British

British Journal
Journal ofof Educational
Educational Technology
Technology(2015) Vol 48 No 1 2017 43–56
doi:10.1111/bjet.12329
doi:10.1111/bjet.12329

Enhancing L2 vocabulary acquisition through implicit reading

support cues in e-books

Yeu-Ting Liu and Aubrey Neil Leveridge

Yeu-Ting Liu is an associate professor in the Department of English at National Taiwan Normal University. His
current research projects focus on bilingual lexical processing, cognitive development in advanced second language
(L2) learners and cognitive aspects of computer-assisted L2 learning. Aubrey Neil Leveridge is a lecturer at Vantage
College, University of British Columbia. His current research projects focus on computer-assisted language learning.
Address for correspondence: Dr. Yeu-Ting Liu, Associate Professor, Department of English, National Taiwan Normal
University, No. 162, Section 1, HePing E. Road, Da’an District, Taipei 10610, Taiwan. Email: yeutingliu@
ntnu.edu.tw

Abstract
Various explicit reading support cues, such as gloss, QR codes and hypertext annotation,
have been embedded in e-books designed specifically for fostering various aspects of
language development. However, explicit visual cues are not always reliably perceived as
salient or effective by language learners. The current study explored the efficacy of
implicit reading support cues—cues that are imperceptible to second-language (L2)
readers during their L2 digital reading—for promoting L2 vocabulary acquisition.
Results suggest that subliminal formal priming—being one type of implicit reading
support cues—helped L2 readers significantly improve their form-meaning vocabulary
knowledge through e-book reading. In particular, subliminal formal priming was more
effective when the digital content, including the text and relevant illustration, was pre-
sented to L2 readers simultaneously, rather than incrementally. The results have impor-
tant implications vis-à-vis the need for the inclusion of implicit reading cues, and the
optimal digital input presentation mode for enhancing L2 vocabulary gains.

Introduction
E-books often appear in two major forms: (1) video-based e-books (de Jong & Verhallen, 2013;
Smeets & Bus, 2012; Unsworth, 2013; Verhallen, Bus & de Jong, 2006); and (2) static visual-
based e-books, which readily allow for either simultaneous or sequential presentation of digital
content (Verhallen & Bus, 2010). The latter, albeit without video-based content, still has the
potential to offer an engaging and stimulating reading environment that effectively enhances
reading and vocabulary learning outcomes (Lin, 2014).
To facilitate readers’ language development, various explicit reading support cues (eg, glosses,
pictographs, color coding, hypertext and QR codes) have been employed in static visual-based
e-books to enhance the saliency and comprehensibility of the to-be-learned novel language
forms. Nevertheless, these explicit reading support cues may not always facilitate language devel-
opment possibly due to a mismatch between how such cues are presented in e-books and how the
cues are actually processed by readers (AbuSeileek, 2008, 2011; Liu, 2015). In this vein,
AbuSeileek (2008) notes that “how the information is displayed is important . . . because it affects
the cognitive aspects of text processing” (p. 262). AbuSeileek further argues that when input
display or presentation methods are not considered, explicit reading support cues may not
be attended by readers or language learners because of limited attentional resources and their
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Practitioner Notes
What is already known about this topic
• A variety of reading support cues (such as glosses, pictographs, hypertext) has been
utilized to assist second language learners’ vocabulary acquisition.
• However, these support cues do not always and consistently benefit L2 learners’ notic-
ing and acquisition of L2 vocabulary.
• Recent studies on multimedia reading support cues have urged researchers to place
the focus on how such cues should be provided, in addition to the examination of what
cue(s) need(s) to be included.
What this paper adds
• Information regarding how digital content is processed by readers helps maximize the
efficacy of reading support cues.
• While the efficacy of explicit reading support cues—cues that require conscious
processing—may be subject to inter-learner differences, implicit support cues—cues
that are imperceptible to learners—may be a reliable technique readily available
on the e-book platform to assist L2 vocabulary learning for L2 learners of different
profiles.
• Among various implicit reading support cues, subliminal formal priming—which is
originally a psycholinguistic phenomenon in reading—now proves to be an effective
pedagogical tool promoting language acquisition.
Implications for practice and/or policy
• Investigation of any multimedia tools for the purpose of promoting language acquisi-
tion should consider both what and how digital content is processed by learners.
• Subliminal formal priming may be pedagogically employed in the e-book content
as an attention orientation device enhancing readers’ memory traces of novel L2
vocabulary.
• More implicit visual and/or auditory reading cues should be explored to make e-books
a more powerful literacy tool.

effect becomes inconsequential (VanPatten, 2008). Consequently, readers may not perceive
explicit cues as salient or helpful, thus forfeiting any positive language learning outcomes
(Rockinson-Szapkiw, Courduff, Carter & Bennett, 2013).
However, digital platforms can actually enhance the saliency of to-be-learned novel language
forms through supports or techniques not imperceptible to readers (ie, implicit reading support
cues), such as subliminal priming techniques (see the Methodology section for more details). Such
reading support cues could potentially create salience of novel language forms without depleting
learners’ attentional resources. Nevertheless, empirical investigation regarding implicit reading
support cues is still lacking. Such investigations would provide empirical validation of implicit
reading support cues for e-book content leading to better language acquisition outcomes. To this
end, the study presented in this paper attempts to answer the following two interlocking ques-
tions:
1 Do e-books with implicit reading support cues facilitate acquisition of novel vocabulary?
2 Does the mode of digital input presentation (sequential vs. simultaneous) affect the efficacy of
implicit reading support cues?
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Literature review
Existing research on explicit reading support cues
A plethora of explicit reading support cues, such as QR codes, static pictures, hypertext annota-
tions, color coding and annotations, have been employed in static visual-based e-book content to
facilitate various aspects of language development (eg, Bowles, 2004; Chen, Teng, Lee & Kinshuk,
2011; Chen & Yen, 2013; Erçetin, 2010; Rockinson-Szapkiw et al, 2013). Empirical studies have
shown that such support cues do not always turn static visual-based e-books into more effective
literacy development tools when compared with printed books (eg, Bowles, 2004; c.f., Taylor,
2011). In some cases, visual-based e-books without explicit support cues have been found to be
even more effective than those with explicit cues (Al-Seghayer, 2001).
Al-Seghayer (2001), for instance, investigated the relative contributions of several explicit
reading support cues (eg, text plus video annotation) in aiding second-language (L2) vocabulary
acquisition. Results indicated that L2 learners assigned to the “text and video annotations”
condition had greater vocabulary gains than those assigned to the “text and still pictographic
cues.” However, the benefit of explicit reading support cues was not unequivocal; for instance,
results also showed that the text-only condition—the condition deprived of any (explicit) reading
support cues—led to the optimal L2 vocabulary learning outcomes. From a language develop-
ment perspective, the effect of explicit reading support cues becomes negligible.
Focusing on the same L2 domain (vocabulary), Bowles (2004) investigated the effects of explicit
reading support cues on digital and traditional paperbound mediums. In particular, Bowles was
interested in exploring which type of explicit reading support cues most effectively induced
learners to attend to new words, in turn leading to optimal vocabulary gains. To this end, a group
of 50 first-year Spanish L2 learners read digital texts under one of the following three conditions:
(1) a traditional (textual gloss) group; (2) a digital (gloss) group; and (3) a null support (control)
group. The results showed that the learners assigned to the two experimental conditions both
showed better vocabulary gains, as compared with their counterparts assigned to the null support
condition. However, no significant difference was found between the digital and the traditional
medium conditions, suggesting that explicit (or, in Bowes’ wording, “attention-drawing”) com-
puterized reading support cues (glosses) do not always hold an absolute advantage in leveraging
vocabulary gains. In light of this finding, Bowles urged instructors and researchers to gain
further insights into the role of (“computerized”) attention on language development in order to
take full advantage of digital reading support cues.

Problems of explicit reading support flood in e-books for language learners

As noted above, computerized explicit reading support cues do not always effectively leverage the
value or potency of e-books, as compared with printed books. Despite this research finding,
alternatives to (computerized) explicit reading support cues have not been systematically
exploited and researched as we embrace the possibilities of digital reading supports. In fact,
current e-book development continues to draw heavily on explicit reading support cues, and in
this vein, developers of e-books have tended to champion a “more is more” approach to include as
many explicit reading support cues as possible in digital content. A case in point is Al Gore’s
sequel to “An Inconvenient Truth,” an e-book entitled “Our Choice.” The UI designer of Our Choice
proclaims that this particular e-book has set the benchmark for the “next generation digital book”
because it readily provides readers with a variety of multiple explicit reading support cues, such
as glosses, illustrations, infographics, interactive maps and many other visual features (see Matas,
2011).
Although flooding readers with multiple explicit reading support cues may enhance the under-
standing and the learning outcomes of the digital content in general science, a flood of explicit
reading support cues may not necessarily facilitate the reading of digital content designed to
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promote language acquisition. Specifically, in the case of digital reading in general science, readers
only (or mainly) have to deal with meaning (of texts); however, when reading digital content
designed for language development, readers must simultaneously process not only meaning of texts
but also novel forms of language. In this regard, readers’ variable capacity to tackle attentional
resources (to simultaneously process meaning and form) is always an issue that requires consid-
eration in the development of reading support cues for optimal language learning outcomes.
As readers tend to vary in regard to both proficiency profiles and attentional allocation efficiency,
no explicit reading support cues can provide equally effective assistance to all readers (see
Yanguas, 2009); in fact, explicit reading support cues may add to cognitive load. In this regard,
high-proficiency readers, who are usually more efficient in allocating attentional resources, may
be more likely to benefit from (and attend to) explicit reading support cues than their lower-
proficiency counterparts. That is, the efficacy of explicit reading support cues may be subject to
inter-reader differences because such cues may not reliably facilitate language acquisition for
readers with different linguistic profiles (cf., Jacobs, Dufon & Hong, 1994). Accordingly, the
“more-the-better” view—more consumption of readers’ attentional resources leads to better
language development—is not necessarily valid when it comes to designing e-books for the
purpose of enhancing language development; flooding language learners with different linguistic
profiles with explicit reading support cues may not lead to optimal language learning outcomes.

A possible solution: implicit reading support cues

Based on the literature discussed above, it could be argued that the most effective reading support
cues may be those that consume minimal cognitive resources. Implicit reading support cues, due
to their very nature of implicitness, do not incur additional cognitive processing load and hence
may more readily facilitate vocabulary acquisition for readers with different proficiency in the L2.
E-books provide a platform that allows for the inclusion of implicit reading support cues such as
subliminal formal priming.
Formal priming is a memory effect in which a momentary exposure to a priming stimulus—a
formal correlate of the latter to-be-recognized/learned target word—influences the response or
recognition of the target word. For example, when reading a sentence that includes the target
word raze on a computer screen, readers usually can recognize the target word faster and/or
better remember the target word when it is briefly preceded by a formally similar prime word, rage.
The brief presentation of the formally similar prime word prior to the display of the target word
is believed to preactivate the information required to recognize the target word, thereby shorten-
ing the time required to identify the target word. This preactivation (of the information required
to recognize the target word) can also prolong and heighten the memory traces of the target word
in working memory, thus potentially facilitating retention. If the formally similar prime word is
presented on the computer screen for more than 100 ms, readers generally have sufficient time to
process and recognize the visual form of the formal prime word. In a case like this, a conscious
facilitative formal priming effect on the readers’ recognition of the target word will result (see
Jacobs & Sack, 2012). However, formal priming may also occur when readers are not conscious of
seeing the priming stimulus—due to a very short presentation of the formal prime—which
enhances the (pre)activation of relevant formal information about the target word without
depleting readers’ attentional resources. The above subliminal formal priming effect has long
been established in the field of psycholinguistics, but has yet to be employed for pedagogical
purposes in educational technology and language acquisition studies.

Optimal digital input presentation mode for language development

In an attempt to establish the efficacy of implicit reading support cues, the current study also
intends to shed light on whether the efficacy of such cues would be modulated by their presentation
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modes or conditions. In regard to this issue, a number of studies have shown that how a given digital
element is presented/placed has an important impact on whether the element would be attended
and processed by the readers (AbuSeileek, 2008, 2011; Liu, 2015; VanPatten, 2008). For
instance, AbuSeileek (2011) observed that glosses led to the most desirable comprehension and
vocabulary learning outcomes when placed after the glossed words, as compared with those
presented in the margin or at the bottom of a digital page. In other words, digital (input) presen-
tation modes or conditions determines readers’ level of achievement in text comprehension and
vocabulary acquisition.
As far as input presentation modes are concerned, digital content, generally speaking, can be
flexibly displayed, either simultaneously (ie, all at once) or sequentially (ie, information of a digital
page being incrementally presented to readers). This flexibility in digital input presentation mode
is of interest, particularly for instructional e-books, as the mode of input presentation should
match the type of input processing strategy preferred by the language learner; in this case,
desirable language development outcomes are more likely (VanPatten, 2008). In this light, Liu
(2015) investigated whether different input presentation modes altered the relative weight of
various explicit reading support cues drawn on for comprehending and the retention of meaning
information. This research revealed that the efficacy of explicit reading support cues was more
pronounced and effective when the digital content and the related comprehension supports were
presented simultaneously, rather than sequentially; under the simultaneous input presentation
mode, readers benefited more from the explicit reading support cues, having a better understand-
ing and retention of the read digital content. It is important to note that this finding, in regard to
the optimal (simultaneous) digital input presentation mode for reading support cues, is based on
empirical evidence obtained from e-books designed to promote reading comprehension. Whether
this finding holds true for e-books designed to enhance language acquisition and whether it is
pertinent to implicit reading support cues have yet to be established.
To fill the gap in relevant research, the study described in this paper intends to establish the
efficacy of an implicit reading support cue for enhancing vocabulary acquisition in e-books and
whether its efficacy is modulated by the input presentation mode by which digital content is
presented to readers.

The study
Participants
The original pool of participants consisted of 150 university students at a public university in
northern Taiwan. They had all studied English as a foreign language for at least 10 years and were
able to use and understand academic English vocabulary required at the university level; their
English proficiency level ranged from intermediate to high-intermediate, as determined by their
performance in major English proficiency tests, such as TOEFL iBT and IELTS. Prospective par-
ticipants were then asked to participate in a vocabulary pretest (specified in more detail in the
instruments section below); those who had any prior knowledge of the target words were elimi-
nated from the study. A final pool of 72 participants took part in the study. These 72 participants
were randomly assigned to two priming groups: subliminal formal priming (n = 36) and
unprimed (n = 36). The 72 participants—irrespective of their priming group assignment—had to
read an e-book under two input presentation modes—sequential versus simultaneous. Figure 1
illustrates the design of this study.

Instruments
Four instruments were employed in the current study:
1 A vocabulary pretest. This pretest, which took the form of a word list, evaluated participants’
form-meaning knowledge of the target (novel) language vocabulary prior to the study. Pro-
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Figure 1: Reading conditions in this study

spective participants were asked to mark words they knew (rather than words they did not
know) from a word list consisting of 26 high-frequency words and 14 target words.
2 A self-paced e-book reading task. An e-book text was presented to the participants using a
self-paced computer reading platform (see Wei & Moyer, 2009 for more detail), programmed
using Superlab. In this task, the participants tapped on a designated display area of a computer
(right bottom corner) to control the viewing of the digital content. Participants could self-pace
their tapping/reading speed; their tapping intervals were recorded by the reading program for
inferences about the impact of implicit reading support cue (ie, subliminal formal priming) on
their reading behaviors.
3 A fill-in-the-blank task. This task was designed to assess the efficacy of the subliminal
formal priming for enhancing L2 vocabulary acquisition. The task was constructed using the
paraphrased sentences with wording different from the e-book text; the participants were
required to fill in the spelling of the missing words, all of which were vocabulary items
unknown to the participants prior to reading the e-book, as indicated by the vocabulary
pretest. Successful performance in this task required productive form-meaning knowledge of
the target words.
4 Two exit questions. The questions were aimed at illuminating information that the participants
drew upon while reading an e-book. The two exit questions are: (1) “How did you understand
the unknown words while reading e-book?” and (2) “What information were you drawn to
when reading the e-book?” The qualitative analysis of the two exit questions provided supple-
mentary information to substantiate the major findings from the quantitative data collected
from the fill-in-the-blank task.

Materials
The main experimental tool employed in this study was a 14-page (English) e-book text that
addresses world culture and was written using the SAT vocabulary. The selected target vocabu-
lary consisted of 14 English words. These 14 target words were tested using the vocabulary
pretest, ensuring that all of the participants had no prior knowledge of the 14 target words. The
14 target words all had identical syllable number (ie, four syllables) and had commensurate
frequency counts based on American National Corpus (ie, around 30–50 occurrences per 2.2
million tokens); these target words, thus, could be regarded as words of comparable difficulty,
based on Chujo, Utiyama and Nishigaki (2007). The numbers of the target words were chosen
such that each digital page contained only a target word within the text. Each digital page
contained an illustration, which was relevant to the content of the page.
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Design
Two independent variables, priming (subliminal formal priming vs. unprimed) and input presen-
tation mode (SM vs. SQ), were manipulated in the e-book reading task. The manipulations are
elaborated in more detail below.
Priming
Subliminal formal priming. Under the subliminal formal priming condition, the presentation of
each novel target word (eg, pasta) was briefly preceded by a formally similar prime word (eg, paste).
The prime word, which showed up at the screen area where the target word ought to be seen, only
lasted on the screen for 100 ms and then quickly disappeared. The display of the prime word
(100 ms) was so swift that the participants might not even have sufficient time to consciously
decode or read the prime word before seeing the target word. The transient presentation of the
prime word aims to preactivate formal information necessary for recognizing the target word
without invoking the participants to consciously process the presented prime word (see Jacobs &
Sack, 2012).
Unprimed. Under the unprimed condition, presentation of each novel target word was also swiftly
preceded by a primed word (also with 100 ms display time), but this prime word was not related
to the target word both in terms of form and meaning; as such, this unrelated prime word would
not lead to any formal priming effect. The display time of the unrelated prime word was also set
for 100 ms. This was true for both the SM and SQ group participants who were assigned to the
unprimed condition.
The participants’ vocabulary learning—as inferred from their successful recall of the correct
spelling of the unknown target words in the aforementioned fill-in-the-blank task—under the
subliminal formal priming condition was compared with the control (unprimed) condition (7 of
the 14 target words were presented under the subliminal priming condition and 7 under the
unprimed condition). If the subliminal formal priming technique indeed effectively helps enhance
the participants’ learning of novel vocabulary, they would be better able to remember the formal
features of the novel target words presented under the subliminal formal priming condition, and
in turn perform better on the fill-in-the-blank task.
Input presentation mode
Sequential input presentation (SQ). Under this mode, the content of each digital page, including the
illustration and the text, was serially presented to the participants through several consecutive
self-paced tapping. Specifically, when reading the information on each digital page, the partici-
pants’ initial tapping (on a designated screen area) would first bring up the illustration corre-
sponding to the text of a given digital page. Next, after viewing the illustration, subsequent
tappings serially brought up and display the text, word by word and from left to right, on the
screen; the participants repeated this tapping action until all the words of a digital page were
sequentially shown and viewed on the screen (see Figure 2 for schematic visual illustration).
It is important to note in the aforementioned (SQ-mode) reading routine that the participants’
tapping to request for the target word (eg, pasta) would first automatically bring up and show the
prime word (eg, paste) at the screen area where the target word was supposed to be seen; but the
prime word—which was only briefly flashed for 100 ms on the screen—immediately disappeared,
and was automatically replaced by the target word. Figure 2 illustrates the reading events of a
digital page under the SQ-mode condition.
Viewing the illustration prior to reading the e-book text prepared the SQ-mode participants with
the meaning content of the text on a given page before they had a chance to analyze any of the
text’s formal information, including the formal information of the target vocabulary. This, along
with sequential display of the words on each page, oriented the SQ-mode participants to perform
sequential processing of the digital content.
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Figure 2: Temporal events associated with sentence reading where the content of a digital page is incrementally
presented (SQ-mode)

Figure 3: Temporal events associated with sentence reading where the content of a digital page is simultaneously
presented (SM-mode)

Simultaneous input presentation (SM). Under this mode, the first tapping initially brought up the
prime word at the screen area where the target word was supposed to be seen. Then, the prime
word—which was also transiently shown for 100 ms—was immediately and automatically
replaced by all the remaining content of the same digital page, including the illustration and the
text, without any tapping. If the participants attempted to process the text and formal informa-
tion of a novel word, this had to be done simultaneously while trying to understand the text and
to process the illustration. This design encouraged the participants to perform simultaneous
processing of the digital content. Figure 3 schematizes the reading events of a digital page under
the SM-mode condition.

Procedure
Four weeks prior to this study, a vocabulary pretest was administered to the prospective partici-
pants; only those who had zero knowledge of the target vocabulary were invited to participate in
the e-book reading session.
At the onset of the study, the participants were given a brief orientation about the e-book reading
task. Next, the self-paced e-book reading task, which required approximately 4 minutes to com-
plete, was individually administered to each participant on a computer screen. The time1 allotted
for the reading of each digital page (15 seconds) and the display time of the implicit priming word
seeded on each digital page (100 ms) were identical for both the participants assigned to the SQ
and SM modes.

1
This reading time was determined based on a pilot test administered to a group of learners similar to the
participants in the current study
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A week after the e-book reading session, a fill-in-the-blank test was administered to each partici-
pant. Finally, immediately following the fill-in-the-blank task, the participants were asked to
answer two exit questions to obtain further insight into participants’ digital reading experience.
Data analysis
The participants’ performance data on the fill-in-the-blank test were analyzed using a two-way
ANOVA. Before ANOVA test was conducted, tests of normality and tests of homogeneity (of
variance or homoskedasticity) were performed.
Specifically, the Shapiro–Wilk test was conducted to examine the normality of data obtained from
the SM- and SQ-mode conditions; the Shapiro–Wilk value of the SM mode data was .92 (p > .05);
the Shapiro–Wilk value of the SQ mode data was .94 (p > .05). The above Shapiro–Wilk test
results collectively indicated that the SM- and SQ-mode conditions were sampled from the stand-
ard normal distribution. Next, the Levene test was performed to examine the homogeneity of the
data; the test yielded an F value of 2.87 (p > .05), which confirmed that the population variances
were equal.
In light of the aforementioned test results, ANOVA was employed to detect whether the
participants’ vocabulary learning—which was inferred from their performance data on the fill-
in-the-blank test (reported below)—was attributed to a particular e-book reading condition.
Additionally, the tapping information recorded by the computer was also analyzed using t-tests to
determine if the subliminal formal priming effect, which usually manifests in terms of shorter
processing time of the target words, indeed occurred.
Results
Fill-in-the-blank task
For this task, the participants were given one point for each correctly recalled target word and
0.50 point (partial credit) for producing a formally similar word. The highest possible score for
this task was 14. Their responses to this task were rated by two raters. The average interrater
reliability was 98%. In cases where the two raters’ judgments did not converge, the differences
were resolved through discussion.
ANOVA results confirmed that input presentation mode (SM vs. SQ) had a significant impact on
the fill-in-the-blank task performance (F = 4.42, df = 1, p < .05, ‫غ‬2 = .06); the mean score of the
SM mode was significantly higher than that of the SQ mode (4.89 vs. 4.77 respectively). The
ANOVA results are presented in Table 1, while Table 2 presents the means and standard devia-
tions for the results of the fill-in-the-blank task.
In addition to the impact of input presentation mode (IP mode), as shown in Table 1, priming also
had a facilitative influence, albeit marginal, on the participants’ vocabulary learning as inferred
from their performance on the fill-in-the-blank test (F = 3.13, df = 1, p = .08, ‫غ‬2 = .04). Further-
more, there was a significant interaction between IP mode and priming condition (F = 4.02,
df = 1, p < .05, ‫غ‬2 = .05). This information suggests that priming had a differential impact on the

Table 1: ANOVA summary table for the fill-in-the-blank scores

Source SS df MS F p ES (‫غ‬2)

Priming 0.39 1 0.39 3.13 .081 0.04

Input presentation mode (IP mode) 0.50 1 0.50 4.42 .039* 0.06
Priming × IP mode 0.50 1 0.50 4.02 .049* 0.05

Note: Power = .90.

*p < .05.
ES, effect size.
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Table 2: Summary of the participants’ performance on the fill-in-the-blank task

Subliminal formal priming Unprimed Overall

Cohen’s
n Mean SD n Mean SD n Mean SD t d value

SM mode 18 5.0 0.31 18 4.78 0.39 36 4.89 0.254 2.1* 0.94

SQ mode 18 4.76 0.41 18 4.76 0.45 36 4.76 0.43 1.77 0.05
Subtotal 36 4.88 0.35 36 4.78 0.43 36 4.83 0.36 2.1* 0.28

Note: *p < .05.

Table 3: Comparison of the participants’ processing times (ms) of the novel L2 words under the subliminal
versus control priming conditions

Subliminal formal priming

(milliseconds) Unprimed (ms) Overall
Cohen’s
n Mean SD n Mean SD n Mean SD t d value

SM mode 18 856 460 18 2316 1226 36 1586 1032 −14.69** −1.54

SQ mode 18 997 478 18 2184 835 36 1591 911 −16.55** −1.75
Subtotal 36 926 465 36 2250 985 36 1557 985 −25.55** −1.76

Note: **p < .01.

participants’ performance under the SM and SQ modes. In light of this interaction, t-tests were
run to detect if subliminal formal priming had a differential impact on SM and SQ modes. The
t-tests indicated that the SM-mode participants’ mean scores were significantly higher under the
subliminal formal priming condition (5.00) as compared with the unprimed condition (4.76)
(t = 2.1, p < .05; Cohen’s d = .94). In contrast, the SQ-mode participants’ mean scores under the
subliminal and unprimed conditions were not significantly different. This result collectively sug-
gested that the subliminal formal priming effect was mainly attributed to the SM mode but not to
the SQ mode.
To further establish that subliminal formal priming indeed occurred, the participants’ processing
times for each target word between the subliminal formal priming and unprimed conditions were
compared. The resulting processing times for each target word under the subliminal formal
priming condition were considerably shorter than those under the control condition. This pattern
was observed both under the SM- and SQ-mode conditions; the descriptive data are presented in
Table 3. Specifically, the participants, irrespective of their IP mode assignments (SM and SQ),
exhibited faster response times under the subliminal formal priming condition as compared
with the unprimed condition, ie, 926 versus 2250 ms (t = −25.55, p < .01). Similar results were
obtained both under the SM-mode condition (856 vs. 2316 ms; t = −14.69, p < .01) and the
SQ-mode condition (997 vs. 2184; t = −16.55, p < .01) (see Table 4 for the paired t-tests output
table). These results collectively indicate that a subliminal formal priming effect indeed occurred
and that this effect facilitated both groups’ processing times of the target words. However, the
occurrence of this effect appeared to have only enhanced the SM-mode participants’ performance
on the fill-in-the-blank test, as indicated by the t-tests results reported above.
Exit questions
The participants assigned to the SM and SQ modes responded differently to the two exit questions:
“Exit question 1: How did you understand the novel words while reading the e-book?” and “Exit
question 2: What information were you drawn to when reading the e-book?”
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Table 4: Paired t-Test output table for the participants’ processing time data

Paired differences (Subliminal formal priming vs. unprimed)

95% Confidence interval

Standard Standard Sig.
n Mean error deviation Lower Upper t df (2-tailed)

SM mode 36 −1460 1193.62 73.05 −1603.18 −1316.82 −18.08** 34 0.000

SQ mode 36 −1187 921.57 67.03 −1318.38 −1065.62 −18.09** 34 0.000

Note: **p < .01.

In regard to the first exit question, only 42% of the SQ-mode participants (15 out of 36 people)
reported that they consciously analyzed the formal information of the unknown L2 words. In
contrast, 94% of the SM-mode participants (34 out of 36 people) provided answers that indicated
conscious form analysis of the target words; these 34 SM-mode participants reported adopting a
variety of strategies to analyze the formal code of the novel L2 words while reading the L2 e-book.
These strategies include:
• performing phonological recoding;
• analyzing the parts of speech;
• analyzing the prefix and suffix;
• making associations with the other known words;
• rote memorization;
• drawing on the alphabetic principle and script-to-sound correspondence rules;
• analyzing the syllabic structure.
The above suggests that the participants assigned to the SM mode were more sensitive to L2 cues
and more likely to perform formal analysis of novel L2 words while reading and comprehending
the L2 digital content.
The other between-group difference, in regard to the second exit question, concerns the nature of
the information involved in the reading of the e-book. Of the 36 SQ-mode participants, 25 of
them (69%) indicated that an attempt was made to read the L2 e-book text by referring to their
first language (L1). In this endeavor, 13 participants focused on L1 concepts (eg, “Many Chinese
things described with English words”), and 12 participants targeted specific L1 linguistic struc-
tures (eg, “I tried to associate the possible meaning of the novel words with their English and
Chinese orthographic forms”). In contrast, none of the SM-mode participants commented on
referring to their L1 during the L2 e-book reading task. This observed between-group difference
indicated that the participants were more likely to fall back on their L1 and were more sensitive to
L1 cues when reading the L2 e-book under the SQ-mode condition.

Discussion and conclusion

The current study explored whether the participants’ learning of novel vocabulary was enhanced
through subliminal formal priming (research question #1) and whether the efficacy of such
priming was affected by the digital input presentation modes, ie, sequential versus simultaneous
(research question #2). The results of this study provided positive answers to both of the two
research questions; however, it is important to note that although subliminal forming priming
effectively promoted vocabulary gains, it was more manifest under the simultaneous input pres-
entation mode. Specifically, when reading novel L2 words under the subliminal formal priming
condition, only the individuals assigned to the SM mode benefit from the subliminal formal
priming; the average score of the participants assigned to the SM mode was significantly higher.
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In contrast, when the participants were assigned to the reading condition inconsistent with their
optimal input processing predilection (SQ), they were not open to the effect of subliminal formal
priming. The SQ-mode participants’ performance in the fill-in-the-blank test did not significantly
differ between the subliminal formal priming and control (unprimed) conditions. Additionally, the
analysis of the exit questions showed that 94% of the participants read the e-book under the
SM-mode condition reported that they had consciously analyzed the formal features of novel L2
words, as opposed to 42% of their counterparts under the SQ-mode condition.
The above finding suggests that subliminal formal priming—being one type of implicit reading
cue—seems to be more effective in enhancing the acquisition of vocabulary knowledge when the
e-book content was displayed simultaneously, rather than incrementally. In this (SM-mode)
reading environment, L2 learners’ attention was not consciously (re)oriented to a particular
element of a digital page; they were better able to make the best use of available attentional
resources to process the form features of unknown words that were perceptually enhanced
through subliminal priming. In this regard, L2 learners seemed to be more open to the effect of
implicit priming, hence having greater vocabulary gains.
An explanation for the differential successes of subliminal formal priming in enhancing the
participants’ target vocabulary learning under different input presentation modes can be revealed
from the participants’ answers to the two exit questions. As noted in the analysis of the partici-
pants’ answers to the first and second exit questions earlier, when the participants were placed in
the SM mode—the reading condition consistent with their digital input processing predilection—
they were more reliant on L2 cues and less dependent on L1-related information. This greater
reliance on L2 cues might have maximized the intervening priming force of the formally similar
L2 subliminal primes, preactivating the formal information of novel L2 words. In this case, the
participants were more likely to prolong the memory traces of the formal features of novel L2
words in working memory, providing extra time to analyze the formal features of these novel
words at the linguistic, rather than at the perceptual, level. This, in turn, would allow novel
L2 words to have a greater chance to enter “the acquisition device” posited by Sharwood-Smith
(1986).
On the other hand, when the e-book was read under the SQ-mode condition, the participants
placed a greater emphasis on L1 cues during L2 reading. As a result, the participants did not
exclusively attend to the L2 cues, and their L2 reading was constantly mediated by their L1 (see
Jiang, 2002). In this regard, these learners may have been less sensitive to the transient presence
of the L2 subliminal formal primes such that the facilitative effect of the primes, if any, was
attenuated. Accordingly, the efficacy of the subliminal formal priming technique, or any other
forms of implicit reading support cues, is determined, at least in part, by whether L2 learners are
able to read the L2 digital materials within the optimal input presentation environment.
The major findings of this study, which are briefly noted below, lead to two implications for e-book
content design. First, we observed that subliminal formal priming—an implicit reading support
cue that can be easily included in e-books—effectively enhanced the participants’ performance.
This finding indicates that implicit reading support cues hold the potential to enhance memory
traces of unknown L2 vocabulary presented on an e-book platform. In light of this, e-book
content designed for the purposes of promoting L2 vocabulary development therefore should
exploit various possibilities of implicit reading support cues. This would in turn make the target
vocabulary more salient. Second, we also observed that the efficacy of subliminal formal priming
effect was only manifest under the SM, but not under the SQ, mode condition; and the partici-
pants under the SM-mode condition significantly outperformed their counterparts under the
SQ-mode condition. This finding suggests that simultaneous presentation of all the content of a
digital page provides L2 learners with the optimal digital input processing environment, where
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the learners would be more sensitive to the (L2) implicit reading support cues (as shown in the
qualitative analysis of the participants’ exit questionnaire data). This, in turn, maximizes the
potency of implicit reading support cues in enhancing the memory traces of the target
L2 vocabulary. Accordingly, implicit reading support cues should be provided in the simultane-
ous, rather than sequential, digital input presentation mode for optimal vocabulary learning
outcomes.
Despite the insight of the current study, it is limited in that only the effect of one type of implicit
reading support cues on one aspect of e-book reading, ie, vocabulary acquisition, was explored.
Hence, the findings of the current study may not provide insights to acquisition pertaining to
other language domains. Future research should explore the possibilities of other types of implicit
reading support cues to be included in e-books designed for different literacy purposes. Addition-
ally, the participants in the current study were only tested on one major aspect of vocabulary
knowledge (productive form-meaning knowledge). As such, the findings of this study may still
require further validation using more comprehensive vocabulary measures. Although the effect
size and statistic power information both suggest that the sample size is sufficient in the context of
the current research design, a larger sample size is recommended to make a stronger case about
the net effect of the implicit reading support cues. It is recommended that future studies be
undertaken with larger, more diverse samples, which would provide a more substantial empirical
validation for the efficacy of implicit reading support cues.
Acknowledgements
This research study is sponsored by the Taiwanese Ministry of Science and Technology (Project
number: 103-2410-H-003-016).
Statements on open data, ethics and conflict of interest
The whole research data collection, analysis, and storage protocols have been screened and
approved by the Research Ethics Committee of National Taiwan University (case ID:
201309ES026). The participants were clearly informed about the experiment process/condition
and voluntarily agreed to participate without any duress prior to the study. The participants
clearly understood their right to withdraw at any time, and their voluntary informed consent was
obtained before research got under way. The experiment, which took the form of a normal digital
reading task, did not cause any emotional or physical harm to the participants. Results of experi-
ments, coding and analyses were immediately erased and substituted with ID codes after the
information was being archived/analyzed; confidentiality of data is ensured by identifying par-
ticipants by their ID numbers.
The anonymised data of this study is available upon request to the corresponding author.
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
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