Incidental Vocabulary Learning Through Listening to Teacher Talk

Abstract This study investigated incidental learning of single‐word items and collocations through listening to teacher talk. Although there are several studies that have investigated incidental vocabulary learning through listening, no intervention studies have explicitly investigated the extent to which listening to teachers in a classroom context might contribute to vocabulary learning. The present study fills this gap. Additionally, the study explored the relationship between vocabulary learning gains and two factors: frequency of occurrence and first language (L1) translation. A meaning‐recall test and a multiple‐choice test were used to evaluate learning gains. The results indicated that (a) listening to teacher talk has potential to contribute to vocabulary learning of both single‐word items and collocations, (b) using L1 translation to explain target word meanings contributed to larger gains on the immediate posttest, (c) frequency of occurrence was not a significant predictor of incidental vocabulary learning.