CONTENTS

Deciphering the Tagalog Verb - Part III

-Reill Bautista-

The Crow and the Pitcher

-Jonathan Fleury-

p.1

p.5

Why Bring Literary Theorist Harold Bloom and p.6

Agon into my Theory Based on Cognitive Metaphor?
-Mark Staff Brandl -

Tao Te Ching - Verse II -

p.8

-Gabe Witmonger-

Anarf a h-Armgha

p.12

-Marcas Brian MacStiofin Mhaiti Domhnaill-

EFL Learners Attitudes Towards English

Vocabulary Learning Strategies

p.14

-Bichara-

Lexical Selection And The p.33

Evolution Of Language Units
-Glenn Hadikin-

Bibliography and Acknowledgements

Editorial Team
Editor in Chief:
Jonathan Fleury
Layout Design & Graphics
Gabe Witmonger
Associated Editor
Fouzia Erraihani
Founders
Gabe Witmonger
Jonathan Fleury

Deciphering The Tagalog Verb - Part III

I have published the Part I and II of this article

in the previous issues of Conlangs Monthly.

This would be the final part of the series of articles focusing on the Tagalog verb.
(I recommend Tagalog Structures by Teresita Ramos as a reference grammar for this
matter; I used it to guide me in writing the three-part series)
For Part I the following were discussed:

<um> affix completed action

First syllable doubling contemplative

Combination of first syllable doubling plus <um> - continuous

<in> affix changes the roles of particles

The particles ang/si, ng/ni, and sa
The Part II discussed:
1.
Imperative form
2.
<mag>, <ma>, and <mang>
3.
<an> and <in>
4.
<kay> particle
For this final part we shall discuss:
1. Instrumental
2. Causative
3. Social

Instrumental prefix <ipang>

The prefix <ipang> is used for <um> verbs, <ma> verbs, <man> verbs, and <mang>
verbs. This prefix refers to the noun partnered by the article <ang> as its instrument.
It also undergoes sound change, like <mang> prefix. The following table shows an
imperative form of this prefix.

The following examples show how the imperative form of

instrumental prefix is used in discourse.

Of course, the other three tenses (completed, contemplative, continuous) can be

derived with that prefix:

Causative
There are a set of prefixes for expressing the causative form of the verb, depending on
the focus of the sentence.
<magpa> prefix
The prefix is used to indicate causative form of the verb for actor focus.

<ipa> prefix
<ipa> prefix can be used to focus on the object.

Social prefix <paki>

Several languages express please by using a separate word. The placement of such
word depends on the language. Tagalog uses the prefix <paki> to express it:

This prefix is object focus, so the <ang> particle precedes the object of the action. The
prefix also assumes the second person as the doer of action, so it is usually left out.
The actor focus equivalent for <paki> is <maki>.

<maki> follows the <mag> paradigm.

What does the paradigm above mean?

The following sentences will show how they are used (no glossing for these):

The paradigm above implies consent from the other side.

Remember this important fact.
Pakiusap
An important Tagalog word derived from <paki> prefix is pakiusap. The word means
to beg, to request, to negotiate. This is derived from usap, which means to talk.

These are the basic forms for learning Tagalog. Prefixing <paki> is not the only way to
express please; the word pakiusap is also utilised:

Using a form of the verb pakiusap is considered formal speech, however. Nowadays
the English word please is common in colloquial discourse.
The three-part series now ends here. Here is a summary:
There are five forms of Tagalog verb, in which four of them were discussed:
completed, contemplative, continuous, and imperative. The other one is the infinitive
form, which was given in the tables but its use not discussed
Three out of five focus/foci were discussed: actor focus, goal focus, and instrument
focus. The other two are benefactive and locative focus.
Three moods are discussed: indicative, social, and causative.
Several particles are also discussed because they play important roles in marking the
focus of the verb: <ang>/<si>, <ng>/<ni>, <sa>, and <kay>.
I believe these important portions of the Tagalog verb conjugation would be enough
for one to be able to start understanding basic sentences in Tagalog. If you want to
ask a question regarding a Tagalog sentence, feel free to contact the author and he will
give the answer in a future edition of Conlangs Monthly.

The Crow and the Pitcher

A crow perishing with thirst saw a

pitcher, and hoping to find water, flew to
it with delight. When he reached it, he
discovered to his grief that it contained
so little water that he could not possibly
get at it.
He tried everything he could think of to
reach the water, but all his efforts were in
vain. At last he collected as many stones
as he could carry and dropped them
one by one with his beak into the pitcher,
until he brought the water within his
reach and thus saved his life.

possibilities, in fact, fought for and won. Thus

Harold Blooms theory of antithetical revisionism
also contributes an important component to this
paper, as he writes:
But again, why should someone crossing out
of literary criticism address the problematics of
revisionism? What else has Western poetry been,
since the Greeks, must be the answer, at least in
part. The origins and aims of poetry together
constitute its powers, and the powers of poetry,
however they relate to or affect the world, rise
out of a loving conflict with previous poetry,
rather than out of conflict with the world. ... This
particularly creative aspect of a kind of primal
anxiety is the tendency or process I have called
poetic misprision and have attempted to portray
in a number of earlier books.
-Harold Bloom- 2

Why Bring Literary Theorist

Harold Bloom And Agon
Into My Theory Based On
Cognitive Metaphor?
Intercultural, not globalised; call-andresponse, not Oedipal.
-Mark Staff BrandlCognitive metaphor theory proffers a mode of
thinking which can be applied to the analysis and
creation of art, while accentuating the efforts of
the makers of these objects. After the object-only
orientation of Formalism, after the medium-only
focus of Deconstruction, this may lead to a feeling
of liberation, of agency.
Nevertheless, this is a theory which may be seen to
bring with it a new sense of the burden of the past.
Whereas the Formalist Modernists felt free from
the past and the Deconstructivist Postmodernists
are endlessly tangled in an inescapable present,
authors and artists as viewed through cognitive
metaphor theory are directly responsible for
fashioning their own tropes through the processes
of extension, elaboration, composition and/or
questioning. This they accomplish in and through
the formal parameters of their work, with enough
cultural coherence to be able to communicate, but
enough originality to be significant. Important
tropes cannot merely be selected from a list; they
are discovered and built out of revisions of cultural

The heart of Blooms theory of misprision is the

concept of an indispensable, antithetical agon of
each poet. With poetry being the chief artistic
discipline for Bloom, the word poet may also
be replaced here with artist, which is what I will
do. Revisionism is exalted to the central fact of
artistic creativity. Agon is Blooms term for the
conflict arising from the anxiety of influence.
Each and every author must wrestle with his or
her precursors, the ones who inspired them to be
writers in the first place. In amendment of Bloom,
though, this loving conflict also transpires with
the world, as it involves tropes of bodily experience
as outlined in Lakoffian theory. Creators seeking
individual ways to convey their experiences within
their media, are necessarily forced to fence with
comparable expressions of similar experiences by
their predecessors, therefore primarily with their
predecessors tropes. Cognitive metaphor theory
offers an important basis for the study of art and
literature, in particular their formation. Bloomian
agonistic misprision completes the portrayal of the
process by which creators arrive at the cognitive
tropes so described.
The theory of central trope which I developed in
my dissertation is postmodern, as described. It
is a model unfolding the construction by authors
and artists of distinctive central tropes in the
tangible forms and processes of their media. They
achieve this by means of an agonistic struggle with
predecessors tropes, doing so in order to uniquely
articulate personal perceptions and experiences.
Such tropes in the hands of artists are both
metaphoric and meta-formal, thus yielding the
punning term metaphor(m) in my title. This word
describes and embodies the core of the theory. For
creators, artistic value is grounded in form, the
way a work is made and its technical aspects.
6

Yet, turning Formalism on its head, these attributes in themselves are

significant only due to their meta-properties as tools and modus operandi
involving context, tropaic content and cultural struggle.
Although clearly inspired by Freud, Bloom can be pushed beyond the
simplicity of most interpretations of Oedipal father-figure relationships. I,
instead, see the possibility of a non-Oedipal interpretation or variation on
Harold Blooms antithetical revisionist theory of agon, of misprision in artistic
creativity. Blooms notion is perspicacious and very influential on my theory
of metaphor(m), but I believe an adaptation of it replacing oedipal desire
with dialogical call-and-response is even more promising.
I agree with Bloom that every artist must wrestle with his or her precursors,
the ones who inspired them to be artists in the first place, while also struggling
against themselves and previous versions of themselves. Strong creators, as
Bloom calls them, form new and independent spots for their creativity in a
continuous conflict, which he terms agon. Blooms thought is very oedipal:
from the Oedipus complex (1910 CE), coined by Sigmund Freud from
Sophocles play Oedipus Tyrannus (429 BCE), in which the title character,
the Theban hero, answers the Sphinxs riddle and unknowingly kills his father
and marries his own mother. Overly simplistically described, Blooms theory
contends that artists have a central rivalry with the past, with those artists
who came before them.
However, I assert that such agonistic, dialectical struggle is more than simply
oedipal. Art sometimes advances through homage (think of Jazz) or through
wholly new pressures and skirmishes. This is particularly important today,
when many of us have multiple cultures and complex relationships to tradition
and anti-tradition. Artists inherited cultures are wrestled with in complex
fashions in their artworks. Creators struggle against their inheritances, yet
also pay respect to them, thus using them as material in the construction of
their singular identities, in the establishment of the terrain on which they are
grounded and, contrarily, from which they journey.
Bloom can be pushed beyond the simplicity of most interpretations of Oedipal
father-figure relationships. In truth, I see a clearer source than in the Greek
myth of Oedipus for Blooms thought in Jacobs struggle with the angel (or
God) as described in the Bible 3, not detailed in the Quran, but discussed
by Quranic commentators as a walk and debate with an angel; or in the
African spirit Eshu, the patron saint of crossroads, who is both young and old
simultaneously and who is fond of playing tricks on people for the purpose of
causing maturation. The river Jacob crossed to have this important encounter
is the Jabbok River, also now called the Zarqa River. The name Jabbok is quite
rich in associations, being an aural anagram of Jacob, and meaning to flow,
to pour out, even a wrestling. 4 Eshu is important as he embodies much of
the unity of homage, development, questioning and agon present in AfricanAmerican artistic expression, particularly Jazz, which inspired this insight
in me. Thus, blending the traditions I mentioned, I call my version JabbokEshuian agon. This odd blending is an application of my theory structurally
and offers a doorway into two rich storehouses of foundational cognitive
metaphors, thus helping to further integrate the Lakoffian and Bloomian
facets of the theory of central trope. I will write more on the specifics of my
Jabbok-Eshuian agon in a future article.

Dismissing Comparisons
-Tao te Ching- Verse II-

Dismissing Comparisons
All in the world know the beauty of the beautiful, and in doing
this they have (the idea of) what ugliness is; they all know the skill
of the skilful, and in doing this they have (the idea of) what the
want of skill is.
So it is that existence and non-existence give birth the one to
(the idea of) the other; that difficulty and ease produce the one (the
idea of) the other; that length and shortness fashion out the one the
figure of the other; that (the ideas of) height and lowness arise from
the contrast of the one with the other; that the musical notes and
tones become harmonious through the relation of one with another; and
that being before and behind give the idea of one following another.
Therefore the sage manages affairs without doing anything, and
conveys his instructions without the use of speech.
All things spring up, and there is not one which declines to show
itself; they grow, and there is no claim made for their ownership;
they go through their processes, and there is no expectation (of a
reward for the results). The work is accomplished, and there is no
resting in it (as an achievement).
The work is done, but how no one can see;
Tis this that makes the power not cease to be.
-James Legge Translation-

Commentary by Stefan Stenudd

In the second chapter, Lao Tzu continues by
presenting a consequence of what he stated in the
first chapter. Because the opposites of existence
are united in a necessary whole, its detrimental to
separate them either in deed or in value.
The unity of opposites makes up the world. We
should not call one good and the other bad. There
is no point in telling them apart at all, since they
cannot exist divided. Nor do they make any sense
when separated from one another.
Certainly, we appreciate some things more than
others, but we must remember that we are able to
do so only because we can compare them. The ugly
is the mirror of the beautiful. So, who can say that
beauty is only within the latter? Thats why we are
unable to find complete consensus about which is
which. What one of us regards as beautiful, another
will watch with indifference.
Its even so that each of us changes the way we see
things, from moment to moment and from one
perspective to the other.
Beauty is no object in itself, but merely the
impression of one. Its in the eye of the beholder,

and not a fixed quality of that which is beheld.

So, we should treat our preferences with the
appropriate modesty. And we should learn to
appreciate the beauty in the ugly, as well as the ugly
in the beautiful. None exists without the other, but
within each other.
Good and Bad
We hasten to call some things good and others
bad, but fail to recognise that such opposites are
also deeply dependent on one another. Judging
between them has little meaning. The prickled
stem leads up to the flower of the rose. A forest is
rejuvenated by fire, as is the soil by the merciless
turn of the seasons. Night brings repose from day,
and death gives room for new life. One is in need
of the other.
Even when it comes to human deeds, judging
them as good or bad is a risky business for the
most experienced judge, as well as for a jury of
twelve. There is rarely just one person responsible
for a series of events, and within that person there
is sure to be a number of contradictions. So, trying
to decide on the character of a person in terms of
good and bad is even less likely to succeed.
10

We are more complex than any book can cover.

No person is simply good or bad. Both extremes
are inside of us, and in a multitude of nuances.
Any personality is a mystery beyond explanation.
We can only observe the actions by which that
personality expresses itself.
What we do is the result of a series of events and
reasons. Few of them are at our control. Most of
our actions are not ones of choice, but of necessity.
We stumble into them, or we are pushed. Certainly,
we are still responsible for our deeds, but there is
no point in judging them as good or bad. That only
interferes with our ability to counteract them when
needed, or support them when they are wanted.
Not to mention the problem of what is good for
one but bad for another. Thats mostly the case.
Therefore, modern philosophers prefer to discuss
ethics in quantities: what is good for most people,
or what is more good for one than it is bad for
another, and so on. There is rarely an objective
truth to be found, or a value that everyone can
share.
Mostly, good and bad are in the hands of those
who have power. They decide what is good for all
or bad for all. Thats usually what happens to be
good or bad for them. Lao Tzu has more to say
about that attitude, later in the Tao Te Ching.
Deeds of people may force us to react, but we are
not helped much by defining those deeds morally,
or even deciding on moral standards for all.
We make rules to bring a working order to society
and to push society in the direction we want it to
develop. We follow these rules when we can, and
break them when we cannot constrain ourselves.
The rules stipulate what the consequences of
breaking them should be. Thats all fair and square.
There is no need to add a moral judgment to the
legal one. For that, we simply do not have enough
information.
If we allow morals to influence our judgments,
we are unable to be objective. Then there is a risk
that the punishment of a deed is far worse than the
deed itself.
So, the sage refrains from judging. He is very
hesitant to interfere, or to insist that his opinion
should be respected. He is reluctant to lead, and
refuses to be followed. He is an example without
pointing it out.

The Sage
Lao Tzu frequently mentions sheng-jen, which
is translated `the sage in almost every English
version of the Tao Te Ching. I spent quite some
time pondering alternative translations, but found
none better. It implies wisdom of a profound kind.
Also, theres an archaic ring to it that fits well
with the traditional Chinese idea about ancient
times being superior, to which Lao Tzu evidently
subscribed.
But the sage is not a person elevated above the rest
of mankind. To Lao Tzu, anyone can be sage by
simply following Tao. Those who do so excel mostly
at being humble, not at all separating themselves
from their fellow men. The sage is someone like you
and me, but he or she has achieved true wisdom.
Sheng-jen is a person with a refined spirit, who
is modest about his place in the world and shows
compassion towards others, whatever the level of
their wisdom.
The word sheng is written with a sign that contains
three parts: an ear, a mouth, and the sign for a king
or sovereign. Someone who listens and speaks
beyond the perspective of common men. A refined
mind. Its closer to what we call reason than to
knowledge. We are reminded of King Salomon of
the Bible, who listened carefully to his subjects and
then spoke wisely to them. He was a sensible ruler,
who knew not to speak before listening. The king
commanded according to what he found out from
using his ears.
Lao Tzu has little respect for the ones who call
themselves learned and clever. Instead, he stresses
the superiority of simple reason, what we call
common sense. To Lao Tzu, the sage is someone
who excels at common sense.
We will learn more about what Lao Tzu regarded
as true wisdom in the following. He used the
expression sheng-jen more than thirty times in the
Tao Te Ching.
The word jen simply means a human being, a
person. Its often used like the word `man is in
English. It may refer to a male person, but just
as well to human beings of any gender. Lao Tzu
certainly had no problem with the possibility of
women being truly wise. On the contrary, as will
be seen frequently in the following chapters, he
tended to regard the female qualities as far superior
to the male ones.

Since he never puts himself above others, they find

no reason to rebuke him.

11

Anarf a h-Armgha

Anarf /anara:uf/ is a Terchne woman who lives

in the small coastal village called Lefem which
lay by the banks of an estuary where the freshwater
met the salt sea. Not far from Anarf s cottage
was a small stream called lorna with water that
had a slight sweet taste to it, this was due to a
species of tree called n which grows alone by the
stream, the tree has a very sweet resin which gives
the entire tree a sweet taste from bark to fruit. This
resin has a quality which is harmful to spirits, the
fruit is eaten to temporarily fend of spirits or the
resin is mixed in soil around a cottage to prevent
spirits from entering. the water of this stream
eroded some of the soil by roots which caused
some of the trees sweetness to be absorbed into the
water itself. Anarf s father was a fisherman so
she often found herself sitting outside the cottage
mending his nets. One day while she was fixing a
tangled mess she saw man walk not far from her
cottage, curiously he was soaking wet. He looked
upon Anarf s beauty and called out Re!
(sweetheart), may I see a smile on your face?

The next day she was again mending her fathers

nets, and she saw the soaking wet man walk by. He
called out to her Re! may I see a smile on your
face?

For what? She replied,

As she has been so far charmed by the man she

put down the net and walked away from the sweet
n soil that surrounded her cottage. As she neared
the man she noticed something odd, besides him
being soaked to the bone, he appeared to have
a tail hidden behind his legs. At first Anarf
though she imagined that she saw something, but

For the joyous tune it may play for my heart to

dance to
She couldnt help but grin at the mans words. She
gave a smile, and then he wandered off.

For what? She replied,

For beauty herself said that no smile is more
graceful than her own, but a smile from you will
prove her wrong
Once again she grinned at the mans words, and
happy with the result he wandered off again.
The next day she was again mending her fathers
nets, and once more the soaked man passed by, he
called out to her Re!, may I see a smile on your
face?
For what? She replied
Walk over to me and I may tell you

12

a second look proved that there was indeed a tail on the man. Only when
she was a few steps away from him did she realise that he was no man but
rather an Armgha or water wolf , a spirit which dwells in lakes or estuaries
with the shape of a slender wolf, they often lure people to get close to them
by pretending to be a friendly stray dog or by taking on other forms, once
someone gets close they wrap their tail around the prey and run into the
nearest body of water and drown the victim, after which they eat them all
except the lungs, but no matter what it looks like it will always be dripping
wet.
Upon her realisation Anarf ran as fast as she could but the slender
Armgha was fast on her heels. She could never outrun the spirit for much
longer so she ran for the lorna stream and jumped in it. As the Armgha
was attempting to stop itself Anarf splashed a lot of the sweet water in the
Armghas direction.
The water caused the spirit to let out a great howl and retreat into the salty
sea water. From then on the fruit of the n tree was often on the menu in
Anarf s cottage.

Notes:
The name Anarf is thought to come from a
corruption of n + ar + f roughly meaning
n removes the wolf .

13

EFL Learners Attitudes Towards English

Vocabulary Learning Strategies
The present paper strives to investigate Moroccan
EFL learners attitudes towards English vocabulary
learning strategies. In a more specific manner,
this paper endeavors to compare the attitudes
of two groups from different academic levels in
order to test whether the learners academic level
has a bearing on his/her attitude with respect to
the strategies used to learn English vocabulary,
namely the case of university Moroccan EFL
learners at the first and third level. At last, the study
attempts to determine whether there is likelihood
that Moroccan EFL learners commonly use some
vocabulary learning strategies more often than
other ones.
A number of sixty participants take part in the
research. They are divided into two groups based
on their academic level (S2, S6). The first group,
S2, included twenty six respondents, whereas the
second group, S6, involved thirty four participants.
To elicit the respondents attitudes to different
vocabulary learning strategies a questionnaire of
fifteen items is administered online where learners
of both academic levels are asked to evaluate each
strategy regarding its usefulness. After each item in
the questionnaire a question about the frequency
of use of each individual strategy is also included
to have a clear vision of the common vocabulary
learning strategy (ies) among Moroccan EFL
learners.
The findings of the study provide evidence that
the learners academic level has no impact on
the attitude this learner holds towards English
vocabulary learning strategies.
Hence, the first hypothesis is rejected in favor
of the null hypothesis leading to the conclusion
that academic level does not hold any relation
with regard to the learners attitude to vocabulary
learning strategies. Furthermore, another finding
suggests that there are three vocabulary learning

strategies which are commonly used among

Moroccan EFL learners, namely to hear the word
repeatedly and repeat it, to meet and use words
through language skills, and to listen to passages
and songs repeatedly. Based on this fact, the second
hypothesis is confirmed. Traditionally, vocabulary
has been a neglected aspect of language since major
importance was given to other language areas
and skills such as grammar, reading and writing.
After the neglected aspect period, a number of
researches were conducted in favor of this language
aspect and demonstrated several strategies for its
acquisition as well as they evaluated its role and
contribution in the acquisition of other language
aspects. Ever since, vocabulary has no longer
remained a neglected aspect, but rather an aspect
which plays a major role in the development of the
learners cognitive and language proficiency level.
1)
Objectives of the study:
The present monograph has for a primary purpose
to explore Moroccan EFL learners perceptions
with respect to different English vocabulary
learning strategies. In more specific terms, this
paper compares the attitudes of two groups that
belong to different academic levels in order to test
if this latter has a bearing on their attitudes towards
vocabulary learning strategies. In this light, the
current paper strives to attain the following main
objectives:
-To investigate Moroccan EFL learners attitudes
towards the strategies used to learn English
vocabulary based on their academic level.
-To examine whether the learners academic level
influences his/her attitude to these strategies.
-To distinguish the most commonly used
English vocabulary learning strategy (ies) among
Moroccan EFL learners, more precisely S2 and S6
students.
14

2)
Research questions:
This study investigates the perceptions of Moroccan
EFL learners to the different strategies used with
regard to learning English vocabulary. As such, the
present intends to answer the following research
questions:
-Does the learners academic level have a bearing
on his/her attitude regarding the different English
vocabulary learning strategies?
-Is/Are there any common strategy (ies) which is/
are commonly used among Moroccan EFL learners
to learn English vocabulary?
3) Hypotheses:
In Pursuance of attaining the aforementioned
objectives and answering the previously stated
research questions, two hypotheses have been
formulated:
-The learners academic level and cognitive
maturity have an impact on his/her attitude with
respect to the strategies used to learn English
vocabulary.
-Based on their academic level and cognitive
needs, Moroccan EFL learners are likely to use
certain vocabulary learning strategies more often
than other ones.
4) Rationale:
The rationale behind the choice of this topic
stems from a curiosity to have an idea about
how Moroccan EFL learners perceive various
vocabulary learning strategies regarding their
usefulness. Another reason for this choice was
to have a clear depiction of the most common
vocabulary learning strategies that Moroccan
EFL learners make use of when learning English
vocabulary. Moreover, based on my humble
experience as a student I was exposed to a very
limited number of vocabulary learning strategies,
majorly reading and dictionaries; hence, I decided
to conduct this research to feed my curiosity to
know more about other strategies that can be
used to acquire vocabulary. Furthermore, Lack of
research on vocabulary in the Moroccan context is
another reason for the choice of this topic.
5)
Organization of the study:
This paper comprises three chapters. The first
one is dedicated to introduce the reader to the
major realm of the study as well as acquaint him/
her with the basic key concepts the study consists
of. Furthermore, the chapter includes a concise
review of some previous works conducted in the
same context as the present study. The second
chapter outlines the methodology of the study
since it provides an elucidation of the objectives

that are to be attained, hypotheses that are to be

confirmed or rejected and research questions
that the paper strives to answer. Moreover,
information about practical details such as
research design, participants, data collection
procedure, instruments of data gathering and
statistical measures are also presented. The third
chapter is mainly concerned with the data analysis
and discussion of the obtained results. Findings
gained from descriptive statistics and the output
of the independent samples t-test in addition to
the results of the frequency table are analysed,
discussed and interpreted in this chapter.
> Definition
Second Language Acquisition (SLA) stands for
the process of learning a second language. In
other words, how a learner learns a second or a
nonnative language after the
native one has been learned (Gass and Selinker,
2008). The term is also used to refer to the scientific
discipline devoted to exploring that process.
Although the field bears the name of second
language acquisition, it can also investigate the
learning of a third, fourth, or subsequent languages.
According to Gass (2008), the term refers to both
the acquisition of a second language in a classroom
situation or in more natural exposure situations
(ibid). Being a branch of Applied Linguistics, SLA
puts more emphasis on what learners do; that is
to say, it does not inquire the practices used in
language teaching despite the fact that teaching,
in general, may have an influence on the learning
process of the learner. Therefore, even though in
an indirect way, all topics in SLA are essentially
involved in how the L2 learners brain represents
and processes linguistic information (Hulstijn,
2007).
> Acquisition vs. Learning
In his book Principles and Practice in Second
Language Acquisition, Krashen casts light
on an important distinction between the two
terms acquisition and learning in one of his
fundamental five hypotheses in approaching the
study of second language acquisition; precisely,
the acquisition-learning distinction theory. This
hypothesis states that in developing competence
in a second language, learners do so by means of
two different independent processes which are
acquisition and learning. The former, according
to Krashen, is defined as a subconscious process
that relatively
resembles the ability children develop in picking
up their first language. Synonyms used to describe
acquisition are implicit learning, informal learning,
and natural learning. Moreover, he defined the
15

latter as the conscious knowledge of a second

language; in other words, knowing the rules, being
aware of them, being able to use them and talking
about them. Other ways of referring to learning
are formal knowledge of a language, or explicit
learning (Krashen, 1982). Although the term
acquisition was initially used to intensify the nonconscious quality of the process, over the years both
expressions have become utilised interchangeably,
the fact which can be clearly revealed from the
term Second language acquisition since a second
language is not acquired, but, rather, learned.
> Second Language Acquisition vs. Foreign
Language Acquisition
In order to differentiate second language acquisition
from foreign language acquisition, Gass states that
the former stands for the learning of the target
language in the environment in which it is spoken.
As an illustration, a Moroccan learning French in
France is a second language acquisition process.
While she claims that the latter refers to learning a
nonnative language in the learners native language
environment. As a case in point, the learning
process of the English language taking place in
Moroccan universities is better to be referred to
as foreign language acquisition since the learner
acquires the target language in an environment
where his mother tongue is spoken (Gass and
Selinker, 2008). However, inspite of the distinction
made between the two terms, it is mandatory to
state that they are not to be contrasted since both
incorporate the same basic learning processes, but
in different contexts (Ellis, 1997).
> The emergence of SLA as a field of research
SLA is regarded as a relatively recent field that
appeared as a result of the merger of two major
disciplines, namely Linguistics and psychology.
Because of its interdisciplinary nature it would
be a hard task to determine a starting date, on the
other hand, it would be fair enough to say that it
has seen progress approximately in the past 4045 years of its emergence. SLA study maintains a
very close relationship with other disciplines since
it draws hypotheses from and influences them.
Examples of these disciplines would be: linguistics,
psycholinguistics, sociology, sociolinguistics,
discourse analysis, conversational analysis, and
education. This being the case, many approaches
are used to examine second language data, each
one of which brings to the study of SLA its own
goals, its own data collection methods, and its own
analytic tools (Gass and Selinker, 2008).
The cognitive revolution (1955 - 1965) had a great
bearing on the emergence of SLA as a research
field. The starting point of this revolution was

Chomskys Syntactic Structures in 1957 and Miller,

Galanter, and Pribrams Plans and the Structure of
Behavior in 1960. On one hand, these two books
marked the fall of structuralist linguistics and
behaviorist psychology; on the other hand, they
indicated the elevation of
generative linguistics as well as cognitive
psychology as recent theoretical frameworks.
During this period, the interaction between both
fields made their scholars realise the interrelation
of their disciplines. Linguists became aware of the
fact that an effective language study should account
for the mechanisms in the mind that are responsible
for language production, whereas psychologists
found out that language is the most remarkable
and intriguing human faculty. All this gave birth
to a new discipline called psycholinguistics which
aroused the interest of researchers in both fields
in the acquisition of the first language (L1) about
which countless studies were conducted at the time.
Shortly afterwards, researchers started showing
interest in the acquisition of a second language
which has led to an intensive wave of studies in L2
acquisition comparing it to the acquisition of the
L1 (Hulstijn, 2007).
In the development of SLA, two publications are
regarded of considerable significance: Pit Corders
1967 essay The Significance of Learners errors
and Larry Selinkers article entitled Interlanguage
(Van Patten and Benati, 2010). Since then, the
field has seen a noticeable advancement in the
next decades. The cognitive revolution made SLA
a very active and lively discipline, and this can be
obviously stated from the programs that were set
up at universities for the graduate and PhD level,
the organizations that were founded gathering
SLA researchers from all over the world, and
the significant number of books that have been
published over the last fifteen years (Hulstijn,
2007). Since the 80s of the 20th century, SLA
research has been conducted
from a variety of disciplinary and theoretical
frameworks; currently crucial ones are: Functional
Linguistics, sociocultural theory, cognitive
psychology, Noam Chomskys universal grammar,
skill theory, information processing models, and
connectionism (Van Patten and Benati, 2010).
> Major factors in SLA
In SLA literature many issues have been addressed
by researchers from various disciplinary and
theoretical perspectives. A crucial aspect of these
factors is that they interact in a complementary
way, so it is impossible to isolate one of them and
predict its exact effect on a particular learner. In his
book, Popper (1959) suggests that the best way to
16

describe a scientific field is to identify the puzzling

phenomena it strives to analyse (Hulstijn, 2007).
Two of the basic and widely researched issues in
SLA are: The age question and the poverty of the
stimulus problem.
> The age question
When it comes to learning a second language,
learners significantly differ in terms of many
factors, namely, mother tongue, intelligence,
attitudes, motivation, individual differences,
learning environment and opportunities, and most
importantly age among other factors(Karavasili,
2014). The aforementioned factor is a well-known
and a well- debated issue by several scholars in
SLA and which mainly consists of one major
question: how can we explain the fact that children
are faster and more successful L2
learners than adults?Researchers from different
disciplines attempted to answer this question. The
most distinguished scholar to explain this issue is
the biologist Eric Lenneberg who suggested that
after puberty the human mind doesnt function
as actively as in the childhood and that learning a
second language is relatively hard at the age of 1415. In order to give his claim a scientific and
theoretical credibility, Lenneberg came up with
the notion of the critical period (CH) (Lenneberg,
1967), also known as the sensitive period, which
can be defined as the period during which a child
can acquire language easily, rapidly, perfectly,
and without instruction(Richards and Schmidt,
2002). According to Lenneberg, learning a second
language could represent an easy task if it takes
place in the critical period which ranges from age
2 to puberty.
Furthermore, many experimental studies findings
supported Lennebergs critical period, with
attention to the one conducted by Patkowski
(1982) who observed the level of spoken English
of sixty- seven immigrants to the U.S and found
out that those who started learning English before
puberty performed better than those who learned
it after their puberty (Bista, 2008). Still, other
scholars disconfirmed Lennebergs hypothesis,
as a case in point, Snow and Hoefnagl-Hohle
(1982) discovered from a survey they carried
out in Holland that adult learners learned faster
than younger ones and that their second language
learning rate was higher(ibid) .
As shown above, the age factor remains a highly
controversial issue related to SLA which affects the
learning process and interacts with other factors
to determine how an individual learns a second
language.

>The poverty of the stimulus problem

The poverty of the stimulus problem is a term coined
by Chomsky in his book Rules and Representations
(1980), also referred to as the logical problem of
language acquisition or Platos problem (term
introduced in Chomskys Aspects of the Theory
of Syntax (1965)) (Wikipedia, April, 2015). The
poverty of the stimulus problem is one of the
primordial arguments used by Chomsky to invoke
the existence of the notion of Universal Grammar.
Apart from Linguistics, this argument has its
roots in other disciplines such as epistemology,
psychology (especially its subdisciplines, thinking
and problem solving) (ibid).
The poverty of the stimulus problem could be
phrased in the following question: how do children
come to attain enough linguistic knowledge at an
early age with exposure to limited, impoverished
and ill-organised linguistic information? One
way to answer the question is Platos metaphysical
explanation. Based on the Socratic dialogue, Meno
(ibid), Plato concludes that human beings are born
with an innate structure originated in their minds
in which knowledge is stored in form of memories
that have been brought from a previous existence
in the ideal world.
Another way of explaining the issue is Chomskys
universal grammar. Chomsky holds that the
stimulus provided by the environment is so
limited and degenerate compared to the eventual
linguistic knowledge the child ends up acquiring
at the age of five. The poverty of the stimulus
argument strives to uncover the gap between the
learners linguistic knowledge and his experience
in acquiring that knowledge. While acquiring
their mother tongue, children are always exposed
to data judged by scholars as insufficient and
unstructured; nonetheless, they ultimately
establish a complete language system. This could be
explained by claiming that children are endowed
with an internal structure generated in their brains
that grows with them and enables them to acquire
language universally (James McGilvray, 2005).
This structure was given the name of universal
grammar by Chomsky. According to Chomskys
innateness hypothesis, human beings are born
equipped with universal grammar based on which
any natural human language can develop without
any kind of instruction (Wikipedia, April, 2015).
However, UG needs enough exposure to the
environment to be triggered since without this
exposure UG will not have sufficient input in
order to develop the learners core grammar (ibid).
Therefore, it can be concluded that the linguistic
information provided to the learner plays the
role of provoking his universal grammar, which
17

already exists in his brain, to help him improve his

native grammar. Given these points, the poverty
of the stimulus problem has been approached
from many perspectives since it helped scholars
in various disciplines to reveal the gap between the
human knowledge and the human experience.
On the whole, this section has made the attempt
to provide the reader with a general overview of
the discipline, more specifically, its definition,
foundation, development, and the major issues it
has dealt with and tried to explain. Presumably,
the next section introduces the reader to the major
notions in the study under scrutiny.
* Major concepts involved in the study
The current section is mainly devoted to acquaint
the reader with the basic key concepts involved
in the study by providing brief definitions of
each term according to some dictionaries and
established scholars in the field. The terms are
as follows: attitude, learning, strategy, learning
strategies.
As defined in Compact Oxford English Dictionary,
attitude refers to a way of thinking or feeling
(Oxford, 2008). Collins Cobuild Advanced English
Dictionary defines attitude as the way somebody
thinks or feels about something, especially when
this shows in the way that person behaves (Collins,
2006). Even though the two definitions differ,
they agree about the fact that an attitude is how
somebody thinks or feels towards something which
is revealed in that persons behavior. In an attempt
to operationalise the term, a definition of language
attitudes must be provided since the present study
deals with attitudes towards vocabulary which
is an aspect of language. According to Longman
Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied
Linguistics, language attitudes are the attitudes
which speakers of different languages or language
varieties have towards each others language or to
their own language or expressions of positive
or negative feeling 1(Richards and Schmidt,
2002). Language attitudes usually reveal peoples
views towards speakers of a given language in
addition to opinions about the ease or difficulty of
learning that language, its degree of importance,
social status, and elegance which sometimes
may influence second language learning, either
positively or negatively.
The second concept to be defined is learning. In
Understanding Second Language Acquisition,
Ellis (1985) defines learning as the internalised
rules and formulas to communicate in the L2
(Ellis, 1985 cited in Li, 2009). Here, Ellis provides
a broad definition of learning which, to some
extent, is similar to acquisition. On the other

hand, Krashen differentiates between learning and

acquisition claiming that learning is the conscious
development of competence in a second language
through formal instruction, whereas acquisition
refers to the spontaneous subconscious process
of developing ability in a language via natural
learning; more specifically communication
(Krashen,1982). Krashens differentiation between
the two terms would be valid if the process takes one
form, either learning or acquisition. Nevertheless,
Moroccan EFL learners have, currently, access to
English not only in the classroom setting but also
in their daily life; as an illustration, learners can
watch English TV channels and check their official
website, as well as they can have meetings with
native speakers and interact with them. Hence, it
is not exactly what Krashen defines as learning or
even acquisition.
The next term to define is strategy. According to
Compact Oxford English Dictionary, strategy
refers to a plan designed to achieve a particular
long term aim (Oxford, 2008). Collins Cobuild
Advanced English Dictionary defines strategy as
a general plan or set of plans intended to achieve
something, especially over a long term (Collins,
2006). As such, both definitions stress the idea of
setting a plan to reach a goal in the long term.
The last term to be defined is learning strategies
which linguists have given many various
definitions. To start with, Rubin defines learning
strategies as the techniques or devices used by
a learner to acquire knowledge (Rubin, 1975).
OMalley and his colleagues use the term to refer to
the operations or steps that are used by a learner
to facilitate the acquisition, storage, retrieval or
use of information (OMalley et al, 1985 cited in
Li, 2009). Ellis alleges that learning strategies are
the particular approaches or techniques learners
employ to try to learn an L2 (Ellis, 1997). In
essence, despite the slight differences among the
three definitions, they all emphasise and share the
view of using methods when learning the L2 since
it can greatly help the learner to acquire it easily
and successfully.
In fine, this section has strived to familiarise the
reader with the fundamental concepts of the present
study and equip him/her with their definitions
stringed along with personal reflections. In what
follows, a section is concerned with the core of
this chapter, majorly, language attitudes and the
importance of vocabulary acquisition in SLA.
* Language attitudes and the importance of
vocabulary acquisition in SLA
The following section is concerned with the
essential passage of this chapter i.e. language
18

attitudes and vocabulary acquisition. The first part

of this section answers in more details the question:
what are language attitudes? whereas the second
part deals with the aim of study these attitudes. The
third subsection hinges on some language attitudes
to certain components of language structure.
Finally, the last subsection tackles the importance
of vocabulary acquisition in the process of learning
a second language.
* What are language attitudes
A study of language attitudes cannot be said to
be adequate, will I believe, if it does not contain
clear definitions of what is an attitude and what
do we mean by language attitudes. Hence, before
going over the definition of language attitudes, we
should first define the term attitude which almost
every scholar who has committed him/herself to
attitudinal studies has defined. When it comes to
define attitude, researchers from different research
fields have provided various definitions due to the
latent complex nature of the concept. Henerson,
Morris and Fitz-Gibbon (1987) write: In this
book, the word attitude will be used quite broadly
to describe all the objects we want to measure that
have to do with affect, feelings, values and beliefs
(Henerson et al, 1987: 13 cited in Peter Garrett et
al, 2003: 2).

Given these points, attitudes can be viewed as

complex and elusive inclinations to objects, people,
or situations, either overtly or covertly, expressed
through peoples behaviors, actions or reactions.
Another point to make is that attitudes are formed as
a result of experience or observation, and that they
play a major role in peoples perception of different
topics and issues since they can be influenced and
changed if one gets persuaded by somebodys view
or impressed by the speakers characteristics; this
is referred to as Elaboration likelihood theory of
attitude change. Attitudes can be subject to change
also when people have confusing or conflicting
opinions concerning a certain topic, and this is
what is called dissonance theory of attitude change.
Straightaway, we move to a definition of language
attitudes.
The above-mentioned definition of language
attitudes in Section Two can be reformulated
as follows: language attitudes are expressions of
positive or negative feelings that speakers of various
languages or dialects hold towards each others
language or to their own language, and which may
have an impact on their views concerning linguistic
difficulty or simplicity, ease or hardship of learning,
degree of importance, social status, etc. Language
attitudes are simply those feelings, opinions, beliefs,
and inclinations that people have regarding different
languages. Moreover, language attitudes do not
only reveal peoples attitudes to a language per se,
but also to its speakers, culture, and country where
that language is spoken. Fasold (1984) suggests that
a broadened definition of language attitudes may
include all kinds of behavior concerning language.4
(Hohenthal, April, 2015).

A more elaborate definition is offered by Oppenheim

(1982) in which he relates attitude to behavior from
which one can deduce other peoples attitudes.
According to Oppenheim, an attitude is:
A construct, an abstraction which cannot be
directly apprehended. It an inner component
of mental life which expresses itself, directly or
indirectly, through such more
Language attitudes have been approached on
the basis of two basic of two theoretical glasses,
obvious processes as stereotypes, beliefs, verbal so to speak, which are the mentalist view and
statements or reactions, ideas and opinions, the behaviorist view. In Language Contact and
selective recall, anger or satisfaction or some other Bilingualism, Appel and Muysken (1987) write:
emotion and in various other aspects of behavior Generally, two theoretical approaches are
(Oppenheim, 1982: 39 cited in Peter Garrett distinguished to the study of language attitudes.
et al, 2003: 2) Psychologists define attitude as The first one is the behaviorist view, according to
a psychological tendency that expressed by which attitudes must be studied by observing the
evaluating a particular entity with some degree of responses to certain languages, i.e. their use in actual
favor or disfavor 2(Eagly and Chaiken, 1998) or interactions. The mentalist view considers attitudes
3 a predisposition to respond positively or as an internal, mental state, which may give rise to
negatively towards a certain idea, object, person, or certain forms of behavior. It can be described as an
situation which influences ones choice of actions intervening variable between a stimulus affecting a
and responses to challenges, incentives, and rewards person and a persons response (Fasold, 1987: 147).
(all together called stimuli).
(Appel and Muysken, 1987: 16 cited in 5CoronelMolina, 2009: 2) Further, Fasold (1987) defines and
They also divide attitudes to explicit and implicit; comments on both approaches saying that:
explicit attitudes are those that people are aware
of and that influence their behaviors and beliefs, The study of attitudes in general begins with a
whereas implicit ones are those which are decision between two competing theories about
unconscious, but still effect peoples way of behaving the nature of attitudes. Most language attitude
and beliefs.
work is based on a mentalist view of attitude
19

as a state of readiness; an intervening variable

between a stimulus affecting a person and that
persons response (Agheyisi and Fishman 1970:
138, Cooper and Fishman 1974: 7). A persons
attitude, in this view, prepares her to react to a
given stimulus in one way rather than in another.
A typical mentalist definition of attitude is given
by Williams (1974: 21): Attitude is considered as
an internal state aroused by stimulation of some
type and which may mediate the organisms
subsequent response. This view poses problems
for experimental method, because if an attitude
is a state of readiness, rather than an observable
response, we must depend on the persons reports
of what their attitudes are, or infer attitudes
indirectly from behavior patterns..
The other view of attitudes is the behaviorist view.
On this theory, attitudes are to be found simply in
responses people make to social situations. This
viewpoint makes research easier to undertake, since
it requires no self-reports or indirect inferences.
Attitudes of this sort, however, would not be quite
as interesting as they would be if they were defined
mentalistically because they cannot be used to
predict other behavior. ( Fasold, 1987: 147148 cited in Coronel-Molina, 2009: 3) As stated
in both definitions, language attitudes study has
been based on two major views of attitudes. In
their definition, Appel and Muysken describe the
behaviorist attitude as an attitude that should be
perceived from peoples behaviors or responses to
given languages, whereas they describe a mentalist
attitude as a mental state which stimulate some
sort of behaviors.
On the other hand, Fasold does not only provide
a more elaborate definition of both views, but also
reflects on each one stating that the mentalist view
of attitude brings about research problems since
the researcher has to rely on peoples descriptions
of their attitudes which may call into question the
reliability, spontaneity, and validity of these latter.
The researcher, adapting a mentalist approach, can
deduce indirectly respondents attitudes from their
reactions by making up situations, for example, and
waiting for their responses to these latter; however,
doing so is both time and energy consuming
for the researcher, as well as informants may get
aware of the fact that their attitudes are being
manipulated. Nevertheless, Fasold alleges that a
research conducted according to the behaviorist
viewpoint is much easier to undertake since no
self-reports or indirect inferences are needed
to access peoples attitudes. However, he criticises
the fact that attitudes assessed behavioristically
are less interesting than if the ones assessed
mentalistically since they wont be of great help to
predict other behavior patterns (Fasold, 1987).

* The aims of study of language attitudes

One of the noticeable fields where language
attitudes are of major significance is the educational
one, especially in areas such as language planning.
The claim that attitudes are characterised by
functioning as input to and output from social
action may well be used to explain the role of
attitudes in both the reception and production of
language. Moreover, educationists and language
planners often depend on attitudinal studies to
solve certain issues related to language planning
and education; i.e. teaching and learning (Peter
Garrett et al, 2003).
Another context where language attitudes study
is important is the daily use of language since
these attitudes and the sociocultural norms they
constitute (Hymes, 1971) are very likely to serve as
a factor influencing our reactions to other language
speakers and helping to predict others responses
to our own language use. According to Labov
(1984), the study of language attitudes represents
a background that provides explanations of
linguistic variation and change (Peter Garrett et al,
2003).
Attitudinal studies aid in revealing peoples views
concerning the social status, degree of importance,
and elegance of other languages as well as the
personal character of those languages speakers;
for example, a given language variety may be
described as being rich, poor, sweetsounding,
beautiful, etc. And a speaker of a certain language
could be talked about as educated, illiterate,
intelligent, stupid, kind, unfriendly, and so on(SIL
international, April, 2015). In his article Language
Attitudes and Language Use in Morocco: Effects
of Attitudes on Berber Language Policy, Errihani
states that:
Language attitudes play an important role in
language revitalisation and maintenance in
multilingual settings. How a language is viewed
by its speakers and by other members of the
community who speak other languages could
determine the fate of that language its status,
maintenance, and revitalisation. Positive attitudes
towards a language are often a key factor in
revitalizing that language, and Hebrew stands as
the prime example usually given to illustrate how
attitudes can lead to the revival of a dead language
and a change in its status as well as its functions.
[] When attitudes towards a certain language
are negative, it is extremely difficult for any agency
to affect change in the status of that language, let
alone revive it and maintain it. (Errihani, 2008:
411-412) A crucial point to be deduced from this
quote is that studying language attitudes could
majorly contribute to revitalise, maintain, and
20

promote a language if attitudes to it were positive,

or to kill it if it was subject to negative attitudes,
which can make the task of reviving it and uplifting
its status very hard to attain.
* Language attitudes to language structure
Different people have different attitudes towards
various aspects of given languages, for example,
its speakers, social status, degree of importance,
planning and maintenance, and its structure
i.e. morphology, syntax, phonology, phonetics,
lexicon, and pronunciation. Since the current study
revolves around learners attitudes to vocabulary,
generally, which represents one component of
language structure, it is important to shed light
on some literature that has tackled language
attitudes to aspects of language structure. Another
significant point to make is that pronunciation
or accent is the most researched component of
language structure in the literature.
In the article Anglo Australians and Immigrants
Attitudes toward Language and Accent: A Review
of Experimental and Survey Research, Callan and
Gallois (1987) present and review some surveys
and experimental studies carried out in Australia
in order to discover both Anglo-Australians and
immigrants attitudes towards the different accents
that exist in the Australian society. Studying
language attitudes of members of a culturally
diverse country such as Australia is of remarkable
significance especially if the government is
working on developing a national language policy
(Callan and Gallois, 1987).
Thus, for a better understanding of these attitudes,
Callan and Gallois (1987) suggest that it is crucial
to have a clear vision of what the overwhelming
majority regards as standard and prestigious
speech, on one hand, and what they perceive as
low and non- standard one, on the other (ibid).
In a study conducted to experience teachers
evaluation of high school students based on
twelve personality traits, Eltis (1980) distinguishes
between three accents: Broad, General, and
Cultivated Australian English. Teachers evaluated
Cultivated accent speakers positively than the
other two accents regarding all personality traits
except for one (gentle) where Broad Australian
English speakers were rated better than Cultivated
ones. The conclusion that can be drawn here is
that accent type has a great bearing on teachers
perceptions of those students personality traits.
Another survey conducted on university students
evaluations of these accent types revealed that
Cultivated Australian English speakers were
perceived in a more favorable way than Broad
accent speakers. In the same study, same speakers

were judged by a group of employers to be more

adequate for accountants training as accountants.
A major point that can be deduced from both
studies is that Cultivated and General Australian
English are regarded as standard accents, whereas
Broad Australian English is viewed as a nonstandard one. To this end, the two aforementioned
surveys show that even in a monolingual country as
Australia some accent types (Cultivated, General)
are judged more favorably than others (Broad)
(Callan and Gallois, 1987).
In the same scope, other studies were undertaken
for the same purpose, which is evaluating
speakers personalities based on their accents.
However, the difference in these studies lay in
the use of the indirect methodology, matched
guise, to elicit participants perceptions and
to examine only immigrants accents not
Anglo- Australians as in the first two studies. The
survey conducted by Seggie and his colleagues
(1982) investigated Anglo-Australians attitudes
to Italian male speakers accents in English. On
almost all competency traits, Italians were ranked
between Cultivated and Broad Anglo-Australian
English speakers, whereas they were rated the
lowest on physical traits except for the degree of
suntan. Moreover, Italians scored between the two
Anglo-Australian English varieties on social traits.
In his study, Ball (1983) used an Italian speaker
assuming different English accents. The same
male speaker was judged as good-natured, but lazy
and ineffective in the General Australian English;
incompetent but warm when he assumed Liverpool
accented English; more attractive than standard
speakers when he adopted French and German
accented English; and evaluated as incompetent,
unsure, somewhat unattractive but highly sociable
in the Italian accented English guise.
Callan, Gallois and Forbes (1983) also investigated
Anglo-Australians evaluations of different
accented English speakers. Unlike the two
aforementioned studies, researchers of this survey
used real accents along with several speakers of
both sexes from various nationalities. Results of
this study revealed that both national group and
sex of the speaker have a great influence on the
participants personality evaluations of these
speakers. As a case in point, compared to all
male speakers, British males received favorable
ratings, whereas Italians received the least
favorable ones. Conversely, European and Asian
females scored better than Australian and British
ones. In their second study, Callan, Gallois and
Forbes (1983) used a series of matched guise to
examine Anglo-Australian and Greek-Australian
students perceptions of male and female AngloAustralian and Greek-Australian accented English
speakers reading passages of different contexts;
21

an achievement-oriented public context (school

setting), situation of intimacy and friendliness
(at home), and a friendly interaction in a public
context (at a bus stop) (Callan and Gallois, 1987).
The outcomes of this study showed that AngloAustralian speakers received favorable ratings by
Australian male students than did the Greek ones.
Australian female students had the same perception
but in a slight manner. Greek-Australian students,
too, had a similar negative reaction towards the
Greek accented English speakers; female students,
in particular (ibid).

stage in the language learning process (Bogaards

and Laufer, 2004). Scholars suggest that for a word
to be retained it has to be recognised as word,
its morpho-syntactic and semantic properties
have to be learned, and it has to be integrated into
ones mental lexicon so that it can be retrieved
automatically when needed (ibid). Another
point made by scholars is that to make vocabulary
acquisition task a more manageable one learners
should be aware of the fact that there are words
that need to be learned first given their importance
and usefulness in learning other words (ibid).

As shown above in these studies, many researchers

have devoted themselves to the investigation of
peoples attitudes towards each others accents.
In the aforesaid article, several experiments were
conducted in the hope of uncovering AngloAustralians evaluations of each others accents,
namely, Cultivated, General, Broad, on one hand,
and examining Anglo-Australians as well as
immigrants perceptions of Anglo- Australian
accented English and other nationalities accented
English; Greek, Italian, British, Asian, European
to name a few, on the other hand. The reviewed
surveys and studies in this article represent only
few examples of the wide range of inquiries and
researches on language attitudes towards accents of
different language varieties, which emphasises the
fact that of all components of language structure,
accent is the most researched one.

Up to the mid 80s, vocabulary was a much

disregarded language component since it was
given the least amount of attention among other
components, especially grammar. Over the
past few decades, as reported by researchers,
vocabulary has been characterised as being a
neglected aspect of language learning and a
poor relation of second language teaching and
learning (Maiguashca, 1993; Meara, 1981 cited
in Kojic-sabo and Lightbown, 1999). However, the
90s marked a major turning point in vocabulary
research (Kojic-sabo and Lightbown, 1999) thanks
to the large body of books, articles and empirical
studies dedicated to deal with issues related to
the nature of the bilingual lexicon, vocabulary
acquisition, lexical storage, lexical retrieval and
the use of vocabulary by second language learners
(Long and Richards, 1997 cited in Seffar, 2014).
In this period, a remarkably growing interest in
vocabulary has been noticed and reflected in works
such as (Arnaud and Bjoint, 1992; Bogaards,
1994; Coady and Huckin, 1997; Hatch and Brown,
1995; Nation, 1990, 2001; Schmitt and McCarthy,
1997; Schmitt, 2000; Read, 2000) (Bogaards and
Laufer, 2004).

* The importance of vocabulary acquisition in SLA

To start with, one can never deny the importance
of vocabulary acquisition in learning a second
language. Vocabulary is an undoubtedly crucial
language component which is of high significance
to the L2 learners cognitive and intellectual
achievement. To demonstrate the centrality
of vocabulary Wilkins (1974) points out that
without grammar very little can be conveyed,
but without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed
(Wilkins, 1974: 111 cited in Xu, 2010). Widdowson
(1978) also asserts that native speakers can
better understand ungrammatical utterances
with accurate vocabulary than those with
accurate grammar and inaccurate vocabulary
(Widdowson, 1978 cited in Seffar, 2014).
Furthermore, Levelt describes lexicon as the
driving force in sentence production and an
essential mediator between conceptualization and
grammatical and phonological encoding (Levelt,
1989: 181 cited in Gass and Selinker, 2001: 373). It
is an undeniable fact that learning L2 lexicon is a
highly complex and demanding process, which, in
turn, incorporate sub-processes, particularly if the
learners aim is to achieve a good level of literacy in
a second language. Nevertheless, it is an inevitable

Traditionally, SLA researchers and teachers have

been associating much importance to other
language aspects such as reading and writing, and
completely ignored the role and contribution of
vocabulary in the acquisition and attainment of
these latter. Seashore (1948) asserts that based
on the findings of several experimental studies,
vocabulary is regarded as the best single index
that helps learners as well as teachers to predict the
level of achievement of other aspects.
He further alleges that vocabulary represents an
attempted compensation for ignorance in other
fields. There is a highly significant interrelation
between vocabulary and other language
components (Seachore, 1948). Based on results
of questionnaires and interviews answered by
high school teachers and students, Sakale and
Seffar (2012) found out that it is a common belief
that students deficiency to speak correct and
fluent English is majorly brought about by their
22

vocabulary incompetence. They also claimed that

many studies have shown that good speaking
ability is mainly the result of qualified and valid
vocabulary acquisition rather than grammar
rules learning (Sakale and Seffar, 2012). In this
regard, Hatchs quote highlights the interrelation
between vocabulary and speaking as follows:
it is the lexical level that adult second language
learners claim is most important. When our first
goal is communication, when we have little of the
new language at our command, it is the lexicon
that is crucial the words will make basic
communication possible (Hatch, 1983: 74 cited in
Seffar, 2014). As a matter of fact, vocabulary has a
bearing on reading acquisition too. In his article
The Importance of Vocabulary in Reading,
Dickinson (1920) asserts that vocabulary
influences learners reading ability and that his
lack of vocabulary may result in inadequate
and shallow understanding of the texts, loss
of intellectual curiosity, contentment with
incomplete understanding as result of difficulty and
strangeness of words. Dickinson adds that learners
vocabulary deficiency can turn his reading into a
matter of turning pages instead of following a line
of thought. All this proves to have grave effects
on learners language accuracy, in general, and on
his reading competence, in particular (Dickinson,
1920).
In a nutshell, the current section has introduced
the reader to the core of this chapter
i.e. language attitudes and vocabulary acquisition
in SLA. This section tried to provide the reader with
an overview of the main points to be dealt with
in the present study. This overview included some
scholars reflections on these points, definitions of
the basic terms, and some personal reflections on
some of the definitions mentioned. Presumably,
the next section will be precisely concerned with
the theoretical background of the study.
* The theoretical background of the study
The present section seeks to provide the reader
with the necessary theoretical background this
study consists of. As such, theories that dealt with
vocabulary acquisition are numerous; thus, the
current piece of research presents mainly four
theories, and they are listed as follows: behaviorism,
comprehensible input theory, interaction theory,
and learning strategies theory.
* Behaviorism and the theory of vocabulary
Behaviorism first appeared as a philosophical and
psychological movement which came as a response
to the introspectionist approach. Long before the

cognitive revolution, which took place in the mid

50s (Hulstijn, 2007), the behaviorist view has
been the leading theory in approaching language
acquisition concerning the psychological
development of the learner (Li, 2009). Behaviorists
view language as a set of behaviors, whereas
they see behavior as an observable external
phenomenon upon which language acquisition,
particularly L1, analysis can be based. According
to the behaviorist theory, language acquisition is
viewed as an external process of habit formation,
which is a common property of all learning genres
(Ellis, 1997).
Behaviorists use the term habit, by default, to
explain all types of behavior even the complex
one related to language acquisition (ibid). One
of the most reputed behaviorists was Skinner
who believed that children are born tabula
rasa with minds which are similar to blank
sheets containing no source for language. The
environment is associated an extreme importance
in the behaviorist view. Its role is regarded as
central to language acquisition since it is the only
determinant of behavior. Behaviorists consider the
environment as the only source of language, and
view children as mere imitators of the input they
receive from it till habits of correct language use
are formed (Lightbown and Spada, 2006).
According to the audiolingual approach, a
teaching method that adopted the behaviorist
view of language, vocabulary is learned through
drills. In this method, the learner is thought about
as a passive individual whose job is to imitate and
repeat what the teacher says in an automatic way,
which implies the absence of any cognitive depth.
Therefore, according to this approach, vocabulary
is introduced by means of dialogues and learners
are asked to read and repeat the words with
no attention being paid to content (Ketabi and
Shahraki, 2011). It is generally believed based on
the audiolingual method that drilling is the best
way to learn vocabulary since the more frequent
the learner hears a word and repeats it, the faster
and easier he acquires it (Li, 2009).
* The Comprehensible Input Theory and
vocabulary acquisition
During the 1980s, the comprehensible input
theory has been one of the most influential theories
in addressing second language acquisition. This
theory is one of the five main hypotheses that
Krashen introduced in his book Principles
and Practice in Second Language Acquisition
(1982) to approach second language acquisition
processes (Johnson, 2004). In this theory, Krashen
pinpoints the role of the comprehensible input
in developing the learners L2 competence
23

and evaluate it as responsible and an essential

ingredient for the acquisition of the second
language (Krashen, 1985). The comprehensible
input theory simply claims that the only way for a
learner to acquire language is to receive messages
he/she understands; comprehensible input, in
other words (ibid). Krashen alleges that language
acquisition is not to occur unless the learner is
provided with conceivable linguistic data, and his
affective filter is low enough for the input to get in
the LAD. Under these two conditions, acquisition
is inevitable to take place. According to Krashen,
in order to acquire language, the learner needs
to acquire structures that are one step beyond
his linguistic knowledge. This is represented as
i+1. Here, i refers to the learners current level
of language competence and 1 to the next stage
of competence according to the natural order of
development.

the form of reading, is associated with greater

competence in vocabulary and spelling.

However, the question that imposes itself is: how

would the learner be able to understand structures
that he didnt acquire yet? This paradox is explained
by Krashen through the fact that acquisition
should be focused on meaning rather than on
form. Furthermore, the learner would be able
to comprehend unacquired linguistic structures
through the extra- linguistic information
found in the context, his/her knowledge of
the world, and his/her previously acquired
competence(ibid).

The Interaction Hypothesis is a theory that addresses

second language acquisition process by associating
tremendous importance to conversational
interaction. This hypothesis is often attributed
to Long (1996) thanks to his article The Role of
The Linguistic Environment in Second Language
Acquisition 6(Uy, 2015). One way of viewing this
theory would be that it is a combination of two
hypotheses; the Input Hypothesis and the Output
Hypothesis. Succinctly, the Input hypothesis states
that language acquisition occurs only when the
learner is provided with comprehensible input
which is just one step beyond his/ her cognitive
level.

A crucial point raised by Krashen is that in

the acquisition process if enough amount of
comprehensible input is provided, the learner will
not have to acquire grammar separately since it
will be automatically provided along with the input
and in just the right quantities (Krashen, 1985).
Based on the Input Hypothesis, undirected
pleasure reading is identified as the best and most
efficient tool to acquire vocabulary (Krashen, 1989;
Li, 2009). Krashen (1989) argues that vocabulary
competence is effecively developed through
comprehensible input found in reading materials,
and considers it (input) as the major source of
this competence. The Input hypothesis maintains
that the more the learner reads outside of the
classroom, the more vocabulary he/she acquires,
and that good vocabulary competence is usually
associated to the frequency of free voluntary
reading. Here I would like to quote Krashens
statement for more clarification:
Several studies show that better writers reda
more outside of school. Better second language
acquisition, as measured by a variety of tests, is
associated with more comprehensible input in the
second language outside of school. Good evidence
exists that this assertion is also true for vocabulary
and spelling: more comprehensible input, in

Children who perform better on vocabulary tests

report more free voluntary reading. (Krashen,
1989: 441)
In some studies reviewed in Krashen (1982, 1985),
listening is also thought about as a good way to
develop competence in vocabulary if it contains
comprehensible input. To this end, according
to this theory, learners should be introduced to
vocabulary which is just one step beyond their
cognitive level. Thus, the teacher is required
to control the degree of difficulty of words in
order to be matched with the learners linguistic
competence, and easily acquired.
* Interaction Theory and vocabulary acquisition

On the other hand, the Output Hypothesis

maintains that not only comprehensible input
is necessary, but practicing it and putting it to
use, either by speaking or writing i.e. producing
an output, is also a crucial factor for language
acquisition to take place. The Interaction
Hypothesis regards interaction as a tool to learn
language and a means for the learner to practice
his/her linguistic knowledge (ibid). Conversation
is the most acknowledged type of interaction
according to the hypothesis.
During the conversation, one of the participants
may misunderstand what the other says. This is
referred to as negotiation and it consists of three
steps. The first step is known as the interaction
in which the participants are engaged in a
conversation (ibid).
The second step is named negative feedback;
it is in this step that misunderstanding occurs
and one of the participants asks the other for
more clarification using expressions such as
Pardon? or Can you say that again?. The third
step is modification output. In this step, the
24

participant who has been misunderstood clarifies

the misunderstanding either by paraphrasing or
giving examples till s/he gets a positive reaction
from the other participant indicating his/her
understanding (Uy, 2015).
According to the Interaction Hypothesis, the most
adequate strategy to learn vocabulary would be an
interaction between a second language learner and
a native speaker of the target language. This gives
the learner an opportunity to learn the language
in a more authentic situation (ibid). Among
numerous scholars, Hatch (1978), Long (1983,
1996), Pica (1994), and Gass (1997) highlight the
centrality of conversational interaction in second
language acquisition and evaluate it as essential, if
not sufficient for that process. Being engaged in a
conversation with a native speaker will enable the
learner to come across and learn new vocabulary.
During the conversation, native speakers would
be obliged to regulate and adapt their language in
order to match the learners level of competence
and help them understand the language. This
is what long refers to as Modified Interaction
(Lightbown and Spada, 2006). When encountering
an unknown word, the learner would ask for
clarification and the native speaker would make
the attempt to explain and simplify the meaning
of the word, in other words, to make the input
comprehensible.
The learner may ask for more clarification if he
finds difficulty in understanding from the first time,
and by doing so, he will be more alert concerning
the meaning and pronunciation of the word (Li,
2009). According to Long, Modified Interaction
includes more than mere linguistic simplification
since it might also take the form of elaboration,
lower speech rate, gesture, or the provision of
additional contextual cues (Lightbown and Spada,
2006). A highly essential point to make here would
be that interaction does not only help the learner
to acquire new vocabulary, but it also gives him/
her the chance to make use of the newly learnt
vocabulary since they are mandated to interact
and produce comprehensible output during the
conversation (Li, 2009).
* Learning strategies and vocabulary acquisition
As defined by Gu (2003), a learning strategy is a
series of actions a learner takes to facilitate the
completion of a learning task (Gu, 2003 cited
in Kovanen, 2014). Several scholars have defined
learning strategies differently and described them
as the techniques, devices, intentional directions,
operations, steps, and approaches that a learner
put to use to learn the L2 and make the task easier

and efficient (Rubin, 1975; Stern, 1992; OMalley

et al 1985; Ellis, 1997; li, 2009). It is generally
assumed that learning strategies may prove to be
of great help to the learner in learning a second
language and making him/her a better learner
and a good self-teacher (Li, 2009; Sakale and
Seffar, 2012). According to Oxford (1990), selfdirected learners are better than other learners
in the sense that they are more independent and
responsible for their learning. Besides, using these
learning strategies makes them more involved in
the learning task and more confident and proficient
learners (Oxford, 1990 cited in Sakale and Seffar,
2012).
Based on Rubins classification (1987), language
learning strategies are divided into three types
according to their degree of direct or indirect
contribution to language learning: learning
strategies, communication strategies and social
strategies. Learning strategies are the most
contributing strategies to the language learning
process and they are classified into two genres:
cognitive learning strategies and metacognitive
learning strategies. Rubin defines the cognitive
learning strategies as the steps or operations
used in language learning or problem-solving
that requires direct analysis, transformation,
or synthesis of learning materials , whereas he
describes metacognitive learning strategies as the
knowledge of cognitive process and regulation of
cognition or executive control or self-management
through such processes as planning, monitoring
and evaluating (Wenden and Rubin, 1987 cited
in Li, 2009). Further, Rubin distinguishes between
six categories of cognitive learning strategies as
follows:
1)

Clarification/ verification

2)

Guessing/ inductive inferencing

3)

Deductive reasoning

4) Practice
5) Memorization
6) Monitoring
Communication strategies contribute indirectly to
language learning due to their focus on the effect
of practicing, the participation in a conversation,
and the clarification of the speakers intended
meaning. Learners resort to these strategies when
they face some kind of hardship in communication,
or a misunderstanding during the conversation.
Social strategies are also indirect contributors to
language learning that are defined as the activities
that provide learners with the opportunity of
25

exposure to the target language. Therefore, these

strategies are regarded as indirect contributors to
the language learning since they do not involve
the obtaining, storing, retrieving and using of
language 7 (1st May, 2015).
As far as vocabulary is concerned, attempts of
developing taxonomies of vocabulary learning
strategies have been made by a number of
scholars. Some of them are Schmitt (1997), Gu and
Johnson (1996), and Williams (1985). However,
the taxonomy to be adapted as a sample in this
piece of research is the one developed by Nation
(2001). According to Nation, the first major set of
strategies is Planning which involves choosing
what to focus on and when to focus on it. This
set incorporates four strategies: choosing words,
choosing the aspects of word knowledge, choosing
strategies, and planning repetition (Nation, 2001).
Several studies have proved that learners who tend
to plan what they learn stand more chances to
succeed. Hence, learners who choose what words
and aspects of words to learn and focus on are more
successful learners and their learning is proved to
be more effective (Li, 2009).
The second set of strategies, Sources, consists
of finding information about words, and,
in
turn,incorporates four types of strategies:
analyzing the word, using context, consulting a
reference source in L1 or L2, and using parallels in
L1 and L2 (Nation, 2001). Analyzing the word
allows the learner to learn the word by identifying
and analyzing its parts i.e. root, suffix, prefix,
circumfix, etc. Using context gives him/her the
chance to guess the meaning of the words from the
context which is very useful and guarantees a fast
and permanent learning of the word. Moreover,
conveying meaning from a reference such as
dictionaries, either in L1 or L2, is also proved to be
a good strategy to learn vocabulary.
Furthermore, learning vocabulary through the
use of parallels in L1 and L2 is, as well, of high
importance and it can show its significant role,
more particularly, in translation. The third major
set of strategies is referred to as Processes and
it includes three types of strategies: noticing,
retrieving and generating. This set of strategies
is mainly concerned with establishing vocabulary
knowledge and making it remembered and
available for use (ibid). Noticing strategies may
also be called recording strategies. At the level
of noticing, words are to be listed in a notebook
or a vocabulary list, written on word cards, orally
repeated or visually repeated. In the Retrieving,
the learner recalls items that she/he encountered
before in the same way they were retained. Retrieval
may be receptive or productive. In the receptive
retrieval, the written or spoken form of the word is

the cue that triggers the retrieval of the information

which is its meaning or use. In the productive
retrieval, the meaning of the word or its use is the
cue, whereas the word form is the information to
be retrieved. Other forms of retrieving can be: oral/
visual, overt/ covert, in context/ decontextualised.
As such, Generating involves strategies such as
putting the item in examples in order to reveal new
aspects of it, word analysis, semantic mapping,
using scales and grids, rules-based generation
by creating contexts, collocations and sentences
containing the word, and meeting and using
the word in new contexts across the four skills of
listening, speaking, reading, and writing (Nation,
2001).
To this end, the current section has presented
the theoretical framework this research is based
on and showed how different theories approach
vocabulary acquisition and what strategies they
perceive as adequate to the completion of the
acquisition task. In what follows, the last section of
this chapter represents a review of some literature
having, relatively, the same objective of study as
this piece of research.
* Previous studies
This section is particularly concerned with the
review of some studies conducted in the same
scope of the present study i.e. learners attitudes
to vocabulary learning strategies. In this section,
two attitudinal studies are reviewed. The first one
is titled Students Approaches to Vocabulary
Learning and their relationship to success
undertaken by the two scholars Kojic-Sabo and
Lightbown in 1999. On the other hand, the second
study is entitled L2 Learners Attitudes to English
Vocabulary Learning Strategies and conducted by
a Chinese researcher in 2009.
* Kojic-Sabo and Lightbown (1999)
This exploratory study was conducted in the hope
of investigating students approaches to vocabulary
acquisition regarding its relation to their language
success. The two researchers held the assumption
that the learning context may have an impact on
students achievement, and to investigate this
hypothesis, they examined approaches of students
in an ESL environment, where English is a second
language, and in an EFL environment, where
English is a foreign language.
The main objectives of this study were to have a clear
vision of the strategies used by English learners
to acquire vocabulary and to define possible
correlations between the methods employed
and students vocabulary knowledge and overall
English proficiency. To achieve these objectives,
26

students were asked to identify how much time

they spend on vocabulary learning, how much
independent they are regarding language study,
what vocabulary learning activities they regularly
do, how much effort they make in note-taking and
reviewing, and how frequent and elaborate is their
use of dictionaries.
Kojic-Sabo and Lightbown (1999) attempt to
answer one general question:
How do ESL and EFL students approach the
complex task of vocabulary learning? And three
specific questions:
1) Do students vocabulary learning strategies
differ in any significant way in the different learning
environments?
2) Can students approaches to vocabulary
learning be characterised in terms of Sanaouis
structured/unstructured groups (with or without
the addition of a semistructured category)? If not,
can students be grouped, using cluster analysis,
according to the vocabulary learning strategy or
set of strategies that dominate their approach?
3) How does the strategic approach that
students adapt relate to their performance on a
test of vocabulary sise and to their overall English
proficiency as measured by a cloze test?
To explore students perceptions, researchers
made use of 47 ESL students, who had access to
English on a daily basis both inside and outside
the classroom, and 43 EFL students, whose English
access was restricted to their English classes
which they had many times a week. Note that no
justification of the choice of students number was
presented. ESL informants were undergraduate
students at Concordia University, Montral, and
nonnative speakers of English assumed to have the
same proficiency level regarding their being in the
same ESL class.
The ESL group was exposed to academic English
through 2 hours classes twice a week with primary
focus on improving students writing skills. 27
male (57.5%) and 20 female (42.5%) students were
among the 47 participants, and their age range
was from 19 to 43 years. Hence, the mean age
was 24.5 years. The heterogeneous nature of the
class was explicitly overt with respect to students
mother tongue since 17 different languages
were distinguished. On the other hand, EFL
participants were final students of preuniversity
schooling in Northern Yugoslavia, and were taught
English in courses of 6 hours per week. Among
the 43 informants, there were 19 male (44.2%) and
24 female (55.8%) students. The EFL group was a

homogeneous one in terms of its age range since

participants age ranged from 18 to 21 years, with a
mean age of 18.6. In addition to this, the group was
also similar in terms of the participants mother
tongue for only four languages were identified.
Students perceptions were assessed by means of
three instruments: a questionnaire to have an overt
and direct vision of their attitudes to vocabulary
learning, a set of tests to scrutinise their vocabulary
knowledge, and a cloze test to assess their language
proficiency. In the questionnaire, students were
asked to answer a number of demographic
questions concerning their age, sex, field of study,
mother tongue, and other languages they spoke.
In addition to that, the questionnaire involved
items similar to those of Sanaouis (1992) work
with regard to behavioral traits that were used
to identify learners who employed a structured
approach and those who employed an unstructured
one. However, the difference lied in the format of
the questionnaire since instead of Sanaouis openended format, a likert type scale or closed set of
options in a multiple- choice format were used. As
a result, five variables were to distinguish learner
types: time, learner independence, vocabulary
notes, review, and dictionary use. Furthermore,
a set of tests mainly developed by 8Meara and
colleagues was adopted to test learners vocabulary
knowledge. This set of tests was chosen for multiple
reasons, some of them are: minimum effort
required from the part of the administrator and
test taker, easiness of constructing, administrating
and scoring, and emphasis on the type of general,
nontechnical, academic vocabulary necessary for
university studies.
At last but not least, a cloze test was also used to
examine learners overall English proficiency and
it was chosen thanks to its easy and time-saving
quality. Nonetheless, it is a must to mention
that classifying learners as following a strictly
structured or unstructured approach based on
the aforementioned five variables may not be
fair to learners differences since the majority
of participants were classified between the two
extreme categories. Hence, in an attempt to
improve the grouping, Cluster Analysis, a statistical
procedure was adopted to analyse the data. This
type of measure serves to group informants based
on the similarities of their profiles and does more
justice to learners differences (Skehan, 1986 cited
in Kojic-Sabo and Lightbown, 1999).
Based on one-way Anova tests, results of this
study confirmed the assumption that learners
are different in terms of the strategies they use
according to their learning environment. In the
variables of learner independence and reviewing,
participants exhibited some statistically significant
27

differences,
whereas
small
nonsignificant
differences were shown with respect to the
variables of time spent on learning vocabulary
outside the classroom setting, note-taking, and
use of dictionaries. Furthermore, formed clusters
based on the five variables scores revealed that
there is a strongly maintained correlation between
strategy use and achievement level. For students,
researchers recommended using various activities
of language learning and spending more time on
vocabulary acquisition. For future researches,
writers suggest isolating individual variables and
examining how significant is the importance of
use of a specific strategy more systematically and
in a more controlled way. Moreover, it was also
suggested that an attempt of developing taxonomies
of vocabulary learning strategies should be made by
future researchers in order to check their theoretical
bases and investigate what impacts they can have
on learners if they were trained in their use.
* In addition
This piece of research aims at shedding light on
the major strategies employed in L2 vocabulary
acquisition, presenting the different attitudes
towards these strategies according to successful
and unsuccessful learners, and at last illustrating
the effects these strategies might have on their
vocabulary learning. The writer strives to investigate
the hypothesis that states that successful learners
are better and more proficient than unsuccessful
ones in terms of vocabulary acquisition.
Informants assessed in this research were 30 Chinese
university students who are enrolled in the medical
department. Note that no age range or mean age
was provided except for the claim that participants
were about 22 years old. These participants were
randomly chosen. The reason behind choosing
these medical department students was that they
have been studying English for almost ten years
which means that theyre quite familiar with it.
College students are matured enough to be assumed
as independent learners, which implies the fact that
they are aware of the strategies being employed in
their learning process. Informants received English
instruction twice a week and since theyre medical
students, vocabulary used in class must be most of
the times related to medicine.
This means that some vocabulary learning strategies
may be used frequently given the idiosyncratic
nature of medicine vocabulary. Participants in this
study were divided into two groups based on their
proficiency level assessed in terms of the College
English Test. The first group, successful learners,
included 15 learners who passed the CET6 and met
the English proficiency level required in Chinese
universities, whereas the second group involved 15

learners who have not met the required level due

to their failure in the CET4 and they are labeled as
unsuccessful learners.
Instruments that have been used in this study are
questionnaire and interview. Questionnaire was
used since it enables the researcher to access the
learners point of view (Brace, 2004 cited in Li, 2009)
in addition to its being convenient and manageable
to conduct.
The questionnaire employed in this study contained
eight items; seven of them were about the strategies
students make use of when they learn vocabulary,
where they are asked to evaluate each strategy as
being very useful, useful, slightly useful, or not
useful at all. On the other hand, the eighth item
was an open question that allowed the participant
to evaluate other strategies that they use, but have
not been mentioned in previous items. Informants
received the questionnaires via e-mail and they
were asked to
fill them in and send them back in the same way
(via e-mail). Furthermore, questionnaires were
divided based on the participants CET grade i.e.
CET6 and CET4. The second instrument involved
in this research was the interview in which only 10
informants were selected to answer the questions; five
successful learners and five unsuccessful learners.
The interviews included questions about how
learners put to use vocabulary learning strategies
in their learning, what effects these strategies can
have on learners and what their advantages and
disadvantages are. Participants were interviewed
by means of chatting software, MSN, where both
the interviewer and the interviewee could see each
other which enabled the interviewer to observe the
interviewees actions and reactions. As such, the
researcher recorded the interviews for the sake of
further analysis.
This studys results revealed that successful learners
made use of many vocabulary learning strategies
since they evaluated most of them in a favorable
manner. Conversely, unsuccessful learners showed
less interest regarding the use of these strategies as
many of them thought of these strategies as being
unuseful. To this end, the researcher made the
recommendation that teachers should incorporate
vocabulary learning strategies when teaching
vocabulary and train learners to use them in their
vocabulary learning. Moreover, how to adjust these
strategies in the curriculum and how to guide
learners to make use of them effectively is up to
future studies.

28

* Conclusion
To wrap up, the present chapter has made the
attempt of acquainting the reader with the
fundamental scope of this study i.e. SLA by
tackling its definition, emergence, and basic issues.
Moreover, definitions of and personal reflections
on the basic key concepts were provided based
on some scholars and dictionaries statements.
Furthermore, a section was particularly dedicated
to inform the reader of the necessary background
with regard to the core of this chapter i.e. language
attitudes and the importance of vocabulary
acquisition in SLA. Another section was mainly
concerned with presenting four theories that have
addressed vocabulary acquisition from different
perspectives. Finally, the last section provided a
concise review of two previous studies that dealt, to
a large extent, with the same subject as the present
piece of research.

participants did not get any kind of instruction

or additional knowledge that may influence their
attitudes. Another point which can support the
claim that the present research falls within the case
study paradigm is the fact that this latter is often
equated with issues that investigate the progress of
an aspect of language behavior (ibid).

This being the case, it also applies to the current

piece of research in the sense that it also examines
an aspect of language behavior which is language
attitude. On the other hand, the research method
according to which the present study is conducted
is a quantitative one. More specifically, it is a
causal-comparative research method as the aim is
to compare between the attitudes of two groups
of different academic levels and see whether this
latter brings about any change or influence in these
learners attitudes to English vocabulary learning
strategies. That is to say, to determine whether there
is a relation between a learners attitude and his/her
In pursuance of attaining the aforementioned academic level in which the latter has a bearing on
objectives and answering the previously stated the former.
research questions, two hypotheses have been
formulated:
Put differently, the aim is to measure the difference
between the two groups and to examine the
-The learners academic level and cognitive maturity relationship between the two variables which are
have an impact on his/her attitude with respect to the learners attitudes and the academic level.
the strategies used to learn English vocabulary.
Many reasons were behind choosing to conduct the
present study quantitatively. First, a quantitative
-Based on their academic level and cognitive needs, research is less subjective and more documented the
Moroccan EFL learners are likely to use certain thing that would majorly contribute in confirming
vocabulary learning strategies more often than or disconfirming the claimed hypotheses more
other ones.
objectively. Second, it makes use of statistical
measure and tests to analyse the data and generate
* Research design
highly valid results. 10Third, the data included,
despite its being attitudes, can be converted to
The present section outlines how research takes a numerical one and would better be assessed
place. In other words, this section aims at introducing quantitatively by means of statistics and numbers
the reader to the practical details of the study for the sake of obtaining representative findings.
and illustrating how investigation is conducted.
According to the 9Business dictionary, a research Finally, a quantitative research defines the possible
design is a detailed outline of how investigation will relation (s) between the variables and determines
take place. A research design will typically include the causes and consequences based on the defined
how data is to be collected, what instruments will relation (s).
be employed, how the instruments will be used and
the intended means for analyzing data collected. * Participants
Hence, as stated in the definition, a typical research
design would necessarily involve a demonstration The participants having taken part in the current
of participants included in the study, instruments study were divided into two groups, S2 and S6.
used to collect data, procedure of data collection i.e. Students of both groups are undergraduate learners
how data was collected, and statistical means opted enrolled in the English department, University
for to analyse the collected data.
Mohammed V, Rabat. The sample of S2 students
involved 26 (43, 3%) participants enrolled in the
The current piece of research fits within the case first year of their university schooling and whose
study research design (Bialystok and Swain, 1978) age ranges from 18 to 24 years. At the data collection
since it is an exploratory inquiry in which attitudes time, students were receiving 14 hours of English
are unknown inclinations which are to be explored instruction in addition to 4 hours of Arabic and
and elicited from respondents. Furthermore, French instruction. Their curriculum is composed
attitudes are tested in their natural context and of 7 modules per week with different timing of
29

each module (either 2 or 3 hours) and 3 months

per semester. At the same time, the sample of S6
students included 34 (56, 7%) participants enrolled
in the last year of their university schooling whose
majoritys age ranges from 18 to 24 years, whereas
a minoritys age ranges from 25 to 34 years. While
data was collected, S6 students were receiving 12
hours of English instruction. Their curriculum
is composed of 6 modules per week, 2 hours per
module and 3 months per semester. Both samples
involved participants from both genders, male
and female, as it does not represent an influencing
variable in the present study.

very cooperative and helpful, and at the first day

of posting the questionnaire in their Facebook
page more than 20 respondents filled in the form.
However, S2 participants took more time and 26
responses were hardly collected in a whole week
time. All in all, the overall number of responses
received was 60 responses; 26 from S2 students and
34 from S6 students.
* Instruments
Attitudes of S2 and S6 students towards English
vocabulary learning strategies were measured by
means of a questionnaire. Hence, before going over
what the administered questionnaire involved, an
elucidation of this data collection instrument must
be provided. As a way of introducing the reader to
this data collection method, Dornyei writes:

The reason behind the choice of S2 and S6 students

is the academic difference between the two groups.
This would allow determining the difference, if
there is any, in both groups attitudes towards
vocabulary learning strategies as well as confirm or
refute the claim that academic level has a bearing One of the most common methods of data
on the learners attitudes to these strategies.
collection in second language (L2) research is to
use questionnaires of various kinds. The popularity
The fact that both groups belong to the English of questionnaires is due to the fact that they are
department and are engaged in a curriculum taught easy to construct, extremely versatile, and uniquely
in English reveals that students of both groups capable of gathering a large amount of information
make use of certain English vocabulary learning quickly in a form that is readily processable.
strategies which is another reason for this choice of (Dornyei, 2010: xiii)
participants. Furthermore, when collecting the data
S6 participants were also collecting data from other Although the term questionnaire is the most common
respondents for their researches, which means that one, other terms can be used to refer to this data
they are knowledgeable about the whole procedure gathering instrument such as inventories, forms,
and how research is conducted. Hence, they are opinionnaires, tests, batteries, checklists,
expected to be more cooperative and helpful than scales, surveys, schedules, studies, profiles,
any other respondents from another academic level. indexes/indicators, or even simply sheets (Aiken,
A choice of second year masters students would also 1997 cited in Dornyei, 2010: 3). Questionnaires can
have been made, but due to time constraints this have two broad shapes; interview schedules and
choice was canceled and students from the same self administered pencil and paper questionnaires.
university as mine were chosen to be respondents The first type is precisely used when the respondent
since I know most of them and it is easy to contact has to answer a set of fixed questions asked by a
them.
researcher in a live interview in which this latter
indicates the respondents answers on an answer
* Data collection procedure
sheet.
The first step to be taken before starting the data
collection was constructing the questionnaire by
means of which data is to be collected. This latter
was constructed through Google docs. The reason
behind administering an online questionnaire
was the minimal expenditure of money, time and
energy. Furthermore, most of Moroccan students,
currently, have internet access and Facebook
accounts. Another reason for this choice was
the easy transfer of data from Google docs to the
software application SPSS. Data was collected using
the constructed questionnaire which was posted
in the Facebook group pages of one S6 group and
three S2 groups to collect enough data since one S2
group was not enough to get the required number
of responses due to the lack of cooperation of S2
students. On the other hand, S6 students were

The second type refers to those questionnaires

which are self completed and which respondents are
asked to fill in themselves. In the current research
paper, the focus is to be on the second type since
its the most suitable one to gather and measure a
relatively large number of valid and reliable data in
a comparatively short time for research purposes.
A well illustrated definition of this type of
questionnaires is provided by Brown (2001) as
follows: questionnaires are any written instruments
that present respondents with a series of questions
or statements to which they are to react either by
writing out their answers or selecting from among
existing answers (Brown, 2001: 6 cited in Dornyei,
2010: 4).
30

As such, the questionnaire used in the present study

includes the following components: a title which
is vocabulary learning strategies, a description
that introduces the respondent to the main theme
of the research and demonstrates the steps to be
followed in order to fill in the questionnaire in a
proper manner with a confidentiality and thank
you note at the end of the description. Then, three
questions are concerned with the academic level
(S2, S6), age range (18-24; 25-34; 35-44), and the
first thing that comes to the respondents mind
when hearing the word vocabulary (reading,
watching movies, hard task, having a conversation
with native speakers, doing vocabulary exercises,
vocabulary means dictionary).

-Samples should be randomly selected.

-Variances of the two samples should be equal.
-Normal distribution of the population.
* Conclusion

In a nutshell, this chapter has purported to provide

the reader with a clear depiction of the objectives,
hypotheses, and research questions of the study.
Furthermore, it has also aimed at acquainting the
reader with the research design of the study, methods
employed in data gathering, participants who took
part, data collection procedure, and the statistical
All this is followed by a set of 12 items that elicit the test selected for data analysis. Presumably, the next
respondents evaluation of a number of vocabulary chapter is mainly concerned with analyzing and
learning strategies (very useful, useful, slightly interpreting the obtained results.
useful, or not useful at all), then each question is
pursued by an item questioning the use of each * Results and Discussion
strategy by the respondent (never, sometimes,
seldom, usually, always) in order to have a clear This studys findings rejected the first hypothesis in
vision of the most commonly used strategy (ies) favor of its corresponding null hypothesis, the thing
among Moroccan EFL learners.
that revealed that the learners academic level has
no impact on the attitude that learner can hold with
* Statistical measures
regard to English vocabulary learning strategies.
On the other hand, the second hypothesis was
To compare between S2 and S6 students attitudes confirmed based on the percentages of frequency
and to determine whether there is a difference that respondents expressed while answering the
between the two groups, the statistical test questionnaire with regard to their frequency of
to be utilised is called independent samples use of each vocabulary learning strategy since the
t-test. 11Independent samples t-test or precisely results reported in the table of frequencies revealed
independent two samples t-test is a statistical test that three strategies are the most common ones
that measures the values of two randomly selected among Moroccan EFL learners.
from a population and compares their means in
order to define whether a significant difference * General conclusion
exists between the two samples or not. In this t-test,
the statistical significance and the effect sise are the 1)
Summary of the objectives
essential outcomes. 12The former is concerned
with whether the statistical difference between The current study has endeavored to investigate
samples is actually a significant one, whereas the Moroccan EFL learners perceptions regarding
latter elucidates whether that difference is wide English vocabulary learning strategies. It has
enough to be regarded meaningful.
compared the attitudes of two academically
different groups to test the hypothesis which states
The statistical difference is considered real if:
that academic level has a bearing on the learners
attitude with regard to these strategies. Under this
-The sise of the sample is large.
light, the present paper has strived to reach the
following objectives:
-The difference between the samples average values
is large.
-To explore Moroccan EFL learners attitudes
towards the strategies used to learn English
-The standard deviation is low.
vocabulary based on their academic level.
For this t-test to be used, assumptions such as the -To examine whether the learners academic level
following should be met:
influences his/her attitude to these strategies.
-Samples should not influence each other and be -To distinguish the most commonly used English
observed independently.
vocabulary learning strategy (ies) among Moroccan
EFL learners, more precisely S2 and S6 students.
31

2)

Summary of the methodology

A number of sixty participants took part in the

research. They were divided into two groups based
on their academic level (S2, S6). The first group,
S2, included twenty six respondents, whereas the
second group, S6, involved thirty four participants.
To elicit the respondents attitudes to different
vocabulary learning strategies a questionnaire
of fifteen items was administered online where
learners of both academic levels were asked to
evaluate each strategy regarding its usefulness. After
each item in the questionnaire a question about
the frequency of use of each individual strategy
was also included in order to have a clear vision
of the common vocabulary learning strategy (ies)
among Moroccan EFL learners. Those common
strategies were distinguished through frequencies
and percentages of use of each strategy.
3)

Summary of the results

asked to evaluate since adding more items to the

questionnaire could have resulted in hesitation
with regard to answering the questionnaire. In
short, the present study is only an introduction for
further researches which will account for the above
mentioned limitation.
5)

The current paper is the start of many implications

for future research on attitudes towards vocabulary.
First, attitudes towards vocabulary learning
strategies should also be approached taking into
consideration the gender variable in order to
examine whether this latter can have a bearing on
Moroccan EFL learners attitudes with regard to
these strategies. In other words, to determine if
males and females have different attitudes towards
these strategies or they are homogeneous in this
respect. Further implication for future research
would be to investigate the attitudes of more groups
whose academic levels are too distinct from each
other such as baccalaureate students and second
year Masters students. Exploring attitudes of such
groups can lead to extremely different outcomes
and confirm the assumption that academic level can
affect learners attitudes to the different strategies
used to learn vocabulary.

The findings of the study provided evidence that the

learners academic level has no impact on the attitude
this learner holds towards English vocabulary
learning strategies. Hence, the first hypothesis was
rejected in favor of the null hypothesis leading to
the conclusion that academic level does not hold
any relation with regard to the learners attitude to
vocabulary learning strategies.
6)
Furthermore, another finding suggested that there
are three vocabulary learning strategies which are
commonly used among Moroccan EFL learners,
namely to hear the word repeatedly and repeat it,
to meet and use words through language skills, and
to listen to passages and songs repeatedly. Based
on this fact, the second hypothesis was confirmed
stating that there exist certain vocabulary learning
strategies which are commonly used among
Moroccan EFL learners.
4)

Limitation of the study

One of the major limitations of this study was the

time constraint. Due to this factor respondents from
highly different academic levels, such as Masters
and Baccalaureate students, could not be selected
and participants were chosen from the same faculty
as mine since I can easily reach them. Another
limitation is the number of respondents who
answered the questionnaire which was again due to
the limited time since only 60 responses that could
be gathered in such amount of time. Moreover,
the lack of cooperation of S2 respondents was
another factor in obtaining such limited number of
responses.

Research implications

Pedagogical implications

As has been previously stated, vocabulary is of great

importance in the acquisition of other language
skills such as reading, writing, speaking and
listening, and the reverse holds as well. Thus, EFL
teachers should better use this crucial language
aspect in teaching these skills and, in turn, use these
latter to teach vocabulary.
Another pedagogical implication is that EFL
learners should be exposed to various vocabulary
learning strategies apart from the traditional ones
like reading and using dictionaries. Put differently,
this exposure to new strategies might help them in
acquiring more vocabulary, the thing that will have
an impact on their language proficiency level and
cognitive achievement as well as diversify the ways
to learn English vocabulary.
In fine, presented above are conclusions of the
main points discussed in the current piece of
research. Majorly, summary of the main objectives,
methodology adopted, obtained findings, limitation
of the study, research implications and pedagogical
implications that teachers should implement in
their vocabulary teaching.

An additional limitation was that of the number

of vocabulary learning strategies respondents were
32

Lexical Selection And

The Evolution Of Language Units

DOI 10.1515/opli-2015-0013
Received September 15, 2014;
accepted May 27, 2015
Abstract:
In this paper I discuss similarities and differences
between a potential new model of language
development - lexical selection, and its biological
equivalent - natural selection. Based on Dawkins
(1976) concept of the meme I discuss two units
of language and explore their potential to be seen
as linguistic replicators. The central discussion
revolves around two key parts - the units that could
potentially play the role of replicators in a lexical
selection system and a visual representation of the
model proposed. draw on work by Hoey (2005),
Wray (2008) and Sinclair (1996, 1998) for the
theoretical basis; Croft (2000) is highlighted as a
similar framework. Finally brief examples are taken
from the free online corpora provided by the corpus
analysis tool Sketch Engine (Kilgarriff, Rychly, Smrz
and Tugwell 2004) to ground the discussion in real
world communicative situations.
The examples highlight the point that different
situational contexts will allow for different units
to flourish based on the local social and linguistic
environment. The paper also shows how a close
look at the specific context and strings available to

a language user at any given moment has potential

to illuminate different aspects of language when
compared with a more abstract approach.
Keywords: memes, natural selection, lexical
priming, needs only analysis, NOA, lexical unit,
lexical selection, linguemes.
1 Introduction
In 1976 Richard Dawkins changed the way many
look at biological evolution with his popular
account of a genes eye view of natural selection
The Selfish Gene. He begins by describing how
certain molecules in the early earths biosphere
must have formed replicators: rare molecules that
can replicate themselves by acting as a mould and
attracting smaller molecules in such a way that the
larger molecule essentially creates a copy of itself.
(Dawkins reminds us that the molecules are not, of
course, conscious of this but terms like creating a
copy of itself are simply useful shorthand.) DNA
is the modern equivalent. This paper discusses the
idea that language chunks can be seen as linguistic
replicators. It begins with a short review of the
literature before moving on to the question of what
units might play such a role. A visual representation
of my lexical selection model1 is introduced in
section two before I move on to a discussion of
specific language strings in a corpus of computer
linguistics papers. New terminology is proposed

33

as part of the model. The rest of the introduction (see arguments in Jablonka, Zeligowski and Lamb
will introduce key ideas from both biological and 2014 for example).
linguistic evolution.
Developments in evolutionary theory should,
After introducing the concept of physical replicators however, not be seen as a driving force for linguistic
in biology, Dawkins introduces memes as their
theory. Lexical Selection may one day turn out to be
cultural equivalent:
notably different in its detail. This is certainly not
the first paper to discuss the similarities between
The new soup is the soup of human culture. We language replicators and biological replicators.
need a name for the new replicator, a noun which Pagel (2009) provides an excellent overview of
conveys the unit of cultural transmission, or a unit many of the similarities from a biologists point of
of imitation. Mimeme comes from a suitable Greek view and he reminds us that many of them were, in
root, but I want a monosyllable that sounds a bit fact, suggested by Darwin himself (Darwin 1871).
like gene. I hope my classicist friends will forgive
me if I abbreviate mimeme to meme. If it is any Pagel suggests that words, phonemes and syntax2
consolation, it could alternatively be thought of as are examples of discrete units and that they replicate
being related to memory or to the French word by means of teaching, learning and imitation. He also
mme. It should be pronounced to rhyme with offers ancient texts as the equivalent of fossils and
cream. Dawkins (1976:192)
language death in relation to extinction. The work
focuses largely on the word as the unit of analysis by
Memes then are not physical entities but, as using Swadeshs (1952) list of two hundred common
originally formulated, abstract concepts that exist words such as body parts, pronouns and numerals
in the minds of people (and arguably a number of that could be expected in many languages. The
other species such as songbirds). They replicate work shows that researchers can produce matrices
by being shared in a community and mutate by with the number of meanings on one side against
way of small changes. Dawkins gives the examples the number of languages that have that meaning
of tunes, catchphrases and ways of making pots in a selected set. This allows for statistical analyses
among others.
and comparisons with gene sequence matrices.
Pagels discussion includes a surprising association
It is the linguistic side of Dawkins argument that between the distribution of animal species and
sets up my own thesis for this paper. I argue that the distribution of human languages when plotted
strings of language items let us imagine words against latitude.
for the moment enter into a similar competitive
environment with other strings and that minor Kirkby and Hurfords (2002) Iterated Learning
variations will allow an evolution-like mechanism Model (ILM) moves closer to an actual model of
to operate. Whether this linguistic mechanism language change; it is described as an adaptive
closely follows modern models of evolutionary system that operates on a timescale between
theory remains to be seen; the discussion is only individual learning and biological evolution
just beginning. Note that my argument is not (Kirkby 2007:1) and is well-supported by computer
fundamentally different from Dawkins concept and mathematical models. Such models are,
of memes but that it is argued specifically for however, necessarily abstracted away from real
human language strings without carrying along speakers and actual utterances with work based on
any assumptions about songbirds or pot-making. idealised languages. This is important work that
Dennett (2003) reminds us that the science of highlights the potential of an evolutionary approach
memetics is still controversial seen by critics as but its distance from actual utterances can seem
just a tool or metaphor that cannot be made literal divorced from work in text analysis and corpus
when applied to all of human culture so this paper linguistics which focus more on the behaviour of
should be seen as strictly a linguistic argument. It is strings of lemmas and wordforms. As we move to a
important to clarify at this point one key argument complete theory of language we will need work at
I am not making. I am not arguing that the both ends of the abstract-utterance continuum. An
movement and selection of linguistic replicators is evolution-like theory that explicitly seeks to work
necessarily very close to its biological equivalent. In at the level of utterances is Crofts (2000) Theory of
biology, for example, researchers are beginning to Utterance Selection (TUS).
understand that the gene does not play as central
a role in evolutionary theory as was once assumed

34

Crofts work is similar to the way I conceptualise

lexical selection. It is inspired by Hulls (1988) work
on a generalised theory of selection for all evolutionlike processes and, as such, considers the nature of
potential replicators in some detail. Croft suggests
embodied linguistic structures, anything from a
phoneme to a morpheme to a word to a syntactic
construction, and also their conventional semantic/
discoursefunctional (information - structural)
values (2000:28); he calls these units linguemes.
Linguemes then are not necessarily individual
words but many examples Croft uses either imply
that they tend to be or he writes at a level somewhat
removed from texts so that different readers may
walk away with different views of what a lingueme
actually looks like when or, indeed, if one can exist
on a page. In section two I will discuss the extent
to which an extended selection unit (ESU) in my
terminology should be seen as equivalent to a
lingueme.
2 What units?
For this paper I will focus on two units that could
potentially play a key role in the replication
system words and extended lexical units. Words
are arguably the most logical starting point for
a discussion of language units. As Hoey (2005)
reminds us, the dictionaries and thesauruses of the
18th and 19th centuries reflect the classical idea of
the word with information about pronunciation,
grammar and etymology. The concept of word is,
however, rather woollier than it may first appear.
The simple distinction between types and tokens in
corpus studies highlights the first point of concern.
If one considers the string me me me we would
say it consists of three tokens (occurrences of) a
single type the form me. Lemmatisation further
complicates matters.
Hoey cites Williams (1998), for example, who shows
the collocational behaviour of gene is quite distinct
from that of genes. If we are to consider strings
of words moving through a community it would
make sense to read this as strings of wordforms in
the first instance; in many cases, however, a concept
I call the language users lemma space comes into
play. I will use the string pen drive as an example
that many of us may remember using for the first
time. If, like me, an adult came across the string
for the first time she might receive the form pen
drive as input but then may immediately map that
form onto its lemma space and be in a position to
produce other wordforms such as pen drives at the
first opportunity for producing output.
Thus both the wordform and its lemma space
could potentially play an important role as the
unit moves through a community. The hedging in
my last two sentences is because of Wrays (2002)

concept - Needs Only Analysis (NOA) - which I

discuss in a moment. Despite the complexities of
the concept WORD it is seen by millions, if not
billions, of everyday language users as an important
unit and this will have a powerful influence on the
development of languages that we are just beginning
to understand. The more people beyond academia
become familiar with concepts such as collocation
and multi-word units, the more likely students will
study and become familiar with units longer than
the word thus affecting selection processes in ways
we are yet to understand; this public perception
aspect of language selection has been understated
in previous work.
Wray perceives the word as the fundamental
currency of processing (Wray 2008:67) in Hoeys
model and states that this is a substantial difference
between Hoeys Lexical Priming theory and her
Needs Only Analysis (NOA) model; in NOA
Wray convincingly argues that in a first language
acquisition context children do not break down
language strings into their smallest components
but, in fact, store the whole string unless there is a
specific need for further analysis. To further explore
this apparent conflict I need to say a little about
Hoeys concepts of Lexical Priming and nesting.
Lexical Priming is fundamentally the knowledge a
language user has about a language unit such as a
word or phrase it includes collocation, information
about grammatical patterns (colligation) and
semantic and pragmatic patterns as well as being
genre and domain specific. One of Hoeys examples
is the sentence In Winter Hammerfest is a thirtyhour ride by bus from Oslo, though why anyone
would want to go there in winter is a question worth
considering. Hoey (2005:5)
Hoey gives this as an example of natural primings
for many English-speaking readers it is taken
from a travel book by Bill Bryson. As an exercise I
have put this sentence up on a screen for students
to think about for a few seconds and then blacked
out the screen before asking students to reproduce
the sentence again as accurately as possible. It is
noteworthy that many British students who have
tried this activity produced the string bus ride
rather than ride by bus. Indeed the British National
Corpus (BNC)3 has 47 occurrences of bus ride
compared with none for ride by bus suggesting that
British speakers are more strongly primed for the
former string. Though it is ultimately the human
speaker that is primed for a certain word use, Hoey
talks of words being primed as a kind of shorthand.
He might say, for example, that the word bus
appears to be primed for collocation with ride in
this example but it is always the human language
users that are primed for use in that context.
35

Nesting is a situation where a combination such as

bus ride takes on primings which may differ from
its constituent words bus and ride. Hoey clearly
states I have focused on the word as a convenient
starting point for the description of priming, rather
than for theoretical reasons (Hoey 2005: 158) so I
would argue that his model is not notably at odds
with Wrays view.
Similar to nesting Wray argues for a heteromorphic
lexicon in which morphemes, words and multiword expressions exist separately in the mental
lexicon but can reuse constituent components; bus
and bus ride would make up two entries rather
than require a language user to construct the longer
string every time (Wray 2008). The mental lexicon
would, however, play a less central role in a model
of lexical selection. A lexical selection model would
involve a complex of humans and texts in a society.
Humans begin to learn a string such as bus with
basic primings at any stage of the acquisition
process the user may prepare to reproduce the
string in a social context (see figure 1). This gives
two potential results; either the string has been
stored and understood by the user in a form that
closely matches the original input say, for example,
a pronunciation form that is accepted by the
community and is understood with an appropriate
set of primings that would allow it to be used without
correction. Or, alternatively, it is stored in an altered
form. It could sound notably different or be stored
with a set of primings that lack information about
its typical colligational relationship with articles, for

example. Note that primings is used throughout this

paper in the sense described in Hoey (2005) and,
thus includes conscious memorisation processes as
well as subconscious effects. Social pressure would
act on the whole system and influence the language
user at every stage.
The second level of figure one that shows the two
forms of lexical storage closely reflects Wrays (2002,
2008) work so string memorised in identical form
would include both formulaic word strings and
strings of non-formulaic language in cases where
the individual is strongly primed to produce the
standard output for a particular situation in that
community. string memorised in altered form
would consist of strings where the individual is
more weakly primed to produce the standard
output for any given situation.
The user with a (mentally) stored form that is
highly congruent with the original can choose to
reproduce the string in that form or to be creative
and consciously adjust the primings of the next
listener - a positive mutation. If the string is
stored in an altered form the speaker will be seen
to have less control over the language by the local
community and would more likely produce a
negative mutation this would likely be seen as a
mistake by the community and would be at high
risk of correction or deletion (and hence possible
removal from a lexical gene pool unless the speaker
adopts the form nonetheless). Wray (personal
communication) points out that mutations in such

36

a lexical selection model are not random in the same way as biological mutations are often seen to be; this
view of biological mutation is not necessarily an accurate one, however (see Martincorena, Seshasayee
and Luscombe 2012, for example). It is important to note that important differences do exist between
biological evolution and language and this must be taken into account when exploring the model further.
Words do not occupy a privileged place in this description. Like their role in Lexical Priming (Hoey 2005)
and Wrays heteromorphic lexicon (Wray 2002) they are just short strings that often make convenient
starting points for analysis. (The public view of the word as a unit is, however, a very important contextual
factor). In corpus linguistics we often begin by searching for a node such as bus and then discussing the
linguistic environment around it by means of concordance lines (figure two shows an example).

write and help the ESU move through a community.

It is interesting to note that a literal sense of the I will call the smaller units variators.
word node is a knot in cloth (node 2014) which
provides
From the top-down perspective of memes and
a useful visual metaphor. The node is not the whole replicators an ESU is equivalent to a lingueme (if
unit but provides a handle for us to grasp and one assumes strings not exemplified by Croft such
begin to look at the rest of the material. As long as as n-grams and lexical bundles are subject to the
language learners and teachers perceive words as same mechanisms) and lexical selection would
important
be a mechanism within the general framework
units words will be acted upon and treated as of Crofts Theory of Utterance Selection (Croft
selection units but in naturalistic settings and first 2000); one must always remember, however, that
language
this does not pin linguistic theory to biological
contexts we must consider a wider range of lexical evolutionary theory. The two theories must be
units.
allowed freedom to develop independently. A
potentially important difference is at the bottomSinclairs (1996, 1998) model of the extended lexical up level of actual utterances. Crofts theory either
unit tells us that each unit consists of a core as well assumes a traditional view of phrase structure and
as collocational and colligational patterns, semantic syntax or leaves the interpretation of what can and
prosody and semantic preference. Semantic prosody what cannot be a lingueme open to the reader.
relates to the language users reason for choosing
a given expression so, in Sinclairs example, naked An ESU is more closely aligned to Hoeys Lexical
eye has a semantic prosody of difficulty; semantic Priming (Hoey 2005) in the sense it could
preference relates to the semantic area of the potentially be any string of language. This leaves
surrounding
room for potential units such as those indicated by
lexis. In a sense, Hoeys Lexical Priming (2005) the written forms of the or in the to be analysed and
argues for the same units but adds a textual discussed as ESUs depending on the primings and
dimension in that any unit (words or longer strings) behaviour of a speech community; their status as a
might be primed to form cohesive patterns. Hoey lingueme in Crofts work is less clear.
also conflates the concepts of semantic prosody and
semantic preference replacing them with semantic 3 Movement and competition
association.
To explore the idea of how an ESU might move
He defines semantic association as when a word through a community I will begin with the string
or word sequence is associated in the mind of a the accuracy of the in the open corpora provided
language user with a semantic set or class Hoey by Sketch Engine (see Kilgarriff, Rychly, Smrz et
(2005:24). It is likely that a form of extended lexical al. 2004 for details). This string was not selected
unit let us call them extended selection units as a particularly unusual piece of language - in
or ESUs would play a role in a lexical selection many ways it is completely unexceptional. I chose
process and the smaller units such as words and the string as I was exploring the issue of whether a
morphemes would vary within them as users speak, frame - the * of the - could meaningfully be seen as
37

a selection unit; I also felt it was important to avoid a well known formulaic expression as these could be
seen as extreme cases. As no language user ever needs a frame without a communicative situation I chose,
somewhat arbitrarily, a 4-word string that was well-represented in the data to allow me to move towards
more concrete examples of language use.
It occurs in all four of the free corpora available via Sketch Engine - the ACL is an archive of computer
linguistics publications, British Academic Spoken English Corpus (BASE), British Academic Written
English Corpus (BAWE) and Brown, a corpus of general US English prepared in 1964, as shown in figure 3.

Let us consider example (1) from the ACL corpus:

(1) We show in detail our findings about syntactic levels (how often graph matching helped assign a
relation between two clauses, a verb and its arguments, or a noun and its modifier) and about the accuracy
of the suggestion.
The writer is likely to be clear that they want to refer to the concept of accuracy at this point and will be
primed to use the * of the * frame in formal writing. Indeed this writer produces the requirements of the
domain, the behaviour of the system, the analysis of the input text, the end of the experiment and the
structures of the syntactic units in the same paper.

The researcher is also likely to be primed to use the string the accuracy of the * in such a situation. Figure
four shows the number of times each slot in this structure is occupied by the given word; the word accuracy,
for example, occurs once in two occurrences of the * of the suggestion. A second usage in the corpus is the
quality of the suggestions in a different text. This shows us the relatively fixed nature of the accuracy of the *
as a frame with the last slot remaining very open for the writer or speaker to insert the appropriate selection
for the context (in a practical example, of course, the writer would be rather more limited depending on
what system or concept is being described).
In a sample of 300 lines the most frequent complement for this frame was parser so I used the Corpus
Query Language (CQL) term accuracy []{0,2} parser on the full corpus to explore any cases when a
writer may be faced with a genuine choice of terms when they need to describe the accuracy of a specific
parser.

38

Figure five shows a sample of the results.

It is clear the accuracy of a parser would not be a
suitable string for a writer who wants to refer to a
specific case - it has a more general meaning. The
string the accuracy of the parser, it seems, would
most likely compete with the accuracy of our parser
and the accuracy of their parser depending on the
ownership of the parser. Let us assume a situation
where the writer was discussing a parser they had
developed. This would leave the accuracy of the
parser, the accuracy of this parser and the accuracy
of our parser as remaining options. Priming effects
will influence the likelihood of any one form being
chosen at each reference point - this includes the
writers concern to avoid repetition in their writing.
A careful study of the writers papers and spoken
presentations would give us a fascinating insight
into his or her lexical primings and the way the
writer treats each string as a unit - this would make
an interesting PhD project but to fully explore
lexical selection we must turn to transmission and
encourage future studies where at least a second
speaker or writer carries the linguistic information
to a new audience.

The strings the accuracy of the and the accuracy

of the parser were partially chosen as challenging
cases that would force us to consider weaknesses
in this view of language. There is little doubt that
formulaic expressions such as idioms and restricted
collocations are being shared by communities
(partially) because they mark a speaker as being a
competent member of the language community in
question but the strings chosen here are less salient as
chunks and may be broken up by language learners.
Recall the visual representation of the lexical
selection model in figure one. By writing this paper
I have become primed to use the string the accuracy
of the parser as a fixed string; I may have primed
some readers to also recall it as a formulaic string.
Our next recorded usage of the string or, indeed,
our attempt at using a similar string to express the
concept would provide a useful indicator of how
it has moved as a unit. Most formal writing would
comprise examples of standard output in that the
string would be produced in an identical form.

39

Clearly an altered form such as the accuracy of

this parser would be a reasonable choice in writing
- in this context this would comprise a positive
mutation. A negative mutation in such a scenario
might result in the string the accuracy of parser and
would be at high risk of intervention from a teacher
or editor before going out as a second generation
string.

generation context we must consider a real world

example and a real world language community. The
need for future empirical work is clear - as well as
corpus studies and the kind of formulaic language
work described in Wray (2008) I propose studies
that track how particular
strings move between one user and the next.
Such studies will give us a firmer understanding
of what sort of linguistic information actually gets
carried as an ESU so that one can more confidently
explore the extent of similarity between Sinclairs
abstract extended lexical units and the ESUs that
actually move from text to human and from human
to text.

The string the accuracy of Japanese parser from

Figure 5 is a good example of how a string must be
suited to its environment to spread. In a British or
American journal, for example, one might imagine
an editor suggesting a change and preventing such
a string from spreading through the community
but in a New English environment such as Japanese
or Korean English this string may be accepted and There is also a need for new computer models that
move freely around its community (Hadikin 2014 help researchers explore the information carried
provides several examples of this).
by a number of different units rather than rely on
single words as the unit of analysis.
4 Conclusion
In this paper I introduce a way of looking at language
units that will be new to some fields of language
study. Based on Dawkins concept of memes
(Dawkins 1976) I have looked at the movement
and structure of two potential language replicators
- the word and Sinclairs suggestion of an extended
lexical unit (Sinclar 1996, 1998).
Hoeys (2005) Theory of Lexical Priming and Wrays
(2008) concept of the heteromorphic lexicon remind
us that words do not appear to move as independent
entities and, building on key arguments from
each model, I propose a visual representation of a
potential lexical selection process with two kinds of
mutation - one based on a language user storing
the language string in a form highly congruent with
input form and then altering the structure in a way
that is likely to spread successfully - and a second
that would likely be seen as erroneous in by the
local language community.
Compared with single words, Sinclairs units make
a better candidate for the kind of unit that would
act as replicators because they allow for the kind of
data patterns described in Hoey (2005) and Wrays
(2008) arguments and, for ease of analysis and
further discussion, I propose new terminology to
reflect the concept of genes and bases - extended
selection units (ESUs) and variators respectively.
Finally, I briefly discuss the movement and selection
involved when researchers and students use the
strings the accuracy of the and the accuracy of the
parser in free online corpora.
The examples remind us that we cannot work
entirely with abstractions in a paper such as this one
because to truly visualise language users reading
an ESU and attempting to reproduce it in a second

40

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