There is growing evidence that L2 learners pick up new words while viewing video but little is known about the role of individual differences. This study explores incidental learning after viewing a French documentary containing 15 pseudowords and investigates whether learning is moderated by participants’ prior vocabulary knowledge and working memory. Sixty-three higher-intermediate learners of French participated in this study. Prior vocabulary knowledge was measured by means of a French meaning recognition test. Participants also took a forward digit-span (phonological short-term memory), a backward digit-span, and an operation-span task (complex working memory). After viewing the video, four surprise vocabulary tests on form and meaning were administered. Results revealed that learning gains occurred at the level of form and meaning recognition. Vocabulary knowledge was positively related to picking up new words from video. Complex working memory correlated with the recognition tests showing more incidental learning gains for learners with higher complex working memory.

中文翻译：

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通过观看视频进行附带的词汇学习

越来越多的证据表明，L2 学习者在观看视频时会学习新单词，但对个体差异的作用知之甚少。本研究探讨了观看包含 15 个伪词的法语纪录片后的偶然学习，并调查学习是否受到参与者先前的词汇知识和工作记忆的调节。63 名中高级法语学习者参加了这项研究。先前的词汇知识是通过法语意义识别测试来衡量的。参与者还进行了前向数字跨度（语音短期记忆）、后向数字跨度和操作跨度任务（复杂工作记忆）。观看视频后，进行了四次关于形式和意义的意外词汇测试。结果表明，学习收益发生在形式和意义识别的水平。词汇知识与从视频中提取新词呈正相关。复杂工作记忆与识别测试相关，表明具有较高复杂工作记忆的学习者会获得更多的偶然学习收益。