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Supported by the Language, Literacies and Education Network (LLEN)

Speaker: Dr. Marco Cancino Avila, Universidad Andres Bello

This presentation will report on a recently published study that assessed the effect of interest in text topics on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) vocabulary learning. Topic interest – defined as the feelings associated with a certain topic and significance attributed to that topic by an individual – has been found to increase the amount of information retained and facilitate emotional engagement with a text. In EFL settings, the construct has been related to reading comprehension, but little attention has been given to its effect on incidental vocabulary learning. The study also addressed the call for research assessing topic interest through EFL classroom reading tasks. The findings revealed that participants significantly learned and retained more vocabulary when reading an interesting text, and that the percentage of learned and retained words that were looked up in the dictionary was significantly higher when learners were interested in the text. The study highlights the relevance of motivational factors in explaining better cognitive performance and quality of learning through texts, and revisits theoretical underpinnings (e.g., the involvement load hypothesis) to explain the results. The discussion underscores the idea that topic interest from text should be regarded as a valuable component that can be manipulated in EFL settings to advance learning, and suggests a practical approach for EFL teachers to achieve this.

Bio: Marco Cancino Avila is an associate professor at Universidad Andres Bello in Santiago, Chile. He graduated from the MSc in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition programme at the University of Oxford, UK, and he was awarded a doctoral degree in Applied Linguistics and Education at the University of Bristol, UK. He has published internationally in several areas addressing applied linguistics, such as vocabulary acquisition, language learning strategies, the use of Google Translate in the classroom, and learners’ perceptions regarding online learning.

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