An Experimental Study On Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition In Reading And Writing Based On Involvement Load Hypothesis

Vocabulary is very important for foreign language learning and also plays a significant role in communicating with others.To a certain extent,learners will have incidental vocabulary acquisition while strengthening other language skills.For second language learners,learning other language skills and acquiring words at the same time will inevitably make them feel more effective and interesting.Therefore,the research on incidental vocabulary acquisition has been fruitful in recent years.There are many theories about incidental vocabulary acquisition,but “the involvement load hypothesis” proposed by Laufer and Hulstijin(2001)has been widely accepted.The theory holds that the higher the task involvement is,the better the vocabulary retention is.In other words,it means the effects of incidental vocabulary acquisition will be better.Therefore,tasks of the study will also be designed based on “the involvement load hypothesis”.Many studies on incidental vocabulary acquisition at home and abroad focus on reading,but as the authors of “incidental vocabulary acquisition”,Nagy,Herman and Anderson(1985)believe that reading is not sufficient in providing new information,and writing,as an output task,is also an important means to promote incidental vocabulary acquisition.In recent years,research on incidental vocabulary acquisition of writing and reading tasks has been increasing gradually.Therefore,the study will design tasks on the basis of “involvement load hypothesis”(by controlling the writing task and the reading task with the same involvement load),so as to conduct further research on the effects of incidental vocabulary acquisition by comparing reading asks and writing tasks.The study will give responses to three questions as the following:1.With the same involvement load of the writing and the reading task,which task is better for learners’ incidental vocabulary acquisition in the immediate test?2.In the delayed test,which task is better for learners’ incidental vocabulary acquisition?3.What are the differences between the reading task and the writing task as for retention of vocabulary?In order to answer these questions,the researcher do the experiment.The subjects of thestudy are 64 students from two classes in Grade 1 of Datong Yungang District Experimental Senior High School.They are divided into a reading group and a writing group respectively.In the immediate test,both groups can get eight target words when they are doing the task.After finishing tasks,all of the materials should be taken back.And then teachers give VKS away,and subjects should hand in VKS after filling in blacks on VKS.The delayed test should be carried out a week later.And subjects just need to fill in blacks on VKS again.The study combines experiments with interviews.Moreover,data of the study are analyzed by the software SPSS 19.0.Results of the study show that effects of incidental vocabulary acquisition for the writing task are better than the reading task whether in the immediate test or in the delayed test,when there is the same involvement load.And after a week,retention of vocabulary for the writing task and the reading task goes down obviously,but the difference between the writing task and the reading task for retention of target words(during the same period of the time)is not evident.The research provides some implications and help for teaching vocabulary in the future.At the same time,results of the research overturn the involvement load hypothesis.Because with the same involvement load of tasks,effects of incidental vocabulary acquisition should have been the same.Therefore,the involvement load hypothesis deserves to be further investigated or testified.