Effects Of Listening Task Types And Second Language Proficiency Levels On Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition

In recent years,growing interest had been raised in incidental vocabulary acquisition,and lots of researches have proved that learners can acquire vocabulary incidentally through reading.Given the scarce research on incidental vocabulary acquisition under listening context,especially from the perspectives of receptive and productive vocabulary acquisition respectively,as well as the lack of studies examining the effects of language proficiency on these two aspects,it's necessary to carry out the present study.Based on Involvement Load Hypothesis,this thesis investigates the effects of three listening tasks with varying involvement loads(multiple-choice comprehension with glossed target words relevant to the task,compound dictation with glossed target words relevant to the task,and compound dictation with unglossed target words relevant to the task)and of two language proficiency levels(high-level and low-level)on incidental vocabulary acquisition from the perspectives of receptive and productive vocabulary respectively through an empirical study.The interaction effect between task types and language proficiency levels is also investigated.The subjects chosen for the present study are eight intact classes(4 A Classes and 4 B Classes)of non-English major freshmen from Hunan Institute of Science and Technology.The total number of the subjects is 253.A standard test is conducted in a class randomly selected from the four A Classes and a class randomly selected from the four B Classes,and the result shows that there is significant difference between the two classes' general English proficiency and listening proficiency.Therefore,students from A Classes are regarded as high-level group and those from B Classes as low-level group.The results of one-way ANOVA of subjects' most recent English exam scores show that the four classes in each proficiency level group are homogeneous.There are two sessions of experiment in the present study.The procedures in the two sessions are the same while the materials are not.In each basic group,the three classes are assigned with different tasks,and in the two sessions,the same class doesn't take the same task.The experimental data are collected from post-tests.SPSS 19.0 is used to analyze the results of each post-test.Finally,the main findings are obtained and presented as follows:1)Tasks with different involvement loads do have effects on incidental vocabulary acquisition,and higher involvement load tasks result in better vocabulary acquisition.With regard to receptive vocabulary,the differences between groups are all statistically significant;as for productive vocabulary,compound dictation plus glosses group and compound dictation plus dictionary use group outperform significantly than the listening comprehension group,but there is no significant difference between compound dictation plus glosses group and compound dictation plus dictionary use group.2)Learners' language proficiency levels have effects on incidental vocabulary acquisition,and learners with higher language proficiency obtain better vocabulary acquisition.As for receptive vocabulary,difference between the two groups is statistically significant in the immediate post-test of Session 1 and the delayed post-tests of the two sessions;for productive vocabulary,difference between the two groups is statistically significant in delayed post-tests but not in immediate post-tests.3)There is no significant interaction effect between task types and language proficiency levels.The above findings indicate that according to different aims of vocabulary teaching and learners' different language proficiency levels,the right use of appropriate tasks will substantially promote the vocabulary acquisition.This study further verifies the Involvement Load Hypothesis,and provides implications on vocabulary instruction through listening and teaching materials design.