Effects Of Output Tasks On Vocabulary Learning

This thesis reports an empirical study on the effects of output tasks on L2 vocabulary learning. The Output Hypothesis (Swain, 1985) claims that the activity of producing the target language may trigger noticing on relevant linguistic information in input and facilitate L2 learning. The Involvement Load Hypothesis (Laufer & Hulstijn, 2001) predicts that higher involvement in a word induced by the task results in better retention of the word, regardless of whether it is an input or an output task. So far few empirical study has been done to test these hypotheses on L2 vocabulary learning.Sixty first-year college English majors were divided into four groups, and completed four different tasks within the same period of time. Two of the tasks were input ones - reading plus more reading on the same topic (MR), reading plus guessing out the meaning of words on a list (G). The other two were output tasks - reading plus retelling the major points (RT), and reading plus translating the Chinese summary (T). After treatment, a surprising vocabulary test was carried out to test how much knowledge about the five target words the participants had gained.The analyses of the collected data lead to three major findings. First, output tasks did not show any measurable advantage over input ones in word gains in general, and the learning of receptive word knowledge. Second, in the learning of productive word knowledge, output tasks showed superiority to input tasks. Third, learners tended to work on a minimal effort principle and would try to involve as little mental effort as possible while completing learning tasks. The different efficacy of output tasks on the learning of receptive and productive word knowledge are discussed with regard to the different nature of receptive and productive word knowledge, and the different cognitive processing involved in language comprehension and production. The limitations of the two hypotheses are also pointed out.