Semantics and Phonology of English Vocabulary: Mechanism and Learning

人们普遍认为词汇在英语学习中起着至关重要的作用，但词汇知识究竟是什么却一直没有阐明。在本研究中，我们考察了词汇的语音、语义和语法之间的关系，这被认为是词汇知识的最基本的维度。阐明这三个维度是如何相互关联的，将有助于为非母语者开发一个有效的词汇学习系统。考虑到这一点，我们进行了（1）关于学习者对词汇/语言使用态度的问卷调查，（2）词汇测试，（3）收集学习者的论文数据，以及（4）行为实验，观察反应时间和大脑激活处理英语和日语词汇刺激时。一系列的实验和数据分析表明，学习者的词汇知识与写作中的实际词汇使用没有直接联系，他们基本上是独立地处理母语和二语词汇，新手水平的学习者倾向于用不同的系统处理二语词汇的语音和语义。

It is widely understood that vocabulary plays a crucial role in learning English, but we have not elucidated what the vocabulary knowledge actually is. In the current study, we examined the relationship between phonology semantics, and grammar of words, which are supposed to be the most essential dimensions of the vocabulary knowledge. Clarification of how three dimensions are interrelated would lead to a future development of an effective vocabulary learning system for non-native speakers. With this in mind, we conducted (1) a questionnaire survey about learners' attitude to vocabulary/language use, (2) a vocabulary test, (3) collection of learners' essay data, and (4) behavioral experiments to observe the reaction time and brain activation while processing English and Japanese vocabulary stimuli. A series of experiments and data analyses showed that learners' vocabulary knowledge is not directly linked with the actual vocabulary use in essay writing ; they basically process vocabularies in L1 and L2 independently ; and novice level learners have a tendency to process phonology and semantics of L2 vocabulary with different systems.