A Study Of The Correlation Between Tolerance Of Ambiguity And Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition

Vocabulary is a core section of language learning. Incidental vocabulary acquisition (IVA) throughreading has been considered as one of the best choices for foreign language learners to acquire and enlargevocabulary knowledge in recent decades. However, IVA through reading is a complex process. It has beenproved that various elements may affect its performance. At present, many researches have been carried outto study possible factors influencing IVA, and some researchers think tolerance of ambiguity (TA) can havesome effects on IVA. The author explored the correlation between TA and IVA and the correlation betweenTA and IVA retention by reading materials with different glossing ways.The subjects were126students from Grade3of a high senior school in Tongwei County, GansuProvince. The Second Language Tolerance of Ambiguity Scale measuring the subjects’ degree of TA andthe Vocabulary Knowledge Scale measuring the subjects’ degree of vocabulary knowledge were employedduring the study. There were two different kinds of glossing ways (Chinese glossing and English glossing)after the materials, and six target words were chosen to acquire incidentally. The research questions weredeveloped as follows:1) Is there any correlation between tolerance of ambiguity and incidental vocabulary acquisition?2) Is there any correlation between tolerance of ambiguity and incidental vocabulary acquisitionretention?3) Does glossing-related difference have an effect on the correlation between tolerance of ambiguityand incidental vocabulary acquisition?4) Does glossing-related difference have an effect on the correlation between tolerance of ambiguityand incidental vocabulary acquisition retention?The scores from the SLTAS and the VKS were used as raw data which were analyzed by PairedSamples Test, Pearson Correlation and One-way ANOVA in SPSS13.0(Statistical Package for the SocialSciences). The results of the present study include:1) There is a statistically significant positive correlation between the subjects’ TA and IVA, and thereare statistically significant differences in terms of IVA between subjects with high level of TA and subjectswith low level of TA.2) There is a statistically significant positive correlation between the subjects’ TA and IVA retention,and there are statistically significant differences in terms of IVA retention between subjects with high level of TA and subjects with low level of TA.3) TA is significantly positively correlated with IVA when glossing is concerned. The correlationbetween TA and IVA is slightly stronger for the Chinese glossing group. Furthermore, there are statisticallysignificant differences in terms of IVA between subjects with high level of TA and subjects with low levelof TA both in the Chinese glossing group and in the English glossing group.4) TA is significantly positively correlated with IVA retention when glossing is concerned. Thecorrelation between TA and IVA retention is slightly stronger for the Chinese glossing group. Furthermore,there are statistically significant differences in terms of IVA retention between subjects with high level ofTA and subjects with low level of TA both in the Chinese glossing group and in the English glossing group.The study gave some teaching and learning implications. Teachers should treat individuals differentlyand perfect their TA appropriately and moderately to have better IVA and its retention through reading.However, the present study also has some limitations.