Vocabulary Development in Spanish L3 during a School Year

The importance of a rich vocabulary for the ability to write in a foreign language is well-known. According to the writing-to-learn perspective of second language acquisition theory and Swain’s output hypothesis, the act of writing in a second language may also contribute to the learning of the target language, including the development of a richer and more varied vocabulary.

Writing in Swedish schools implies now to great extent the use of computers and online tools, albeit the effects of such use on learning outcomes are not thoroughly researched. In an ongoing study, longitudinal effects of Google Translate use on learning outcomes among upper secondary school pupils studying Spanish as a foreign language are being observed. Two groups of Swedish upper secondary school pupils (age 17-18, N=31) are followed during one academic year as they write six essays on topics related to the national curriculum for foreign languages. Half of the pupils use Google Translate as a translation tool when writing, the other half printed dictionaries. Writing strategies are observed with screen recordings. Learning outcomes on vocabulary and syntactic accuracy are measured comparing pre- and post-tests at the beginning and at the end of the school year.

The presentation focusses on the participating pupils' development of Spanish vocabulary in general and on differences between pupils using Google Translate and pupils using printed dictionaries in particular. The results are correlated to the pupils' proficiency levels in Spanish. Implications for the teaching of foreign languages in a digitalised school environment will also be discussed.