the core method
(S1) scored significantly better on the posttest: The interaction
18
16
Items correct
14
12 Condition:
S1
S3
10
Short Term Long Term
between test (2 and 3) and condition (S1 and S3) turned out to be
significant at p < 0.01, F(1, 75) ¼ 8.7.
Items. To see whether there was a difference in effect by
item, the items were sorted on the difference between condition
S1 and S3 on the long-term retention test. There were clear
differences among the items, with the strongest positive effects
on taut and perennial, a very weak effect on cog, a neutral effect
on sprawl, and a slight negative effect on grapple. A qualitative
analysis indicates that these differences may be related to the
translation equivalents of the different senses in Dutch. In
English, the different senses (S1, S2, and S3) were clearly
related to each other, going from the most concrete to more
abstract senses, with S1 giving rise to S2, and S2 to S3. Among
their Dutch translation equivalents, however, there were differ-
ences. Items such as cog, sprawl, and grapple had meaning
extensions in Dutch that were rather similar to the meaning
extensions in English, so the translation of the S3 sense was
rather similar to that of the S2 sense. Other items such as taut,
perennial, and spawn did not have meaning extensions in Dutch
translation that were similar to those in English, and the trans-
lation of the S3 sense was quite different from the S2 sense. For
example, in the S1 sense, taut was translated as ‘‘strak.’’ In its
S2 sense it was translated as ‘‘gespannen,’’ which is a near
synonym of ‘‘strak.’’ In its S3 sense (the taut and provocative film),
the translation given was ‘‘zonder onnodige dingen’’ (literally,
‘‘without unnecessary things’’).7 It was in such cases that the
strongest positive effects of giving S1 were found on the long-term
retention test. If the meaning extensions (S2 and S3) in the
second language are basically the same as in the first language,
it does not seem to matter much which one is introduced first.
Discussion
Conclusion
Notes
1
This example and discussion has been taken from Dirven and Verspoor
(1998, p. 26).
2
In Late Latin the verb lanco occurred, related to the noun lancea. The
English verb launch and noun lance are derived from two different French
dialects. In its earliest attestation, launch is used with the sense of
wielding a lance.
3
Because there is also a degree of metaphor involved (tension projected on
face) in addition to the fact that the tautness points to the person’s emotion,
Goossens (1990) would label this example ‘‘metaphtonymy.’’
Verspoor and Lowie 571
4
Many foreign language textbooks in the Netherlands provide texts with
translations for difficult words. The translation given is usually for the
sense as it is used within that particular context only.
5
The translation given for the figurative sense was one that would best help
students understand the word within its given context (rather than one
that would try to preserve the original metaphor) because this approach is
adopted in most glossaries that accompany texts in teaching material.
6
Even though bulge could have been translated with a similar figurative
expression, piek (‘‘peak’’), the choice was made for the more literal
translation in order to keep S1 and S3 conditions as similar as possible.
7
It might have been possible to translate this sense of taut also with
‘‘strak,’’ but for most Dutch students ‘‘strak’’ in this context would denote
‘‘cool’’ rather than ‘‘marked by economy of structure and detail.’’
8
In support of defining a word in terms of the concept that runs through all
its senses, Nation (2000, p. 51) suggests that one additional educational
value of doing so is seeing how the foreign language divides up experience
in a way different from the first language. Our results suggest that
especially when the concept that runs through the different senses of a
word is not the same for the learner’s first and second languages, the core
method helps the learner remember the different senses of the word.
References
Stein, B. S., Bransford, J. D., Franks, J. J., Owings, R. A., Vye, N. J., &
McGraw, W. (1982). Differences in the precision of self-generated elab-
orations. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 111, 399–405.
Verspoor, M. H. (1997). True blue: A cognitive linguistic approach to vocabu-
lary acquisition. In B. Smieja & M. Tasch (Eds.), Human contact through
language and linguistics (pp. 203–217). Frankfurt am Main: Lang.
Woutersen, M. (1997). Bilingual word perception. Unpublished doctoral
dissertation. Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen, Nijmegen, the
Netherlands.
Appendix A
Sentences as used in the experiment. Participants had to guess and later learn the sense of the target word in S2-a with
either S1 or S3 with Dutch translations given as cue. The short-term and long-term retention tests contained the S2-b
sentences, presented in a different order.
1 boost S1 Boost me up this tree and I will get you an apple. duwtje omhoog geven
S3 The tax cut can boost the economy. bevorderen
S2-a The landlord will boost the rent. verhogen
S2-b The victory boosted Enqvist’s chances of a gaining a
spot in the Tennis Master’s Cup.
2 grapple S1 We grappled with him and took the gun away from stevig vastgrijpen
him.
S3 But those explanations have not made it any easier for vat krijgen op
them to grapple with the stark reality of losing four
young men in such a terrible fire.
S2-a He now watches many of his students grapple with worstelen
the same dilemma.
S2-b The county is still facing enormous problems as local
leaders grapple with huge deficits projected over the
next few years.
3 bulge S1 What’s that bulge in your pocket? bult, zwelling
S3 After the war there was a bulge in the birth rate. plotselinge toename
Item Condition Example sentence Dutch equivalent given
S3 Ms. Thompson smothered the boy with kisses. beladen met, bedekken
onder
S2-a Nearly four months after the agreement, Mayor Giu- onderdrukken
liani smothered a strike by lawyers for the Legal Aid
Society.
S2-b Mr. Mobutu ran his country like a dictator, smother-
ing political opposition, torturing rebels and violating
international treaties.
17 perennial S1 Glaciers are usually covered with perennial snow. eeuwig, steeds opnieuw
voorkomend
S3 Daffodils, tulips, and snowdrops are what we call overblijvende plant, een
perennials. plant die langer dan
twee jaar blijft leven
S2-a Losing weight—the perennial New Year’s resolution terugkerend
—may make you more attractive and less prone to
disorders like diabetes and high blood pressure.
S2-b The problems of car parking in eastern midtown is a
perennial issue on the agenda of Community Board 6.
18 spawn S1 The salmon fight their way back up the river to kuit schieten (¼ een
spawn. heleboel eitjes tegelijk
leggen)
S3 The sickness will spawn epidemics, and then the voortbrengen, creëren
epidemics will spread to the United States. In our
own defence, we must do everything in our power to
help these hurricane victims.
S2-a The Democratic convention is spawning with secret wemelen van
agents who have to protect the President.
S2-b All around them, the area spawns with office
workers heading home, parents buying groceries and
teen-agers cruising. It is evidence that Downtown
Brooklyn is outgrowing itself.
584 Language Learning Vol. 53, No. 3
Appendix B
to sprawl
to spawn
to nudge
smother
to boost
grapple
to skim
shatter
to rake
to hoot
nugget
to peg
to gut
bulge
forge
taut
cog
Guessing
Avg total 5 45 32 37 63 71 82 83 40 54 64 27 51 73 62 28 55 58
Avg S1 8 50 38 50 78 85 90 90 55 65 65 38 65 70 73 33 60 63
Avg S3 3 39 26 24 47 55 74 76 24 42 63 16 37 76 50 24 50 53
Difference 5 11 12 26 31 30 16 14 31 23 2 22 28 "6 23 9 10 10
Short term
Avg total 99 97 92 97 94 100 97 96 81 91 100 91 100 97 97 97 95 100
Avg S1 100 98 90 98 98 100 98 98 83 95 100 95 100 95 95 98 93 100
Avg S3 97 97 95 97 89 100 97 95 79 87 100 87 100 100 100 97 97 100
Difference 3 1 "5 1 9 0 1 3 4 8 0 8 0 "5 "5 1 "4 0
Long term
Avg total 49 70 79 65 68 77 77 61 26 40 81 45 82 79 65 73 79 73
Avg S1 64 85 90 74 77 85 85 69 33 46 85 49 85 82 67 74 79 72
Avg S3 34 55 68 55 58 68 68 53 18 34 76 42 79 76 63 71 79 74
Difference 30 30 22 19 19 17 17 16 15 12 9 7 6 6 4 3 0 "2
Verspoor and Lowie 585
Appendix C
Items correct
10 S1 8 17 0
11 S1 8 12 4
1 S1 9 17 7
18 S1 9 17 7
21 S1 11 18 7
14 S1 9 18 9
4 S1 11 18 10
8 S1 7 17 10
19 S1 12 15 10
9 S1 15 18 11
12 S1 10 15 11
33 S1 6 17 11
2 S1 10 18 12
3 S1 13 17 12
34 S1 12 18 12
13 S1 6 17 13
15 S1 9 18 13
22 S1 14 17 13
25 S1 12 16 13
28 S1 6 17 13
32 S1 3 18 13
5 S1 12 18 14
6 S1 13 17 14
20 S1 13 18 14
23 S1 12 18 14
29 S1 12 18 14
16 S1 9 18 15
27 S1 12 18 15
31 S1 12 16 15
39 S1 9 18 15
40 S1 12 17 15
7 S1 9 17 16
35 S1 12 18 16
36 S1 12 18 16
586 Language Learning Vol. 53, No. 3
Items correct
37 S1 12 18 16
24 S1 14 18 17
30 S1 11 18 17
38 S1 12 18 17
17 S1 15 18 18
26 S1 16 18 18
58 S3 7 14 5
68 S3 3 17 5
72 S3 6 14 5
48 S3 6 18 6
59 S3 4 14 6
71 S3 6 18 6
44 S3 3 14 7
53 S3 5 18 7
75 S3 8 18 7
55 S3 9 18 8
56 S3 4 18 8
60 S3 7 16 8
43 S3 12 18 9
46 S3 7 16 9
52 S3 5 18 9
64 S3 11 18 9
69 S3 9 15 9
51 S3 5 17 10
78 S3 6 18 10
54 S3 7 17 11
57 S3 5 18 11
73 S3 7 17 11
42 S3 4 18 12
50 S3 10 17 12
63 S3 9 18 12
65 S3 10 18 12
49 S3 8 16 13
70 S3 10 18 13
47 S3 11 18 14
62 S3 9 18 14
66 S3 7 17 14
41 S3 7 17 15