ABSTRACT
This study examines the effect of unfamiliar phonological structures on lexical acquisition by Japanese students of English as a Second Language (ESL). Aural and written tests of the definitions of common English words were given to the ESL students and to a control group of native English speakers. The test words contained sound patterns similar to Japanese words (easy) or different from them (hard). This classification was confirmed by native Japanese- and English-speaking judges. The ESL students missed the definitions of more hard than easy words on both aural and written tests. This difference was significantly smaller for the control group. These results support the conclusion that ESL vocabulary acquisition is affected by the phonological rules of the first language.
