An empirical study of the effects of incidental vocabulary learning through listening to songs
Open accessAbstract
Most studies have shown that reading is an important source of incidental vocabulary learning, and repeated reading may have a positive effect on learning gains. However, the study of incidental vocabulary learning through listening is still limited, and the immediate and long-term effects on different vocabulary knowledge dimensions are unclear. Furthermore, no empirical studies have been conducted to investigate the association between learning gains and preexisting vocabulary knowledge in listening. This article examines the effects of listening to English songs on unintentional vocabulary learning and vocabulary retention through three different vocabulary knowledge dimensions: word recognition, meaning association, and grammar identification. A total of 114 Chinese college students participated in the study, and they were given vocabulary evaluations at different times based on three separate components of vocabulary knowledge. The effects of repeated listening (one, three, and five times) and learners' prior vocabulary knowledge were also investigated. According to the findings, listening to songs can improve vocabulary knowledge, particularly in the area of word recognition, which can be retained 4 weeks later. Furthermore, the effect of listening three times (with exposure frequencies ranging from three to nine) was superior than listening one or five times, which provides teachers and learners with guidance for teaching or learning vocabulary more effectively. Finally, for low, intermediate, and high-level learners, there was an immediate and positive effect on the dimensions of word recognition and meaning connection after listening, and this knowledge is likely to be preserved 4 weeks later.
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- Authors
- Nie, K., Fu, J., Rehman, H., & Zaigham, G. H. K.
- Affiliations
- Hubei Engineering University (CN)
- National University of Modern Languages (PK)
- COMSATS University Islamabad (PK)
- Corresponding author
- Zaigham, Ghulam Hussain Khan
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2022-05-18
- Volume
- 13
- Pages
- 891146-891146
- ISSN
- 1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9158461
- OpenAlex
- W4280591904
- Cited by
- 14
- References
- 67
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3
- FWCI
- 3.81
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- 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
- incidental vocabulary learning, English as a foreign language, vocabulary retention, word recognition, repeated listening, exposure frequency, Chinese learners of English
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