Zhao Jizheng, Huang Jing
School of Foreign Languages and Business, Shenzhen Polytechnic University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
Department of English Language Education, Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Front Psychol. 2023 Jul 25;14:1125483. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1125483. eCollection 2023.
Frequency effect on vocabulary acquisition has been widely investigated in second language acquisition (SLA) research, whereas comparative studies of vocabulary acquisition of learners from different language types, such as hieroglyphic writing and alphabetic writing, are still rarely found. This type of studies could be of great significance in exploring some unique characteristics of how second language learners of native languages of different writing perceive and acquire second language. Using artificial words of alphabetic writing and low-frequency English words as experimental materials, this study aims to compare the effect of frequency on the acquisition of grammar and meaning of alphabetic words between Chinese learners of the hieroglyphic native language and foreign learners of alphabetic native languages. Specifically, the study intends to find out whether frequency effect plays the key role in language acquisition; to what extent frequency effect affects language acquisition; and whether there are any differences between learners of different language types for vocabulary acquisition in terms of frequency effect. The results show that Chinese and foreign learners of English language have no significant differences as a whole in terms of type of languages affecting the acquisition of grammar and meaning of artificial words and English words, indicating the difference in the type of mother tongue might not be the factor causing differences on grammar and meaning acquisition of vocabulary. Learner types, language types, frequency and part of speech of a word have interaction effect toward the acquisition of grammar and meaning of a word. However, exposure frequency of vocabulary plays the determining role in the acquisition of grammar and meaning of words.
在第二语言习得（SLA）研究中，词汇习得的频率效应已得到广泛研究，然而，对于来自不同语言类型（如象形文字和字母文字）的学习者的词汇习得的比较研究仍然很少见。这类研究对于探索不同书写母语的第二语言学习者如何感知和习得第二语言的一些独特特征可能具有重要意义。本研究以字母文字的人造词和低频英语单词为实验材料，旨在比较象形文字母语的中国学习者和字母文字母语的外国学习者在字母词的语法和意义习得方面频率的影响。具体而言，该研究旨在找出频率效应是否在语言习得中起关键作用；频率效应在多大程度上影响语言习得；以及在频率效应方面，不同语言类型的学习者在词汇习得方面是否存在差异。结果表明，在影响人造词和英语词的语法和意义习得的语言类型方面，中国和外国英语学习者总体上没有显著差异，这表明母语类型的差异可能不是导致词汇语法和意义习得差异的因素。学习者类型、语言类型、频率和词的词性对词的语法和意义习得有交互作用。然而，词汇的接触频率在词的语法和意义习得中起决定性作用。
