Research On Reasons For Lexical Attrition Among Non-EFL Major College Students Based On Noticing Hypothesis

Language attrition is a reverse process of language acquisition,which refers to the weakening of English vocabulary skillsespecially the loss of words' meaning after long time nonuseof English vocabulary.Because vocabulary is the foundation of English learning,and the loss of words' meaning or spelling mistakes of words may affect the whole language learning process.Lexical attritionprevents learners from consolidating and accumulating vocabulary and reduces learning efficiency.Noticing Hypothesis can help students draw more attention to memorizing the new words and promote the input to be stored in the long-term memory,so as to produce the language output at last.Therefore,the current research analyzes lexical attrition from the perspective of Noticing Hypothesis and then attempts to find out the way to resist lexical attrition.Noticing Hypothesis focuses on the irreplaceable role of noticing in Second Language Acquisition(SLA).Noticing can promote the conversion of input into intake.Noticing can be influenced by frequency,perceptual salience,instruction,task demands,comparing,and skill level,and six noticing factors are employed as the theoretical framework to analyze lexical attrition.This thesis is aimed at adopting tests,questionnaire,and students' interview to study lexical attrition among 60 non-English major sophomoresfrom Zhengzhou Chenggong University of Finance and Economics,exploring the reasons for lexical attrition,testifying the influence of noticing on lexicalattrition,and then concluding some feasible methods to reduce lexical attrition.The major findings are shown as follows:(1)The participants suffered lexicalattrition after almost three-monthinterval of non-exposure to English.The experimental group processed by increasing salience,designing task demands,comparing between the current language and the input language,attrites more slowly than the control group which is not processed at all.Both the experimental group and the control group have achieved higher accuracy in the tests than that in the post-tests.The attrition rate of the same word in lexical test differs from the rate in dictation test.(2)The data analysis of questionnaire and interview items illustrates that frequency and instruction can influence lexical attrition.The research on lexical attrition from the perspective of Noticing Hypothesis can not only help English learners deepen the recognition and understanding of vocabulary and promote the mastery and maintenance of vocabulary,but also be significant to the college English teaching reform.As far asthe college students are concerned,they should be conscious of the existence of lexical attrition,form good learning habits,and increase the input of frequency to reach a high level to reduce lexical attrition.The teachers should consciously increase frequency and salience in class and deepen the impression of new words.What's more,they should also design different tasks,and choose appropriate teaching methods in accordance with the students' aptitude,thus create a relaxing learning atmosphere for students to practice English.