The Effects Of The Modality Of Output On Chinese EFL Learners' Vocabulary Learning

This study intends to investigate and compare the effects of different modalities of output on Chinese EFL(English as a foreign Language)learners' vocabulary learning.The different modalities of output refer to written output and oral output.In the present study,they are realized respectively through individual written retelling and individual oral retelling.The vocabulary learning is operationalized as the receptive and productive vocabulary acquisition and retention of the EFL learners.95 university students,majoring in Business English from three intact classes,participated in the study.They were divided into three groups,namely the individual written retelling(Written Output)group with 31 students,the individual oral retelling(Oral Output)group with 35 students and the reading group with 29 students.The three groups were asked to complete respectively an individual written retelling task,an individual oral retelling task and a reading task.Then,they all needed to take receptive and productive vocabulary posttests respectively immediately after and one week after finishing the tasks.The scores of the posttests were entered into SPSS 17.0 and a one-way ANOVA was performed to analyze the data.Data analysis revealed that : 1)the Written Output group got higher mean scores than the reading group did in all of the receptive and productive posttests and also all the mean differences achieved significance;2)The mean scores of the Oral Output group in the two receptive and productive posttests were also higher than those of the reading group.Significant differences were also achieved in all the posttests;3)The Written Output group,compared with Oral Output group,led to higher mean scores in all of the posttests,yet significant differences were only identified in the first receptive and productive posttest,not in the second one.Based on the above findings,the study draws the following conclusions: 1)Written Output and Oral Output can both lead to significantly improved effects on L2 learners' receptive and productive vocabulary acquisition and retention compared with reading;2)Written Output can bring about more L2 overall vocabulary learning than Oral Output can do,although statistically it cannot lead to significantly better effects on L2 receptive and productive vocabulary retention.This provides empirical evidence to Wolff's(2000)argument on the superiority of writing(written output)over speaking(oral output)in promoting language learning.