Effects Of Written Output On Foreign Language Vocabulary Acquisition: A Case Study

Vocabulary is foundation to language learning, and words in a language are often compared to the basic building blocks or bricks from which a building is constructed (Liu Yongbing,2006). It is also one of the most difficult areas for Chinese college students in learning English as a foreign language. Though Chinese college students have invested much time and energy in vocabulary learning, the effect is not satisfactory. Their productive vocabulary is quite small, and there exists great imbalance between the development of receptive vocabulary and productive vocabulary (Deng Lianjian,2006). Accordingly, many students with high marks in their grammatical and reading performance are usually confronted with great difficulty when they face oral and writing tasks. To research this problem, the author attempts to conduct a case study to analyze and test the effects of written output on foreign language vocabulary acquisition on the theoretical basis of Swain's (1985) Output Hypothesis. The present study also explores certain auxiliary conditions which may help facilitate output functions effectively and examines the correlation between input and output in the process of language acquisition.At present, Chinese college English teaching largely adopts input-oriented methods whose theoretical basis is Krashen's (1985) Comprehensible Input Hypothesis. That theory claims that "comprehensible input" is the only effective means of language acquisition. Krashen uses the formula "i+1" to summarize the theory concisely, "i" represents the acquirer's present level of competence; "1" refers to the new language material which is a little harder than acquirer's present language competence. The process of SLA is the one where the acquirer develops from the stage "i" to "i+1" by receiving "comprehensible input". However, Krashen neglects the function of output as he focuses on input. He considers that second language learners can acquire the target language without any forms of language output and that output is a mere natural product of comprehensible input. Many scholars argue against that viewpoint, and Swain is most influential among them. Swain's (1985) concept of Comprehensible Output Hypothesis originally stemmed from the research results in the French immersion programs in Canada. Swain asserts that comprehensible input alone is inadequate in the acquisition of productive skills which are essential in SLA, and that output plays an identical role. Basing on the former concept, Swain (1995) has further identified three functions of output in second language learning:noticing function, hypothesis testing function and metalinguistic function. Noticing function means output can urge learners to notice their deficiency in linguistic knowledge, which may stimulate learners to fill their linguistic gaps through further learning and finally to realize their language acquisition. Theory of hypothesis testing function believes that language learning process is the one in which learners make various hypotheses of the target language, and it is in output process that learners can test and modify their hypotheses according to the needs of communication, which may ultimately promote language acquisition. Metalinguistic function refers to the fact that learners analyze and describe language using the target language, which is their reflection on the form of language and is of assistance to learners'control and internalization of linguistic knowledge (Swain,1995).The subjects of the present study are eight non-English major sophomores. First of all, the author conducted a questionnaire to collect data. The content of the questionnaire was designed to investigate learners'awareness of output and their status of output in practice. The analysis of the questionnaire shows that though learners admit the importance of output, they largely neglect relevant practice in output skills in practical study. That also proves the lack of output in college English teaching and learning in present situation. And then, the author tested the subjects using composition writing as an output activity. The topic of the composition was selected from the CET-6 in June 2005. The author interviewed every subject respectively after the test. The content of the interview is about the functions of output, the auxiliary conditions that promote the functions of output and the correlation between input and output. The detailed content of the interview varied according to different problems exposed in every composition. The author generalized and contrastively analyzed the research material collected, and finally reached a conclusion. In the first place, the present study proves that output has the functions of noticing, hypothesis testing and conscious reflection; besides, timely feedback, correlative input and initiative are three important auxiliary conditions that greatly promote the functions of output; lastly, correlation between input and output is interaction and mutual promotion in the process of foreign language acquisition.According to the major findings of the present study, this thesis suggests that teachers should reform current input-oriented, teacher-oriented and test-oriented teaching practice; the researcher proposes that teachers should reform the structure of college English examination, increase the proportion of writing and add oral part appropriately; the researcher recommends that output tasks should be interactive and multifunctional, and that the level of output activities should meet learners'needs; finally the researcher suggests that teachers should integrate comprehensive auxiliary elements in order to make full use of output.