Digital tools in L2 and L3 vocabulary acquisition. A cross-linguistic investigation

Learning words in a foreign language can be done in many different ways, also with the use of modern digital tools. You may learn new vocabulary incidentally, for instance when reading websites or when watching films in a foreign language. You may also learn new words intentionally when writing in foreign languages for school or university and using digital dictionaries or translators. In our project we will explore how language learners acquire words incidentally and intentionally with the use of digital tools.

To better understand these processes, our project will involve several languages in two countries, Poland and Switzerland. We will study Polish learners of English as the second language (L2), and Swiss learners who speak German and French learning English as the third language (L3). We will focus on cognates (words similar in form and meaning) and noncognates (different in form, similar in meaning) between English and each of the three languages from different linguistic families: Polish (Slavic), French (Romance), or German (Germanic).

→ In Part 1 of the project, we will explore how university students learn vocabulary when writing essays using unknown academic words. We will check if using digital monolingual L2 dictionaries, translation engines (e.g., Google Translate), and digital glosses (translation and definition of the words provided) is equally effective in learning words. We will closely monitor the writing process using keylogging software (recording all the key presses and mouse clicks during the writing process) and eye-tracking technology (recording eye movements when people are writing). This will enable us to measure 1) what the writers are looking at, 2) paying attention to, and 3) trying to understand when writing. Also, we will be able to investigate how these three processes influence word learning.

→ In Part 2 of our project, we will check how viewers learn words when watching English-language videos with different types of subtitles or without subtitles. Some vide→os will be shown with the English audio only, others with audio in English and subtitles in the viewers’ first language (Polish, German or French), and yet others with audio and subtitles in English. Using eye-tracking equipment, we will monitor viewers’ eye movements while they are watching the videos. We will measure the learning of words, and thanks to eye tracking, we will be able to find out how these words are processed by viewers, and how this processing affects their learning.

Overall, thanks to this four-year project, our multilingual team will be able to better understand how speakers of different languages learn English words. The project will also help us better explore the role of different digital tools in vocabulary learning. Finally, the project outcomes may be directly applicable to language teaching in the contemporary digitalized world.