| Vocabulary is a vital part of language learning. How to effectively improve the rate of vocabulary acquisition has been the great concern among the researches on language learning. In the past few decades, incidental vocabulary acquisition(IVA) has become a new method to learn vocabulary. As the by-product of language learning, IVA does not require learners to remember words deliberately by the means of rote memorization, but it can greatly improve the growth of the second language(L2) learners' vocabulary size.Many studies abroad(e.g., Kim, 2006; Rott 2007) find that input enhancement on vocabulary does arouse learners' attention to vocabulary, which has positive effects on vocabulary acquisition. Written input enhancement consists of many forms, such as type size, different fonts, capital letters, boldface, underline, tilt, etc. Also, a substantial body of studies have shown that proper collocation of reading materials with different reading task type can better promote learners' IVA.Incidental acquisition of the word may not contain all the knowledge of the word, for example, learners only acquire the spelling, meaning, or just the property of the word. Nowadays, there are several visible problems in relation to vocabulary teaching in classroom. Firstly, there is not enough effective input of word knowledge, many students can not maintain a deep memory of new words during class hours. Secondly, the majority of students usually have some difficulties in recognizing words or spelling words due to poor acquisition of the target words.The present research adopts the experimental design by means of 2X3 factors, based on Noticing Hypothesis and Involvement Load Hypothesis, probing into the effects of input enhancement and task type on IVA. There are 6 kinds of reading tasks(reading+input enhancement+true or false, reading+input enhancement+filling blanks, reading+ input enhancement+making sentences; reading+true or false, reading+filling blanks, reading+making sentences) in the empirical research, which quantitatively and qualitatively investigates the effects of input enhancement and task type on the immediate and delayed acquisition of vocabulary form and meaning.Input enhancement is highlighted in underline, while task type is reading tasks with different involvement load, with true or false, filling blanks, and making sentences included. The present research mainly concerns the following questions:1. How do input enhancement and task type affect L2 learners' immediate acquisition of vocabulary form and meaning?1) Does input enhancement have significant effects on L2 learners' immediate acquisition of vocabulary form and meaning?2) Does task type have significant effects on L2 learners' immediate acquisition of vocabulary form and meaning?3) Are there any significant interactive effects between input enhancement and task type on L2 learners' immediate acquisition of vocabulary form and meaning?2. How do input enhancement and task type affect L2 learners' delayed acquisition of vocabulary form and meaning?1) Does input enhancement have significant effects on L2 learners' delayed acquisition of vocabulary form and meaning?2) Does task type have significant effects on L2 learners' delayed acquisition of vocabulary form and meaning?3) Are there any significant interactive effects between input enhancement and task type on L2 learners' delayed acquisition of vocabulary form and meaning?Subjects involved in the study are non-English major freshmen from Sichuan International Studies University. They come from two parallel classes, 60 students in each class. Before the trial, independent sample t-test is used to ascertain the overall English proficiency of the two classes is at the same level, and the result shows that two classes are homogeneous in overall English proficiency; All participants take part in the vocabulary level test, and the result indicates that there also exists no significant difference among the two classes regarding the vocabulary level. Each class is randomly divided into three groups and each group of them deals with different reading tasks. The reading material with input enhancement is randomly assigned to one class, and the other reads the material without input enhancement. After finishing the given tasks, they conduct the immediate post-test. A delayed post-test is received two weeks later. It has the same target words but the different order of them. After participants completes all the tests, questionnaire are delivered to them so as to know more about their opinions on IVA. To guarantee the objectivity of the experiment, participants are not told all the vocabulary tests in advance.The raw data is analyzed by the Statistics Package for Social Science(SPSS) 14.0. The major findings are:(1) Input enhancement has positive effects on the form acquisition during a short period of time, however, two weeks later, it's effects are not obvious. Input enhancement can encourage learners to arouse attention to language form, hence, it can strengthen the form acquisition during a short period of time. However, it doesn't have obvious effects on the meaning acquisition.(2) The reading task type with different involvement load has different effects on the immediate and delayed acquisition of vocabulary form and meaning. The task of making sentences contributes more to the form and meaning acquisition than the task of filling blanks and true or false. But as a result of the faded memory, the maintenance of form and meaning acquisition is significantly lowered in a long period of time.(3) Input enhancement and task type show no remarkable interactive effects. Reading tasks without input enhancement can induce form and meaning acquisition, but the effects are not significant; reading tasks with input enhancement can contribute to short-term form and meaning acquisition significantly, but the maintenance is not good in a long period of time.(4) Subjects involved in different tasks groups have shown positive attitude towards leaning vocabulary by means of IVA and have affirmed its great significance in enlarging vocabulary size.Input enhancement and task type do have positive effects on IVA, whose practical guidance for vocabulary acquisition is verified and enriched by the present study. Suggestions on the effective method of teaching and learning L2 vocabulary have been summarized as follows: First of all, the positive effects of input enhancement of IVA can not be neglected, teachers should highlight words according to different scenarios. Moreover, teachers are supposed to design different types of reading tasks contingent upon vocabulary acquisition knowledge on various dimensions, for achieving the optimization effects of L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition. In addition, in view of the forgetting discipline on vocabulary retention, teachers should design different context to urge learners to encounter the recurrence of target words so as to check and consolidate the word retention effects. Finally the article points out the limitations of this study and also puts forward some suggestions for future research. |
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