Researching Vocabulary

Researching Vocabulary is written for language researchers who want to carry out valid and reliable studies on first and second language vocabulary. The author is a well-known vocabulary researcher and he outlines the dos and don'ts of good lexical research. Practical advice is given on a wide variety of research methodologies, ranging from paper-and-pencil tests of acquisition to the newest psycholinguistic techniques utilizing fMRI scanning. Some of the many topics include initial learning of the form-meaning link, attrition, the role of frequency and the L1 in vocabulary research, receptive and productive knowledge of vocabulary, formulaic language, word associations, vocabulary measurement, vocabulary learning strategies, and computer simulations of vocabulary acquisition. The book includes a Resources section which outlines the lexical tests, corpora, software, internet sites, and other resources available to vocabulary researchers. A list of past and present vocabulary researchers, annotated with their specialisms, is also provided.