An Empirical Study Of Reconstruction Of L2Mental Lexicon Based On Narrative Approach

Vocabulary is the cornerstone of language. In the process of foreign languageacquisition, the significance of vocabulary is self-evident. Fortunately, mentallexicon theory provides a new research perspective for the second language learningand teaching. Based on cognitive psychological theory, cognitive poetics theory,linguistic theory and narrative teaching theory, this paper investigates the process ofreconstruction of the L2mental lexicon by employing new teaching method.In this paper, the researchers put forward two hypotheses. Hypothesis one:non-English majors can reconstruct the L2mental lexicon more effectively byemploying the Narrative Approach. Hypothesis two: the reconstruction of L2mentallexicon can improve the English proficiency of non-English majors. In order toquantify this research, an experiment was administered upon62non-English majorsfrom Sichuan International Studies University. The subjects are undergraduatestudents in Grade One and they do not know they are in such an experiment. Theexperimental prompt words are selected from College English Revised Book One.Formal school teaching environment is the background of this experiment.There are two phases during the whole experiment. In the first phase, all thesubjects learned with traditional teaching method. It aimed to explore the realcondition of the l2mental lexicon organization pattern. The second one was todetermine the effect of the Narrative Approach in vocabulary teaching. What’s more,the second phase tried to verify the hypotheses mentioned above.The following two major findings were revealed through the mentioned data.Firstly, with employing the Narrative Approach, the non-English major subjects canreconstruct the L2mental lexicon. Secondly, English proficiency can be positivelyaffected by the reconstruction of the L2mental lexicon.Finally, on the basis of the experimental results and the research findings, this study provides some feasible suggestions for the L2mental lexicon reconstruction ofsecond language learners. Limitations of the present study and suggestions forfurther studies are also pointed out.