The impact of input on early second language vocabulary acquisition

This study investigated the early second language acquisition of Dutch by young Moroccan and Albanian children aged 2;6. The study aimed to identify features of the classroom input that enhanced the children's acquisition of second language vocabulaiy. During the first fifteen weeks the children went to school, all the Dutch input that they were exposed to was audiotaped. After five, ten and fifteen weeks vocabulaiy tests were administered to follow the children's early acquisition of Dutch. The results of the study strongly suggest that early second language vocabulary acquisition essentially involves implicit learning processes, which are facilitated by word frequency and the position a word takes in an utterance. In addition, words that appear in requests for action and allow the child to efficiently interpret the teacher's communicative intention offer superior opportunities for acquisition. © Peeters Online Journals.

Publication year:2013