Learning Words from Reading: A Cognitive Model of Word-Meaning Inference

About the Author

Megumi Hamada is Professor of English in the TESOL and Linguistics programs at Ball State University, USA.

Product Description

An increasingly popular approach to second and foreign language education, this book focuses on incidental learning: how students learn words from reading. Despite its popularity, some researchers have questioned this theory that students can learn new words by inferring meanings based on a text they are reading. So, why does the incidental method not work for some students? What are the conditions for naturalistic learning to occur? What do students need to be able to do while reading in order to learn words successfully?

Tackling these questions head-on, this book provides researchers and educators with a more specific account of the processes behind the seemingly naturalistic method. Clarifying the connection between reading and word learning processes, Megumi Hamada proposes a new model, the Cognitive Model of Word-Meaning Inference, to describe how we obtain and use word-form and contextual information for learning words and the pedagogical applications of this. A significant new contribution to research in the field, Learning Words from Reading provides a cognitive perspective on how students learn new words from reading in a second or foreign language.

Review

“This book effectively draws together key theories and empirical findings from various disciplines to clearly describe the processes involved in incidental learning of second language vocabulary from reading.” ―Rachael C. Hulme, Research Fellow, Aston University, UK

“Hamada addresses a fundamental issue in L2 reading: How we Learn Words from Reading. She carefully reviews and categorizes the large and growing research on types of L1-L2 transfer effects (linguistic and contextual) and uses these findings to develop a coherent model of second-language word recognition and word learning: The Cognitive Model of Word-Meaning Inference.” ―William Grabe, Emeritus Regents Professor of Applied Linguistics, Northern Arizona University, USA

“Taking an interdisciplinary approach to research synthesis, Megumi Hamada explores incidental vocabulary learning from multiple perspectives, including linguistics, reading, and psychology. The book will serve as an insightful and valuable resource for students, teachers, and scholars in second language acquisition and language education.” ―Keiko Koda, Professor of second language acquisition and Japanese, Carnegie Mellon University, USA

“This book provides a valuable resource on reading and vocabulary learning. It provides a succinct overview of the theoretical and empirical literature on incidental word learning and also covers the processes involved in inferring word meaning from reading. The book is laudable for its quality and clarity of presentation.” ―Hossein Nassaji, Professor of Applied Linguistics, University of Victoria, Canada