An Empirical Study On Non-english Majors’ Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition In Different Input Modes

Vocabulary is the essence of language,and the improvement of each language skill of the learners can not be separated from vocabulary learning.In view of the importance of vocabulary in language learning,second language learners’ vocabulary acquisition process(i.e.intentional and incidental)has attracted more and more attention in the field of second language teaching and research.Incidental vocabulary acquisition is a branch of vocabulary research,which aims to explore effective methods of vocabulary acquisition.At present,a large number of studies have proved the feasibility and effectiveness of incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading,but few research has been done through listening,speaking,writing and so on.Therefore,this paper intends to study the effects of three different modes(i.e.,listening,reading,and reading while listening)on incidental vocabulary acquisition,and to study incidental vocabulary acquisition from a new perspective,aiming to answer the following questions:(1)Can students acquire vocabulary incidentally in three kinds of input modes(i.e.,listening,reading,and reading while listening)?(2)If it is possible,which type of input is the most conducive to incidental acquisition of vocabulary?(3)What is the effect of vocabulary retention in three input modes(delay test)?In view of this,this study employs different input modes as special variables,with 100 non-English Majors(freshmen)in Shaanxi Vocational and Technical University as participants,and investigates the effects of incidental vocabulary acquisition in different input modes-reading,listening and reading while listening.Subjects were divided into three different input groups and after completing their task input,they are required to finish the immediate vocabulary test and delayed vocabulary test successively.Then the SPSS18.0 was used to analyze the experimental data.The results show that: 1)students can acquire vocabulary incidentally in different input modes;2)In the immediate vocabulary test,the effect of listening input mode is much better than that of reading input mode and reading while listening input mode;3)in the delayed test,there exist significant differences in the effect of vocabulary retention in the three input modes respectively.These findings not only enrich the research on incidental vocabulary acquisition,but also provide some guiding significance for teachers’ vocabulary teaching and curriculum design as well as for students’ vocabulary learning both in and out of class.