A Case Study Of Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition Through Literary Classics Reading

Vocabulary acquisition plays a vital role in the whole process of English learning. How to effectively expand the vocabulary size of English learners has become a tough problem confronting both teachers and students. Many researchers have conducted theoretical and empirical researches into this field, a research focus among which is the study of incidental vocabulary acquisition(IVA).Based on IVA hypothesis, and with the case study approach, this thesis quantitatively and qualitatively analyses high school students’ performance in incidental vocabulary acquisition through literary classics reading and the major factors that affect their performance, with an aim to provide some enlightenment for the editing and selection of reading materials, and for improvements in vocabulary teaching and learning methods.Two high school senior students were involved in the study that lasted for nine weeks of three phases. In the first phase(1stweek), proper literary works were selected as reading materials for the participants according to their vocabulary size, and a pre-test was given to them for the selection of the target words. The second phase(2nd to 6th week) was the time for the participants to finish the reading materials. During the last phase(7th to 9th week) post-tests and follow-up interviews were conducted, followed by the analysis of the collected data.The analysis of the data from the tests and the interviews elicit the following findings. First, the two high school senior students are capable of acquiring words incidentally through literary classics reading. They can acquire 42.4% of the target words immediately after reading and can retain 36.1% of the target words two weeks after reading. No significant difference is found in the IVAperformance between the two participants who have different vocabulary sizes.Second, word exposure frequency is a major factor that affects IVA through reading. 5 to 7 times of encounter is the starting point for the participants to acquire word form, meaning and usage incidentally in reading. 8 to 12 times of encounter guaranteed their long-term retention of word meaning. Third, degree of noticing, context and background knowledge are also important factors affecting the participants’ IVA in reading: noticing is the prerequisite of IVA through reading; definitions, paraphrases and the degree of word difficulty in the context affect the acquisition of the target words; the participants’ knowledge of the previous story plot in the reading materials and their common sense also contribute to word learning.The findings of this study provide some valuable suggestions for reading materials editing and selection, and for vocabulary teaching and learning. It is advised that the reading books or materials oriented toward high school students include as many as possible the words stipulated by the New Curriculum Standard, the word frequency of occurrence be properly increased, definitions and paraphrases of words be added, and that the difficulty degree of the words in the text be lowered. High school English teachers are advised to recommend to their students the kind of reading materials facilitating their vocabulary leaning and help their students to build relevant background knowledge. Students should initiatively develop a habit of learning vocabulary through reading and heighten the awareness of learning words in reading for the sake of expanding their vocabulary size.