cognitive load hypothesis

  The present study aimed to investigate if learning English as an L2 has an effect on word recall and lexical activation among Iranian EFL learners. For this purpose, a sample of 45 male and female EFL learners was selected and they were classified into two experimental and one control group, 15 each. Word recall and oral time-limited tests were conducted within the three groups; they had to listen to 16 non-cognate Farsi words, each by 2 seconds, remember and recall them to resay. For lexical activation, an experiment was carried out by asking them to memorize and retell words shown to them through a computer screen. Outcomes of the word recall test revealed that the mean score of participants with low exposure to English was higher than lower and upper intermediate. Results exhibited that the participants in the first group surpassed those in the experimental group in word recall test. In the lexical activation test, the control group who were participants with low exposure to English performed better than the participants in the other two groups. Results revealed no meaningful difference among the mean scores of the three categories in lexical activation test, though. The results of the present study have some implications for language teachers, material developers and students. In fact, language teachers can provide a link between learners’ vocabulary knowledge of two languages, and this way help their students to activate their L2 vocabulary knowledge more easily and with less cognitive load.