Research area
Concept-based instruction and L2 vocabulary development
Focus
This strand, the focus of Yuwei Xia's dissertation, asks what changes when learners come to know words through a scientific concept of word knowledge rather than through memorized definitions. Drawing on Vygotskian sociocultural theory and concept-based language instruction, it organizes word knowledge around Nation's three dimensions of form, meaning, and use, presents that concept to learners through a schematic orientation (SCOBA), and traces how learners move toward systematic, self-regulated vocabulary learning.
Her doctoral research at Penn State is advised by Dr. Xiaofei Lu and Dr. Matthew Poehner.
Concept-based vocabulary notebooks
In the classroom studies behind the dissertation, Chinese EFL learners kept concept-based vocabulary notebooks that guided them through form, meaning, and use for each word, with authentic corpus examples as evidence. Microgenetic analysis of their notebooks, verbalizations, and revisions documents the development of a scientific concept of word knowledge, and the emotional dimension of coming to know a word.
- Xia, Y. (2027). From memorizing to knowing: A concept-based tool for developing vocabulary depth and learner agency. Paper accepted for presentation at the AAAL Conference, Atlanta.
- Qin, Y., & Xia, Y. (2027). Perezhivanie in L2 vocabulary learning: The emotion–cognition unity of coming to know a word. Paper accepted for presentation at the AAAL Conference, Atlanta.
- Xia, Y. (2026). Concept-based vocabulary notebooks: Developing scientific concepts of vocabulary knowledge among Chinese EFL learners. Paper presented at the AAAL Conference, Chicago.
- Xia, Y. (2025). Dynamic assessment and concept-based instruction of vocabulary knowledge. Poster presented at the AAAL Conference.
Word360
Word360 turns the same concept into a working learning environment. Learners first articulate what they already know about a word, then work through form, meaning, and use with schematic orientation and corpus examples, receiving graduated support as they use the word in sentences of their own. The system records each learner's path so that concept development and engagement with mediation can be studied over time. Two studies in progress give the same framework a computational form: a form–meaning–use lexical network and a learner-adaptive selector of corpus examples.
Vocabulary assessment and mediated tool use
Earlier work in this strand examined how vocabulary knowledge can be assessed as an ability still in development, and how learners' use of digital reference tools can be mediated.
- Xia, Y., Luo, Y., & Lu, X. (2024). Dynamic assessment of vocabulary: A systematic literature review. Language Teaching Research Quarterly, 46, 297–324. https://doi.org/10.32038/ltrq.2024.46.19
- Xia, Y. (2024). Dynamic assessment of Chinese English language learners' vocabulary knowledge. Poster presented at the AAAL Conference, Houston.
- Xia, Y., & Kim, M. (2024). Mediating the use of digital reference tools for the development of vocabulary knowledge. Paper presented at the CALICO Conference, Pittsburgh.
Related
Dynamic assessment research, the companion strand in which responsiveness to mediation is treated as evidence of developing ability