| Incidental vocabulary acquisition (IVA) through extensive reading has been recognized as one of the good choices for the ESL/EFL learners to enlarge their vocabulary. However, IVA is a complex process, because many factors may influence the outcome of it. Individual difference is one of these factors investigated by researchers. As tolerance of ambiguity (TA) is an important aspect of individual differences, many theorists in foreign language learning and applied linguists hold that it is quite essential to have a certain degree of TA, and a lot of research has been done concerning the relationship between TA and specific aspects of language learning achievement. However, research on the relationship between TA and IVA is rare. The present thesis is an attempt to explore the correlation between TA and IVA.The subjects were 62 non-English-major sophomores. The Second Language Tolerance of Ambiguity Scale (SLTAS) was employed to measure the subjects'degree of TA and three VKS tests (including one pre-test and two post-tests) were employed to measure subjects'vocabulary gain during the study. Five jokes were chosen as the reading material, from which eleven words were selected as the target words for incidental acquisition. The data were analyzed and the results indicated that:(a) the subjects incidentally gained some vocabulary knowledge of eleven target words after reading the material; (b) the amount of gained vocabulary knowledge significantly correlated with the degree of TA; (c) Both in the male and female group, TA and IVA had significant positive correlations. However, the correlation coefficient for the female group was greater than that for the male group.The findings have both theoretical and pedagogical implications in the field of ESL/EFL acquisition. First, research on the relationship between TA and IVA is rare. The present study contributes informative data by revealing the correlation between TA and the outcome of IVA through reading. Second, the awareness of individual differences in TA is beneficial for the teacher and learner to have a better understanding of the relationship between TA and IVA, and to improve the outcome of language teaching. |
