Longitudinal Developments in Vocabulary Knowledge and Lexical Organization

Words are the building blocks of human communication and provide a strong foundation for the development of skilled language production and comprehension. Learning words in a language other than one's own requires long-term commitment and substantial engagement. This research monograph offers a summary of how learners of additional languages acquire vocabulary in instructed foreign language contexts and in English for Academic Purposes programs in the target language environment. After a thorough introduction of the most important constructs in the first chapter, the book provides a comprehensive description of the processes of longitudinal development in learners' growth of vocabulary size and depth of word knowledge. In the second half, the authors make novel connections between the fields of second language acquisition and vocabulary research. They then show how individual differences between learners can influence the processes and outcomes of vocabulary learning. The book concludes with evidence-based practical guidance to language teachers on how to enhance their students' lexical knowledge.

Brigitta Doczi is Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics at Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest. She has extensive experience in teacher training, while still actively teaching English as a foreign language. She has created a wide variety of teaching materials and co-authored language teaching coursebooks in Hungary. Her main fields of interest are second language vocabulary development as well as task-based teaching and materials design.

Judit Kormos is Professor of Second Language Acquisition at Lancaster University. She has published widely on the topics of individual differences in language learning and the cognitive processes of using and acquiring additional languages. She is also renown for her research and teacher training activities on teaching languages to students with specific learning differences.