Fatemeh Nemati

The influential role of embodied semantics theories on lexical processing in language acquisition are well-documented, but the implicit role of body object interaction (BOI) in foreign language learning is relatively unknown. To examine this role, we investigated the effects of “acting out” method (rooted in BOI) on learning words with different lexical (noun and verb) and semantic (abstract and concrete) categories by young learners of English. We employed a pre-experimental design with 40 Persian EFL students (11-14 years) from four classes in a language institute. The students were all beginners with no second language background. We taught 100 words to each group using the “acting out” method. We tested the performance of learners on verbs and nouns with their concrete and abstract subcategorization using a picture naming experiment. The results of the test showed that, concrete words are acquired better in comparison with the abstract counterparts in both noun and verb categories. Furthermore, there was no statistically significant interaction between lexical and semantic categories. The results confirmed the lexical category null hypothesis, in which acting out method has no effect on learning nouns and verbs, in contrast rejected the second null hypothesis, in which the processing of semantic categories is influenced by the effect of sensorimotor information. These findings could have a facilitating effect on designing an efficient method for teaching English as a foreign language.