The role of lexical knowledge in L2 listening comprehension
Marie-Pierre Jouannaud
12h00-14h00, MR 107, Université Paris 8
22 March 2022

The presentation will begin by reviewing different strands of research pointing to the central role of the lexicon in language processing and performance. Psycholinguistic models of language processing place lexical knowledge at the center of the listening process, between sound recognition on the one hand, and grammatical integration of meaning on the other, as well as at the intersection of lower-level (formal) and higher-level (meaning-based) processes. Many second language acquisition studies have also reported high correlations between vocabulary size and receptive skills in L2 speakers. Against this backdrop, I will present my own research in instructed second language acquisition of English as a foreign language. The presentation will describe the development of an aural vocabulary recognition test, the exploration of the role of phraseological knowledge (over and above knowledge of isolated words) in listening comprehension, and an analysis of the changing role of vocabulary items in the official syllabus for foreign languages published by the French ministry of education.