Second Language Lexical Form-Meaning Mapping Models

The form– meaning mapping issue is important in mother tongue (L1) studies and nearly all researches regarding mother tongue vocabulary discuss this question. Paul Bloom proposed the concept of fast mapping. His study proved that fast mapping applies to words. Clark proposed the mapping problem and types of mapping. While L2 vocabulary form-meaning mapping is different from L1 vocabulary form-meaning mapping, so different from Bloom, JIANG proposed form-meaning mapping from the view of L2 vocabulary acquisition. He proposed that semantic transfer is involved in the form-meaning mapping process, and a word goes through three stages before it becomes an integrated part of the learner's lexicon, and so on. JIANG Meng's study was based on a large number of bilingual lexicon researches and second language acquisition literatures, but he did not propose a form-meaning mapping route. So this thesis plans to study form-meaning mapping from the viewpoint of L2, it borrows the methods and models of bilingual lexicon researches to describe the mapping route, and using quasi-empirical studies to improve the rationality of the route.Through data analysis, the evidence from the low-stage learners inclined to support the word association model, the data from the high-stage learners inclined to support the concept mediation model. This research proved the two models, as we can see with the fluency of L2; it goes through a development from word association model to concept mediation model. Actually it is the combination of the two models.In the research some pedagogical implications will be shown. Firstly, L2 learners can choose their own vocabulary study strategies which are suitable for themselves according to their own practicing mode. Secondly, L2 vocabulary teaching will have to involve techniques such as presenting L2 words in appropriate L2 learning stages. Thirdly, the fixing of L2 form– meaning mapping route is also quite instructive to the distinction of"second language vocabulary acquisition"and"the ability of second language vocabulary acquisition".