An Empirical Study On The Effect Of Involvement Load On Senior High School Students’ Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition Through Reading

Vocabulary is an indispensable part in language learning. However, both vocabulary teaching and learning in senior high school fail to produce satisfactory effects. In some schools direct vocabulary instruction has been adopted as the major method, the result of which is that students are not given chances to attend to new words in context. They may spend a great amount of time learning isolated new words by rote but tend to forget them very soon.Therefore, based on the Involvement load Hypothesis, the present research attempts to explore a practical vocabulary teaching and learning method for students to enlarge their vocabulary size and finally improve their English abilities. It is also expected to arouse students’interests in vocabulary learning and improve the methods of vocabulary learning.This study tries to answer the following questions:1) Do different involvement loads have different effects on senior high school students’ incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading?2) Which task can lead to better vocabulary retention, writing a summary or filling in blanks using target words?3) Does incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading make any difference to students’vocabulary learning attitude and methods?Two parallel Senior2classes of80students from Guangzhou No.65Middle School participated in this experiment. Each class was assigned to perform one reading task (writing a summary using target words or filling in blanks using target words). The instruments employed in this study were three vocabulary tests (the pre-test, the post-test and the delayed-test), two Middle School Students’ English Vocabulary Learning Questionnaires (one implemented before the experiment and the other after the experiment) and an interview with some students of different levels. Based on the data collected, the major findings can be summarized as follows:Firstly, different involvement loads did not have much different effect on senior high school students’incidental vocabulary acquisition although both reading tasks resulted in significant gains in learners’vocabulary knowledge. Secondly, the summary writing task led to better vocabulary retention although both instructional treatments were not very effective in vocabulary retention for a long time.Thirdly, the results of the study just partially supported the Involvement Load Hypothesis proposed by Laufer&Hulstijn (2001).Fourthly, incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading made a real difference to students’vocabulary learning attitude and methods. Through the experiment on incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading, students’attitude to vocabulary learning has greatly changed, students’interest and confidence in vocabulary learning have been aroused to a large degree and their methods and strategies of vocabulary learning have been improved.The study provides further empirical evidence for the Involvement Load Hypothesis as well as implications for senior English vocabulary teaching and learning.