The Necessity Of Comprehensible Reading Input In College English Lexical Acquisition

College English teaching in China is teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL), different from teaching English as a second language (TESL). The learners do not have enough opportunities to practice their target language in a natural situation. University students in China have learnt a large vocabulary (from 4,200 to 5,500 words) according to the curriculum or the CET 4 requirements, but, in most cases, they only know the inexact meaning of the words related to their mother tongue by Chinese translation. Words are learned isolated from the context, fixed or even one-sided in meaning. That's why the students have so many errors related to the negative transfer of their mother tongue when they are outputting their learned language in writing and speaking. However, those students have the right basic vocabulary and language proficiency on which they can develop their lexical ability through comprehensible reading input. Therefore, we should explore an effective approach suitable for the Chinese students to acquire vocabulary on the basis of some second language acquisition theories.Krashen (1982) believes that acquisition consists of the spontaneous process of rule internalization that results from natural language use, while learning consists of the development of conscious L2 knowledge through formal study. Only by language acquisition through practice can the learned language knowledge be turned into language ability. He explains the relationship between language input and output with input hypothesis, believing that the only way to language acquisition is through understanding information or receiving comprehensible input. Learners get developed in language proficiency by comprehending I+l language input through context on the basis of the current language proficiency. Lewis (1993) claims that lexis should be taught and learned through contexttaking the place of grammar. The theory of language transfer also claims to reduce the negative transfer from mother tongue by encouraging natural language input. Accordingly, a hypothesis has been put forward for the purpose of university students' lexical acquisition that the context of comprehensible reading input is the most natural language environment for the intermediate-level students to improve their lexical acquisition both in quantity and in ability.This research involves three empirical studies. 50 typical and most frequent erroneous sentences are collected out of 100 pieces of writing by sophomores. The analysis of the errors shows the basic rules of lexical mistakes of the Chinese university students and also reveals the problems of the students in their lexical acquisition. Then samples are stochastically selected, in which 62 are English majors and 59 are non-English majors from two universities in Changsha. And then the data of the results are processed with SPSS 11.5 for Windows in order to find out the correlation coefficient between the students' lexical ability and the lexical acquisition strategies. The result of Pearson correlation indicates that the students' lexical ability and comprehensible reading are positively correlated while the lexical ability and wordlists memorizing are the most negatively correlated. It testifies to the hypothesis that lexical ability and quantity can be greatly improved by extensive comprehensible reading besides the traditional classroom instruction. Lexical acquisition can be strengthened through context. Finally sample students from those who get over 80 in CET4 are surveyed in their lexical acquisition strategies, which further confirm the relationship between lexical acquisition and comprehensible reading input. A possible lexical acquisition model and some practical suggestions are put forward.In conclusion, the sophomores' lexical acquisition should be based on some theories of language acquisition. The teachers should give the students some guidance to reject the strategy of memorizing wordlistseparately from the context. It should be encouraged that the students do some real comprehensible reading, including both the regular-class reading and the self-regulated reading, in order to improve lexical ability and quantity.The thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter One reviews different studies on lexical teaching and learning both at home and abroad, mainly on the relationship between reading and lexical acquisition;the relationship between language learning and language acquisition;the threshold of basic vocabulary in effective lexical acquisition through comprehensible reading input. Chapter Two describes the feasibility of lexical acquisition through comprehensible reading on the basis of some theories: Krashen's second language acquisition theory;Lewis's lexical approach;language transfer theory;the different positions of second language teaching and learning. Chapter Three analyses the rules of errors from the language output of the university students and explores the existing problems in their lexical acquisition. Chapter Four finds out the correlations between university students' lexical ability and lexical acquisition strategies from two empirical studies. The two empirical studies indicate that extensive comprehensible reading input is the most effective approach to the students' lexical acquisition. Chapter Five and Chapter Six put forward a feasible model and some practical suggestions for the university students' lexical acquisition...