Principles guiding vocabulary learning through extensive reading
Open accessAbstract
Extensive reading is one of a range of activities that can be used in a language learning course.Ideally, the choice of activities to go into a course should be guided by principles which are well supported by research.Similarly, the way each of those activities is used should be guided by well-justified principles.In this article, we look at the principles justifying the inclusion of extensive reading in a course, and then look in detail at a set of principles guiding how extensive reading can best be carried out to result in substantial vocabulary learning.Extensive reading can result in a wide range of learning outcomes, but in this article we narrow our focus on vocabulary learning (for similar analyses of a wide range of vocabulary learning activities see Webb and Nation [in preparation]).
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Varied contextual exposure is important for long-term retention.
“This aligns with research highlighting the importance of varied contextual exposure for long-term retention (Nation, 2015(Nation, , 2020;;Webb & Nation, 2017).”
From Integrating ChatGPT for vocabulary learning and retention: A classroom-based study of Saudi EFL learners (2025) · cites this paper as Nation, 2020
Cites
At what rate do learners learn and retain new vocabulary from reading a graded reader?
Waring, R., & Takaki, M. (2003) · Reading in a Foreign Language · doi:10.64152/10125/66776 · Cited by 547 · cited 2× · see citing works
“Much smaller scale experiments focusing on vocabulary gains from reading have shown that a reasonable number of words are learnt incidentally to various strengths of knowledge (Brown, Waring & Donkaewbua, 2008; Horst, 2005; Pigada & Schmitt, 2006; Pulido, 2004; Waring & Takaki, 2003).”
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van den Broek, G. S. E., Takashima, A., Segers, E., & Verhoeven, L. (2018) · Language Learning · doi:10.1111/lang.12285 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
“In addition to using contextual clues, learners can also understand the meaning of words by retrieving knowledge gained during previous encounters with the word from memory (Nation, 2015; Schmitt, 2008).”
BackgroundAbdelhalim, S. M., & Alsehibany, R. (2025) · Language Learning & Technology · doi:10.64152/10125/73635 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
“However, acquiring new vocabulary in English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts are challenging due to the complexities of spelling, form, meaning, and appropriate usage (Nation, 2015).”
- Authors
- Nation, P.
- Affiliations
- Victoria University of Wellington (NZ)
- Corresponding author
- Nation, Paul
- ORCID
- Nation, Paul
- Published
- 2020-06-22
- OpenAlex
- W889762886
- Cited by
- 144
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2025: 12 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 6
- Type
- other
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Open Access Victoria University of Wellington | Te Herenga Waka (Figshare) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Second Language Acquisition and Learning
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning
- Keywords
- vocabulary acquisition, extensive reading, reading instruction, language learning principles
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