The Acquisition Of Vocabulary By Non-English Major Learners Of English In Technology College

In the field of second language vocabulary acquisition, there are still no definite answers about how vocabulary can best be taught or learned. This study aims to investigate the effects of explicit and implicit instructions on intermediate EFL learners' acquisition of vocabulary. Two groups of 121 Chinese non-English major learners of English in Guangdong University of Technology participated in the experiment. One group was given explicit instruction in the process of vocabulary learning, and the other group was given implicit instruction. A pretest and two post-tests were given to both groups to see which approach was more effective in vocabulary acquisition. Major findings were (1) both explicit instruction and implicit instruction have positive effects on learners' vocabulary acquisition; (2) implicit instruction is more effective than explicit instruction; and (3) the Implicit Group outperformed the Explicit Group both in the number of new words acquired and in the depth of learners' vocabulary knowledge in both the immediate and delayed post-tests.