ABOUT THIS EPISODE
What can research on second language acquisition teach us about Biblical Hebrew vocabulary learning?
In this episode of SLA Insights, Dr. Jennifer Noonan highlights three helpful publications for those teaching Biblical Hebrew. These studies explore vocabulary-learning strategies, the effectiveness of shorter word lists, and how vocabulary frequency can help determine which chapters of the Hebrew Bible may be more accessible to beginning readers.
Jennifer also highlights a larger need in the field: while second language acquisition has been extensively studied in modern language teaching, much more research is still needed on its application to Biblical and ancient languages.
📚 PUBLICATIONS MENTIONED
Jeremy P. Thompson, Learning Biblical Hebrew Vocabulary: Insights from Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition (PhD diss., Stellenbosch University, 2011)https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/17819
Jeremy P. Thompson, “Word-List Size and Biblical Hebrew Vocabulary Learning,” Hebrew Higher Education 14 (2012): 47–61.https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/xbkhkpd4fhv4r4gbi6fdw/HHE-21-Bullard-Article.pdf?rlkey=queodrr652d1xuouzu2qew84d&e=1&dl=0
Jeremy Bullard, “The 100 ‘Simplest’ Chapters of the Hebrew Bible,” Hebrew Higher Education 21 (2019).https://www.naphhebrew.org/hhe-21-2019?utm_source=chatgpt.com
