Download Full PDF

Jaqueline Mora

Leah Geoghegan

Universidad de La Rioja, Spain

 

Abstract

Emerging evidence highlights the cognitive and linguistic advantages of multilingualism, particularly in terms of accessing and organizing vocabulary across languages. While heritage (L3) and non-heritage (L2) speakers often show similar lexical output, qualitative differences, such as in lexical organization and cognate use, suggest greater variation influenced by multilingual experience. Prototype research has further illuminated how multilinguals retrieve central or typical lexical items, offering insight into how conceptual categories are structured across languages. Building on this perspective, the present preliminary study introduces the radial category ‘Countryside’ to examine how multilingual learners engage with cognitively flexible category structures beyond classical definitions. The objectives are twofold: (i) to determine whether there are quantitative differences between the groups regarding the number of words produced, and (ii) to explore qualitative differences between the groups, analysing in particular the type/token ratios and the presence of cognates and prototypes in the words retrieved by heritage and non-heritage English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. Results point to a distinct quantitative advantage for L2 learners in relation to their language proficiency, productive vocabulary, and performance in the lexical availability prompt ‘Countryside’. By comparison, qualitative findings indicate that lexical performance varies by prompt type and reveal evidence of word prototypicality in the participants’ responses. This study emphasizes the importance of using diverse lexical prompts to foster vocabulary development in both heritage and non-heritage learners. Teachers should also consider learners’ multilingual experiences by emphasizing cognate recognition and prototypical vocabulary to improve lexical access and organization across language backgrounds.

 

Keywords

L2/L3 EFL learners, lexical availability, cognates, prototypes, vocabulary learning