Zipf (1949) already noted that the linear relationship that he observed between log frequency and log rank is strongest in the middle range: both very high and very low frequency items tend to deviate from the log-log regression line. In this paper the causes for such deviations are investigated and a more detailed statistical model is offered. The subgeometric mean property of frequency counts...

This longitudinal case study tracks an adult second-language (L2) learner’s quality and quantity of encounters with 20 vocabulary items in an English for Academic Purposes course over 3 months. The learner completed pretest and posttest vocabulary knowledge interviews, submitted course materials and notes for analysis, and was observed during class lessons. The results show that frequency of en...

A comparison has been made of productive vocabulary in some normal university English majors’ theses in China and American final-year undergraduates’ papers. The research demonstrates that with family as the measurement unit, Chinese students proportionally use fewer words of the 1 st , 8th to 10th 1000 frequency level words than American students, while in terms of the 2nd to 4th 1000 frequenc...

this case study investigates the effects of robot assisted language learning (rall) on english vocabulary learning and retention of iranian children with high-functioning autism. two groups of three male students (6-10 years old) with high-functioning autism participated in the current study. the humanoid robot nao was used as a teacher assistant to teach english to the rall group. both rall an...

OBJECTIVE This study examined rapid word-learning in 5- to 14-year-old children with normal and impaired hearing. The effects of age and receptive vocabulary were examined as well as those of high-frequency amplification. Novel words were low-pass filtered at 4 kHz (typical of current amplification devices) and at 9 kHz. It was hypothesized that (1) the children with normal hearing would learn ...

Learning the English past tense is characterized by a U-shaped learning function for the irregular verbs. Existing cognitive models rely on a sudden increases in vocabulary, a high token-frequency of regular verbs, and convoluted schemes of feedback in order to model this phenomenon. All these assumptions are at odds with empirical data. In this paper a hybrid ACT-R model is presented that show...