Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition In The Process Of Reading And Writing Of College English

Researches on incidental vocabulary acquisition at home and aboard are prosperous and fruitful in recent years. As a major way of language input, reading has always been seen as the most efficient way to learn vocabulary. While, does writing, a main way of L2 language output, have positive influence on incidental vocabulary acquisition? Based on literature, this paper conducted comparative experiment to investigate impacts of reading and writing as well as learners'L2 language proficiency on L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition. By analyzing and interpreting the results with Input and Output Hypotheses and Information Processing Theory, we found out: 1) it is possible for Chinese college learners to acquire English vocabulary incidentally through reading and writing; 2) writing process is more effective than reading to promote incidental vocabulary acquisition; 3) learners'incidental vocabulary acquisition is influenced by their L2 language proficiency; 4) the two factors, learning process and learners'language proficiency, have interactive effects on incidental vocabulary acquisition. Hopefully, this paper can contribute to both theoretical research of incidental vocabulary acquisition in field of writing and English vocabulary teaching practice.