The Effects Of Different Modes Of Word Presentation On The Intentional Learning Of English Content Words By Chinese English Learners

Most previous second language vocabulary acquisition research has focused on incidental learning, and yet little is known about intentional learning. Many factors affect word learning among which mode of word presentation is critical but has been neglected for a long time. The study examines how three different modes of word presentation influence new L2 words learning outcomes (both word memory and retention) by 180 Chinese English learners at intermediate proficiency. The three modes of word presentation (each mode has two sub-levels) are presented as follows: semantic clustering (word lists and expert pattern), thematic clustering (word lists and context), and semantic and thematic clustering (expert pattern and context). We have compared the effects on vocabulary learning resulting from three different types of word presentation, aiming to see which mode is most conducive to L2 word learning, to reduce learning burden, and to improve learning achievements.One hundred and eighty subjects have participated three tests, i. e., one immediate test, and two delay tests. The data from the subjects are generated through SPSS (11.0). The statistical techniques employed for analysis are descriptive statistics, Independent-Samples T-test, and One-way ANOVA. Comparing the effects on learning outcomes within and between groups, we find that:1. High similarities between words in semantic clustering lead to great interference effects and then impede words memory. But words retention is not obviously influenced by such high semantic and syntactic similarities. Expert pattern performs better than word lists under semantic clustering on both word memory and retention.2. Interference effects between words are avoided in thematic clustering, for there are no semantic and syntactic similarities between words. Thematic clustering is more effective than semantic clustering on word memory. However, there are no differences on word retention between these two clusterings. Context is more conducive than word lists under thematic clustering on learning outcomes.