Making Sense of Polysemous Words

Abstract

Although it may be true that most vocabulary is acquired through incidental learning, acquiring words through inferring from context is not necessarily the most effective or efficient method in instructional settings. The guessing method has been advocated, but this method can be made more efficient and effective with insights from cognitive linguistics. In this article we argue that abstract, figurative senses of polysemous words are better retained when learners are given core senses as cues, because providing a core sense helps learners develop a “precise elaboration.” Results of a series of vocabulary experiments involving Dutch learners of English show that providing a core sense results in better guessing and long‐term retention of figurative senses of polysemous words than not providing any cues or providing cues involving nonliteral senses.