A Study Of The Effects Of Focused Output Task Type On Junior High Middle School Students' English Incidental Vocabulary Learning

English Curriculum Criteria claims that middle school students should acquire the usage of vocabulary.However,there is a huge gulf between the real situation of vocabulary learning and the requirement of English Curriculum Criteria.Therefore,the present study aims at examining different effects between the focused writing retelling task(FWRT)and the focused free writing task(FFWT)on middle school students' EFL incidental vocabulary learning(IVL)in order to facilitate their EFL IVL.Three research questions were designed for the present study.They are presented as followings:(1)Do FWRT and FFWT have differences on effects of the instant learning of incidental EFL vocabulary?If so,what is the significant difference between them?(2)Do FWRT and FFWT have differences on effects of the incidental EFL vocabulary retention?If so,what is the significant difference between them?(3)How does focused output tasks(FOT)affect the incidental EFL vocabulary learning?To answer these three questions,two parallel classes from Grade 7,85 middle school students,as research objects from a junior high middle school in Da Gang,Tian Jin,took part in the research.In Empirical Class A,44 students were assigned with FWRT,and in Empirical Class B,41 students were assigned with FFWT.The experiment consisted of 3 stages:the pretests(which contains the reading proficiency level pretest and the vocabulary proficiency one),the experimental treatment and the vocabulary post-tests(which contains the vocabulary instant post-tests and the vocabulary delayed ones).First of all,the participants were asked to participant in a pretest to make sure that there were no significant differences at their reading comprehension level and their vocabulary level before the experiment.Then two experimental classes were conducted experiment treatment:first they read a short essay and then finished writing tasks,then the materials were collected immediately.At last,post-tests were conducted:first,an instant post-test was given immediately after the completions of tasks;a week later a delayed post-test was given.The researcher then with two professional middle school teachers scored their tests.After the delayed post-test,all subjects were asked to finish a questionnaire to make a further investigation about their attitudes.Finally,12 of the subjects from two experimental classes were selected to make an interview to make a further investigation for the research.Data was collected immediately and then was analyzed by SPSS 19.0.The results from the data analysis revealed the following findings:First,there is a significant difference between two tasks on students,instant EFL IVL,and FWRT is more effective on learners'EFL IVL.Second,there is no significant difference between two tasks on students' retention of EFL IVL,these two tasks are both effective on students' retention of EFL IVL.Third,tasks have not only helped them to acquire the meanings of new words,the spellings of new words were also learned.Besides,tasks have also facilitated their reading and writing abilities.The research findings not only support claims of related studies that FWRT can be used to roar learners' EFL IVL,but also extend the research objects and theoretical application.Finally,it is suggested that teachers are expected to properly apply some writing tasks to the improvement of students' lexical acquisition.