A model of L2 vocabulary learning and retention
Abstract
Vocabulary is an essential component of language. It is central to reading ability, writing ability and listening ability, and the most important aspect of second-language (L2) knowledge for academic achievement. The aim of this paper is to investigate quantitatively some of the factors that make some L2 words more difficult to learn and retain over time than others. It builds upon similar research carried out by Milton and Daller which investigated the relationship between word difficulty and frequency, cognateness and word length, but differs from it in the type of test used to measure word difficulty and the ways in which cognateness and word length were operationalised.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Vocabulary is a fundamental component of language proficiency.
“Vocabulary is a fundamental component of language proficiency.”
From Digital Game-Based Vocabulary Learning Using Kahoot! Perceptions, Engagement, and Achievement Among Moroccan EFL Young Learners (2026) · cites this paper as Willis & Ohashi, 2012
No citation lists for this paper
No citation lists for this paper yet — checked again daily.
References 40 · Cited by 66
- Authors
- Willis, M., & Ohashi, Y.
- Affiliations
- Tokyo Woman's Christian University (JP)
- Corresponding author
- Willis, Martin
- Venue
- The Language Learning Journal
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2012-03-02
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 125-137
- ISSN
- 0957-1736 (ISSN-L)
- 1753-2167
- OpenAlex
- W2028404919
- Cited by
- 66
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2025: 6 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 30 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 2.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Language Learning Journal (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Second Language Acquisition and Learning
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
- Keywords
- second language vocabulary acquisition, vocabulary retention, word difficulty, word frequency, word length, vocabulary acquisition
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
