ABSTRACT
Although the acquisition of grammar has received substantial attention in ISLA research, learning vocabulary is also an essential part of L2 acquisition, and learners need large L2 vocabularies to communicate successfully (Schmitt, 2008). Particularly in the last few decades, researchers have turned their attention to lexical acquisition, and there is now substantial research in this area. With vocabulary acquisition, as with other areas of language, it is important consider the scope of the acquisition process; in other words, what is involved in learning vocabulary. Schmitt (2008) states that ‘the fi rst step in the vocabulary acquisition process is establishing an initial form-meaning link’ (p. 335), and indeed much vocabulary research has focused on this aspect of learning. However, beyond the form-meaning connection, there are other aspects of vocabulary knowledge that have been explored and will be covered in this chapter.
