Word frequency and neighborhood density effects on L2 Spanish vocabulary development

by Solon, Megan Elizabeth.

WORD FREQUENCY AND NEIGHBORHOOD DENSITY EFFECTS ON L2 SPANISH VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT by Megan E. Solon This study reports on two experiments conducted to determine the effects of the lexical characteristics of word frequency and neighborhood density on the acquisition of Spanish nouns and verbs by native English speakers. Controlling word length and manipulating frequency of occurrence, neighborhood density, and parts of speech, a visual lexical decision task and a naming task were given to 44 second- and thirdsemester university-level learners of Spanish to examine the role of these characteristics on perception and production of L2 Spanish vocabulary. The results of this study indicate that all three characteristics have significant effects for both levels of students, but that, surprisingly, there was no significant difference in results between students from the two consecutive levels of study. This paper also discusses the implications of these findings, presents the limitations of the present study and explores directions for future research.