This study investigates the representations and processing of abstract and concrete words in the semantic system of L1 Polish-L2 English speakers. It is a conceptual replication and extension of Ferré et al.’s (2015) [1] study testing the Different Representational Frameworks Hypotehsis.
Analysis is currently underway of the data collected in Summer 2019 at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland.
[1] Ferré, P., Guasch, M., García-Chico, T., & Sánchez-Casas, R. (2015). Are there qualitative differences in the representation of abstract and concrete words?
This ongoing project consists of a series of studies on the use of semantic feature analysis techniques for learning vocabulary in a second language (L2). Traditionally, semantic feature analysis is a treatment technique used to improve word retrieval ability in people with aphasia or other acquired language disorders. It involves generating semantic features, or descriptors, for the target words (Boyle, 2010). [1]
The studies conducted so far have investigated one-on-one training of abstract words in L2 English and L2 Spanish (Sandberg et al.
This study investigates the process of vocabulary consolidation in a second language by extending the Complementary Learning Systems account (Davis & Gaskell, 2009) [1] to an L2 context. Data was collected with L1 Polish-L2 English speakers at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland.
[1] Davis, M. H., & Gaskell, M. G. (2009). A complementary systems account of word learning: neural and behavioural evidence. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1536), 3773-3800.