Lexical Availability in L2/L3 EFL Learners: An Exploration of Cognates and Prototypes in the Prompt "The Countryside"

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 or...

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Autores: Jaqueline Mora [0000-0001-7323-4965], Leah Geoghegan [0000-0003-3084-0927]
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2026
País:España
Institución:Universidad de La Rioja (UR)
Repositorio:RIUR. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de La Rioja
OAI Identifier:oai:portal.dialnet.es:doc/695f7203ee6cd0098b6170a2
Acceso en línea:https://investigacion.unirioja.es/documentos/695f7203ee6cd0098b6170a2
Access Level:acceso abierto
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spelling Lexical Availability in L2/L3 EFL Learners: An Exploration of Cognates and Prototypes in the Prompt "The Countryside"Jaqueline Mora [0000-0001-7323-4965]Leah Geoghegan [0000-0003-3084-0927]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 backgroundsClifford Publishing Limited2026info:eu-repo/semantics/articleSubtype: Articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersionapplication/pdfhttps://investigacion.unirioja.es/documentos/695f7203ee6cd0098b6170a2reponame:RIUR. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de La Riojainstname:Universidad de La Rioja (UR)Inglésinfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.46451/IJEI.260105info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/eissn/3078-5677Lexical Availability in L2/L3 EFL Learners: An Exploration of Cognates and Prototypes in the Prompt "The Countryside", 2026info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:portal.dialnet.es:doc/695f7203ee6cd0098b6170a22026-06-14T12:47:17Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Lexical Availability in L2/L3 EFL Learners: An Exploration of Cognates and Prototypes in the Prompt "The Countryside"
title Lexical Availability in L2/L3 EFL Learners: An Exploration of Cognates and Prototypes in the Prompt "The Countryside"
spellingShingle Lexical Availability in L2/L3 EFL Learners: An Exploration of Cognates and Prototypes in the Prompt "The Countryside"
Jaqueline Mora [0000-0001-7323-4965]
title_short Lexical Availability in L2/L3 EFL Learners: An Exploration of Cognates and Prototypes in the Prompt "The Countryside"
title_full Lexical Availability in L2/L3 EFL Learners: An Exploration of Cognates and Prototypes in the Prompt "The Countryside"
title_fullStr Lexical Availability in L2/L3 EFL Learners: An Exploration of Cognates and Prototypes in the Prompt "The Countryside"
title_full_unstemmed Lexical Availability in L2/L3 EFL Learners: An Exploration of Cognates and Prototypes in the Prompt "The Countryside"
title_sort Lexical Availability in L2/L3 EFL Learners: An Exploration of Cognates and Prototypes in the Prompt "The Countryside"
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Jaqueline Mora [0000-0001-7323-4965]
Leah Geoghegan [0000-0003-3084-0927]
author Jaqueline Mora [0000-0001-7323-4965]
author_facet Jaqueline Mora [0000-0001-7323-4965]
Leah Geoghegan [0000-0003-3084-0927]
author_role author
author2 Leah Geoghegan [0000-0003-3084-0927]
author2_role author
description 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
publishDate 2026
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2026
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
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info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
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dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://investigacion.unirioja.es/documentos/695f7203ee6cd0098b6170a2
url https://investigacion.unirioja.es/documentos/695f7203ee6cd0098b6170a2
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.46451/IJEI.260105
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/eissn/3078-5677
Lexical Availability in L2/L3 EFL Learners: An Exploration of Cognates and Prototypes in the Prompt "The Countryside", 2026
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
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dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Clifford Publishing Limited
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Clifford Publishing Limited
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