Dispersion and frequency: Is there any difference as regards their relation to L2 vocabulary gains?

Abstract

<p>Despite the current importance given to L2 vocabulary acquisition in the last two decades, considerable<br />deficiencies are found in L2 students’ vocabulary size. One of the aspects that may influence vocabulary<br />learning is word frequency. However, scholars warn that frequency may lead to wrong conclusions if the way<br />words are distributed is ignored. That is to say, it seems that not only the number of occurrences (frequency)<br />might affect L2 vocabulary acquisition, but also the way occurrences are distributed (distribution). This<br />relationship between these two factors is represented by the so-called Gries’ index, known as dispersion. The<br />present study aims to find out whether dispersion is more an accurate and reliable predictor for L2 vocabulary<br />learning than frequency only.</p>