Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition Of Senior High School Students With The Involvement Load Hypothesis In The Formal Reading Class

Vocabulary learning, as one of the most important parts for language learning, is a major obstacle for students learning English due to the low learning efficiency. Students, therefore, maintain a negative attitude toward vocabulary learning in the learning process. It is known that extensive reading cannot only improve learners'reading abilities, but can enlarge learners'vocabulary incidentally. In the National English Curriculum Standards (NECS), the requirements for both vocabulary and reading are put forward clearly. To improve the efficiency of English teaching and reduce students'burden of vocabulary learning, the current thesis attempts to integrate the incidental vocabulary acquisition (IVA) into the formal reading teaching process, hopefully, through the IVA learners can learn vocabulary in the process of reading teaching.The thesis firstly analyzes current situation for vocabulary and reading learning in senior high schools. Then previous researches and the theories related to the IVA are reviewed. Among the related theories, the Involvement Load Hypothesis covering the components of need, search and evaluation is regarded as the essential theoretical basis of the thesis. In order to analyze the possibility and reality of IVA in the formal class setting, both static and dynamic researches are employed in the research. As far as the static research is concerned, the three components of the Involvement Load Hypothesis as the standards are applied to analyze the textbooks used in senior high schools to investigate the possibility of the IVA in the formal teaching setting. At the same time, the dynamic classroom teaching analysis which includes classroom observation, students'questionnaire and teachers'interview is carried out to analyze the realities of the IVA happened in the formal reading teaching setting. To further achieve the research purpose, classroom observation is employed to have a direct understanding of the reality of the reading class based on the Involvement Load Hypothesis. Meanwhile, the students'questionnaire and teachers'interview are conducted to have a deeper investigation of both students and teachers'IVA awareness in the formal teaching setting.The research findings reveal that through integrating the IVA into the formal teaching setting, an effective method of vocabulary and reading teaching can be brought out under the wide implementation of the NECS to improve learners'integral communicative abilities. The results of the static research indicate that textbooks used in the senior high schools can facilitate students'IVA in the reading teaching process, and most students have the IVA awareness of learning vocabulary in the reading process. And the results of the dynamic research show learners are likely to utilize the special designs in the textbooks such as marginal glosses, labeled colored words as well as word formation to acquire the meaning of the unknown words in the reading teaching process in order to understand the text. However, it is noted that learners pay less attention to the learning strategies in the textbooks and cannot apply the learning strategies appropriately and flexibly. And teachers can make full use of the special designs and layout in the textbooks to facilitate learners'vocabulary learning in the reading teaching process, namely they can lead learners to attach the importance to the colored words in the text and the corresponding marginal glosses, meanwhile, they can give an elaborate explanation about the unknown words, however, they cannot pay enough attention to the word learning strategies and the word formation in the teaching process. In addition, the teachers cannot use the reading passages flexibly according to different teaching aims and they are likely to ignore cultivating learners' self-learning abilities in the teaching process.Based on the analysis of the results, present thesis mainly gives suggestions about textbook compiling, teacher training and realization of concepts in the NECS accordingly. First of all, the strategic knowledge should be presented in an easier and highlighted way in the textbook, at the same time, more tasks and activities facilitating the IVA should be designed. Furthermore, higher requirements of the teachers are brought out with the wide implementation of the NECS, and in the teacher training process, teachers should learn to use the textbooks flexibly according to different situations, and attentions should be paid to learners'strategic awareness and affective cultivation. As for the realization of the concepts in the NECS, it can be realized through teachers'joint efforts constantly, and teachers should improve learners'integral communicative abilities in the teaching process.