UMD Ph.D. Candidate Tetiana Tytko Earns MPower Assistantship to Study How We Learn Complex Vocabulary

Using eye-tracking technology, Tytko’s research aims to help language educators optimize how students master multi-meaning words.

Tetiana Tytko, a Ph.D. candidate in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) at the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures (SLLC), has been awarded an MPower Research Assistantship. Funded through the University of Maryland’s MPower Early Scholars Investment Fund, the award provides short-term, high-impact support to promising researchers shaping Maryland’s research enterprise.

Tytko’s dissertation investigates a common hurdle for second-language (L2) learners: how to process and retain homonyms—words that share the same spelling or pronunciation but have entirely different meanings, such as “bank” (financial institution vs. riverbank) or “bark” (a dog’s sound vs. a tree’s outer layer).

To understand how learners navigate these ambiguous words during reading, Tytko utilizes advanced eye-tracking technology. Rather than relying solely on traditional paper-and-pencil vocabulary quizzes, eye-tracking captures a reader’s moment-by-moment cognitive processing—revealing exactly where a student pauses, hesitates, or re-reads text.

Her project, titled “The Effect of Previewing and Reviewing Definitions of Homonyms Together and Apart on L2 Vocabulary Acquisition from Reading: An Eye Movement Study,” evaluates two core teaching strategy questions:

• Instructional Timing: Is it more effective to present word definitions before (previewing) or after (reviewing) a reading assignment?
• Presentation Format: Should related meanings of a word be introduced together in one lesson or split apart across multiple sessions?

By combining real-time eye-tracking data with individual student learning profiles, Tytko’s study offers a comprehensive look at how instructional design impacts vocabulary retention and reading fluency.The findings promise to bridge the gap between cognitive science and classroom instruction. Ultimately, the research will equip language instructors, curriculum developers, and textbook publishers with evidence-based strategies to design more effective learning materials for second-language students.

About the MPower Early Scholars Investment Fund

The MPower Early Scholars Investment Fund is an initiative of the University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPower the State. It provides targeted support to high-potential graduate students and early-career researchers across the University of Maryland, College Park and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, driving innovative research and state-wide development.