Study On Correlativity Between Mental Lexical Representation And Listening Comprehension In Second Language

This thesis is a descriptive empirical study of the correlativity between mental lexical representation and listening comprehension in second language (English in this thesis). It aims to explore how mental lexical representation affects listening comprehension in second language.The present study is based on theoretical frameworks of Jiang's development and representation model of L2 mental lexicon and cohort model. The hypothesis of this thesis is that listening comprehension had a positive correlativity with L2 mental lexical representation in the way that with the development of L2 mental lexical representation, listening comprehension would be improved.The present study includes two experiments: a listening comprehension test (CET-6) and a guided word association test. The subjects selected are all studying in Harbin University of Science and Technology (shortened as HUST), majoring in English: 15 freshmen, 15 juniors who have passed TEM4 and 15 postgraduates who have passed TEM8 when they were seniors. And they represent three different levels of listening comprehension according to listening test, i.e., low level, intermediate level and high level. All the subjects selected are all native Chinese speakers with English as their second language. Quantitative analysis of data is employed in this study and data collected are analyzed by applying SPSS 17.0 (mainly correlation analysis and regression analysis) and Excel 2007. The major finding is: Listening comprehension has a positive correlativity with L2 mental lexical representation in the way that with the development of L2 mental lexical representation, listening comprehension can be improved.This study demonstrates that L2 mental lexical representation and listening comprehension are significantly correlated with each other, and L2 semantic response is an important variable contributing to listening performance, therefore L2 mental lexicon should be paid great attention in listening teaching. In order to improve the students'listening comprehension, the English teacher should be aware that incorporating word association capacity in English teaching is not only necessary but also urgent.