NVESTIGATING LEXICAL ACQUISITION PATTERNS: CONTEXT AND COGNITION

(b) The variability of the contexts in which multiple occurrences of the unknown word
appears;

(c ) The density of the unknown words.

(d) The importance of the unknown word to understanding the context in which it is
embedded;

(e) The perceived helpfulness of surrounding text in understanding the meaning of the
unknown word;

(f) The concreteness of the unknown word and the surrounding context;

(g) the usefulness of prior knowledge to cue utilization.

Multiple occurrences of an unfamiliar word, particularly in variable contexts increase the
number and kinds of meaning cues available to the child. They can also heighten
awareness of the word and stimulate an attempt to actively recall and integrate information
from previous contexts. Furthermore, different types of contexts are likely to supply
different types of information about the unknown word.

According to Stemberg and Powell (1983) variability of contexts increases the probability
that someone will get a full picture of the meaning of a given word. In contrast, mere
repetition of a given unknown word in essentially the same context as that in which it
previously appeared is unlikely to be as helpful as a variable context repetition. That
probably happens because few, or no really new cues are provided regarding the word's
meaning.

Variability can also present a problem in some situations and for some individuals. If the
information is presented in a way that makes it difficult to integrate across appearances
of the word or if a given individual has difficulties in making such integrations, then the
variable repetitions may actually confuse rather than clarify the word’s meaning. In some
situations and for some individuals, variable contexts may cause a stimulus overload to
occur, resulting in reduced rather than increased understanding. For example, Wemer and
Kaplan (1952), investigated to what extent children (aged 8;6-13;6) could grasp the
meaning of an artificial word appearing in different sentences which progressively
provided additional information about the nonsense word. They found that the younger
children could not complete the task (provision of a definition) successfully.

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