Modeling The Role Of Topic Familiarity In L2 Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition Through Reading

Lexical competence is at the heart of communicative competence and a strong predictor of basic language skills(Zimmerman,Moon,et al.).The central part of vocabulary in language learning still lies in the fact that "language is not words and grammar,it is essentially lexical."(Lewis,1993).All the facts push vocabulary to the front of language learning.Incidental vocabulary acquisition(IVA) through reading is generally believed as a most important means of learning vocabulary(Krashen,Coady,Huckin,et al.).In the past 20 years,second language(L2) IVA through reading has gained support not only theoretically but also empirically.However,its nature is still not completely known.Also,somewhat misunderstanding or ignorance in IVA through reading hampers its efficient implementation.A global cognitive view(Rieder,2002,2003),a recent advancement in IVA through reading,provides theoretical framework for the present research which aims to model the role of topic familiarity in IVA through reading.On the basis of a global cognitive view(Rieder,2002,2003) and previous researches(Pulido, 2002,2003,2004) a role model of topic familiarity in IVA through reading is set up.Based on this model an empirical research is conducted in order to supply empirical evidence to it and evaluate four research hypothesises.39 computer science major sophomores in National University of Defence Technology(NUDT) took part in the research.A repeated-measures approach was adopted whereby all participants were assigned to all experimental reading conditions(more and less familiar passages).There were three separate Sessions in the research.During Session 1 all participants completed a topic familiarity questionnaire.One week later,Session 2 was conducted.Firstly,all the participants read two expository passages whose topics were more or less familiar to them(confirmed by the topic familiarity questionnaire) and did reading comprehension test.And then,they were requested to have three vocabulary tests (intake,translation production and translation recognition) one by one which assessed the acquisition of word form,word form-meaning link and word meaning respectively.During Session 3 conducted two weeks after Session 2,in order to test the participants' retention of vocabulary knowledge gained in Session 2 the translation production and translation recognition tests were addressed to them once again.The research results were analysed by a statistics software SPSS12.0.Following are the major findings of the research:1.Reading comprehension exerts somewhat positive effect on the acquisition of word form,word meaning and word form-meaning link.Reading comprehension has significantly positive correlation with the acquisition of word form and word form-meaning link.However,comparatively high level of reading comprehension has led to low level of the acquisition of word form-meaning link, which further proves that reading comprehension will not lead to IVA automatically.Moreover,positive correlation between level of reading comprehension and the acquisition of word form becomes inconsistent when topic familiarity is taken into account.And level of reading comprehension doesn't correlate significantly with the acquisition of word meaning.It indicates that the relationship between the level of reading comprehension and IVA is influenced by topic familiarity.2.Above certain level of reading comprehension(around 50%) topic familiarity has negative effect on the acquisition of word form.Below this level, effect of topic familiarity is neglected because it will not be activated due to inadequate textual information being processed.3.Topic familiarity has significantly positive effects on the acquisition of word meaning.4.Although topic familiarity contributes positively to the acquisition of word form-meaning link its positive effect is not significant.Its role concerning the acquisition of this aspect of word knowledge is weak. These findings have both theoretical and pedagogical significance.They suggest that topic familiarity is an influential factor in IVA through reading.Its effects need to be addressed to better understand and implement IVA through reading.They support empirically the global cognitive view(Rieder,2002,2003) on IVA through reading.Still they prove and supplement findings of previous researches(Pulido,2002,2003,2004).Furthermore,clearer picture of the role of topic familiarity provides pedagogical significance of how to make proper use of it in implementing IVA through reading more efficiently.