The Effect Of Extensive Reading On L2Vocabulary Acquisition For Medical Vocational College Students

Second language vocabulary acquisition is rather primary and important in second language acquisition, while extensive reading is an effective way for Chinese vocational college students to improve their English. According to Krashen’s Input Hypothesis, appropriate comprehensible input aids the learner’s English proficiency. Many studies abroad (Krashen,1989; Chomsky,1972; Knight,1994; Day&Bamford,1998; Hustijn,1992; Nation,1999,2000&2006; Waring&Takaki,2003; Schmitt,2008; Ana&Norbert,2010) have found that reading is significantly helpful for second language acquisition and second language vocabulary acquisition. Studies at home (Gai Shuhua,2003; Duan Shiping&Yan Zhengsong,2004; Hou Dongmei,2009; Wu Xudong,2010) have focused on incidental vocabulary acquisition in listening, speaking, reading and writing. However, the research of vocabulary acquisition through extensive reading has not often been seen. And the subjects of the previous studies were senior high school students or regular four-year college students. Few studies were about vocational college students, not even to say medical vocational college students.During the nine-year English teaching experience, the author has noticed that medical vocational college students’vocabulary acquisition mainly depends on rote learning, and that the only second language environment is from the textbooks. In the present study, two general research questions are raised:Research Question1:What’s the present performance of vocabulary acquisition and extensive reading for medical vocational college students?Research Question2:What effects does extensive reading have on vocabulary acquisition for medical vocational college students?A survey was administered to investigate medical vocational college students’ performance of vocabulary acquisition and extensive reading. The responses of819subjects from West Anhui Medical Vocational College were collected and analyzed. The results reveal that most medical vocational college students acquire second language vocabulary through rote learning. Extensive reading materials are not available for them.Based on the results of the survey, an experiment was conducted to the two intact classes of125nursing freshmen from West Anhui Medical Vocational College to examine the effects of extensive reading on second language vocabulary acquisition. The data from three vocabulary tests and two English proficiency tests show: extensive reading affects L2vocabulary acquisition and L2proficiency but not statistically significant; extensive reading has statistically significant effects on students’vocabulary retention.This study provides new findings in the field of vocabulary acquisition and extensive reading. It proves Krashen’s Input Hypothesis and contributes to the studies of second language acquisition and to the practice of English teaching and learning in medical vocational colleges.