Past Event

Vocabulary Acquisition through Viewing

Dr. Elke Peters
(University of Leuven)

In this talk, I will discuss the role of TV viewing in incidental vocabulary acquisition from a number of perspectives. I will focus on three lines of research. First, I will show which learning gains we can expect when learners watch a full-length TV-program. I will also explain which factors might facilitate learning gains. The second part of my talk will be devoted to the role of subtitles, L1 subtitles as well as captions (= L2 subtitles), in viewing. I will conclude my talk with a study that investigated the longitudinal effects of watching (subtitled) TV programs on vocabulary learning, as the findings showed that extramural exposure has the potential to seriously boost learners’ vocabulary knowledge.

About the Speaker

Dr. Elke Peters obtained her PhD at the University of Leuven in Belgium. She is currently an assistant professor at the Department of Linguistics at the University of Leuven. Her research interests include instructed vocabulary acquisition, collocations, and language assessment. Recently, she has been involved in a number of studies exploring the effects of viewing on vocabulary learning. She has published several articles in international journals, including Language Learning, Language Learning & Technology, Language Teaching Research, The Modern Language Journal and Journal of English for Academic Purposes. She is also co-editor of ITL, International Journal of Applied Linguistics (John Benjamins).

This event is sponsored by the School of Linguistics and Language Studies