The Effects Of Different Input And Output Modes On Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition

Vocabulary is a very important part in second language learning, so it is necessary tohold enough vocabulary. However, most non-English majors are troubled by the inefficientapproach in vocabulary learning, and a large number of researches have been conductedabout the problem. In recent years, more and more attention has been devoted to the issueof L2vocabulary acquisition. However, it is still not as clear as to how to improve theimpact of vocabulary acquisition. And a number of experimental researches have verifiedthe feasibility and effectiveness of incidental vocabulary acquisition through visual readinginput, audio listening input and writing output. Few studies have referred to the research onincidental vocabulary acquisition through the comparison of different input and outputmodes.The present study aims to examine the effects of different input and output modes onthe incidental vocabulary acquisition for non-English majors with the related theoreticalframework of incidental vocabulary acquisition. To be specific, three research questionsare addressed in the study:(1) If the learners get the content in the same input mode, whilethey make a composition by rewriting or retelling, can learners acquire vocabulary througheach output mode? If they can, which mode is more effective on IVA?(2) If the content ispresented respectively in mode of listening or reading, while the learners do the sameoutput task, can learners acquire vocabulary through each input mode? If they can, whichmode is more effective on IVA?(3) Which mode is the most effective for the long-termretention of vocabulary?In order to study the questions mentioned above, four parallel classes in their firstsemester of studying English as a foreign language in Arts&Science College of BohaiUniversity were selected as the subjects in the current experiment and are designed fourvarious tasks according to different input and output modes:(1) listening to the materialsand then rewriting,(2) listening to the materials and then retelling,(3) reading thematerials and then retelling,(4) reading the materials and then rewriting. These four classesare randomly assigned to complete one of the four tasks in the normal class time, and thenreceive the immediate and delayed posttests of the target words, of which the results areanalyzed by the statistical software of SPSS. In order to make the results objective, threedifferent materials are selected as the input material for each experiment. In addition, aninterview is conducted to obtain the learners’ attitudes towards different tasks.The results of this research demonstrate that different input and output modes canimprove incidental vocabulary acquisition; when the input mode is the same, the retelling output is more effective; and when the output mode is the same, the reading input mode ismore effective; as for word retention, reading---retelling mode is more effective. Thereasons may be learners are more confident of reading materials than listening because themain way of learning is reading; so they can learn more information about the materialsand acquire more words; during the process of retelling, learners can get more informationabout the target words owing to the interaction with the teachers, so they can acquire morewords.Therefore, more proper materials should be provided for the learners to improve theeffectiveness of incidental vocabulary acquisition. Teachers can adopt different input andoutput modes according to the situation of the learners.