A Study On The Effects Of Output Tasks Based On Noticing Theory On Non-English Majors' Vocabulary Learning

An abundance of experimental studies had verified the feasibility and effectiveness of vocabulary learning through reading,listening,and mixed input,while little ink had spilled over the studies on vocabulary learning through different output tasks.Some scholars claimed that vocabulary retention performance could be enhanced by different task-based factors.Among different output tasks that enhanced vocabulary learning,writing and speaking tasks became the focus.However,few researches had no similar answers to the effects of these two tasks on vocabulary learning.Noticing is the detection of the occurrence of a stimulus in conscious awareness.It is a necessary condition for converting input to intake.Learning is enhanced by noticing rather than demonstrate that leaning cannot take place without noticing.Noticing is a necessary but not the sufficient condition for foreign language learning.According to Noticing Theory,the present study is to investigate which task(writing or speaking)has better effects on foreign language vocabulary learning under the reading input.This study,based on the previous studies,tries to answer the following three questions:1.What are the effects of different output tasks on college students' receptive and productive vocabulary learning based on noticing theory?2.What are the different effects of different output tasks on college students' receptive and productive vocabulary learning based on noticing theory?3.What are the students' attitudes toward vocabulary learning in writing output task and speaking output task?To answer the research questions,the researcher carried out an experiment which lasted for 18 weeks.In the present study,70 non-English-majors were divided into two groups: the reading-writing(RW)group and reading-speaking(RS)group.Tests,questionnaire and interview were employed to collect data for the study.The collected data is analyzed by using SPSS 17.0 software and Independent Sample T-test is used in order to solve research questions.The results of the study show that different language output tasks can facilitate vocabulary learning.In terms of the productive vocabulary,writing task helps gain more words than speaking task;as for the receptive vocabulary,the effects of writing task are better but there is no significantly difference between writing task and speaking task.As for words retention both in productive and receptive vocabulary,there is a significantly difference between writing task and speaking task.Therefore,the present study proves that writing output task can prompt higher quality noticing and that such high quality noticing can trigger much deeper processing which plays an essential role for vocabulary learning to take place.These findings will enlighten foreign language teaching in that output is an important factor affecting foreign language vocabulary learning.