Abstract
This study explores the possibility of incidental vocabulary learning by English learners with lower proficiency levels. The study used a high-frequency polysemous word as a target word and examined whether learners could acquire the word meanings when they already knew certain meanings (partially known words). In total, 69 undergraduate students translated five sentences including a target word. They then read short passages that included one of the five meanings of a target word. By doing so, we sought to determine whether the participants could acquire the target word meaning through reading. After that, they answered the comprehension questions, followed by another five translation questions as found in the pre-test. The results showed that on the whole, they scored better in the post-test than the pre-test. However, in some cases, we could not observe this tendency, which we instead tried to explain from the perspective of whether or not they could comprehend the content of the reading materials. Overall, the results indicated the possibility that low proficiency learners acquire vocabulary knowledge incidentally.
