The Effect Of Output Task-types On The Incidental Acquisition Of L2 Vocabulary

Vocabulary is an important part of language,and thus vocabulary acquisition is very important for second language learners.Vocabulary acquisition,however,is a long and easy to forget process.Therefore,many L2 learners cannot enlarge their vocabulary dramatically,which directly affects their second language level.With the advent of incidental vocabulary acquisition theory,more and more empirical studies have begun to explore effective incidental vocabulary acquisition methods to help L2 learners make great progress in vocabulary.This study investigates the role of output task types in incidental vocabulary acquisition and the role of time and part of speech in mediating task effects.145non-English majors were divided into four groups.After reading the same input material,the four groups completed reading comprehension task(zero-output task),writing task(non-focused output task),reconstruction task(focused output task)and enhanced reconstruction task(strong focused output task)respectively.Subsequently,all the subjects read the input material again,and accepted the immediate post-test,delayed post-test,questionnaire and interview.This study used a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods.All quantitative data are processed by SPSS 24.The results show that: 1)All output tasks can effectively promote the acquisition of receptive vocabulary knowledge,and the higher the focus of the output task,the better the acquisition effect.However,not all output tasks can effectively promote the acquisition of productive vocabulary knowledge.Only the focused output tasks can promote it.The higher the focus of the output task,the better the acquisition effect.2)Except for the zero-output group,the other three output groups have experienced significant memory attrition.In terms of receptive vocabulary knowledge,the speed of forgetting of the strong focused output task(enhanced reconstruction group)is significantly faster than that of the other three groups;the speed of forgetting of the focused output task(reconstruction group)is significantly faster than that of the zero-output group.In terms of productive vocabulary knowledge,the forgetting speedof the focused output task(reconstruction group)is significantly faster than that of the zero-output group only,but there is no significant difference between the three output tasks.3)The effect of receptive vocabulary knowledge acquisition is better than productive vocabulary knowledge acquisition in both immediate acquisition and retention.4)In terms of receptive vocabulary knowledge,only the score of Adverbs is significantly lower than that of Nouns,Verbs and Adjectives,but there is no significant difference between Nouns,Verbs and Adjectives;in terms of productive vocabulary knowledge,the scores of Nouns and Verbs are significantly higher than those of Adjectives and Adverbs.However,there is no significant difference between Nouns and Verbs;neither are Adjectives significantly different from Adverbs.5)No matter it is receptive vocabulary knowledge or productive vocabulary knowledge,there is significant forgetting in all four parts of speech;however,as far as the forgetting rate is concerned,there is no significant difference among them.This study provides empirical data for the L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition effect initiated by output tasks,and also provides some references for L2 vocabulary teaching.Firstly,in teaching process,teachers can combine reading and output tasks,especially focused output tasks,to promote learners’ incidental vocabulary acquisition;secondly,teachers should urge learners to review in time to convert short-term memory to long-term memory;in addition,teachers should strengthen learner’s productive vocabulary knowledge practice;finally,teachers need to guide learners to invest more attention resources on Adjectives and Adverbs.There are three shortcomings in this study.First,this study fails to deeply study the impact of factors such as representational concept and grammatical position hidden behind part-of-speech on incidental vocabulary acquisition;second,this study also fails to prove whether task effects are affected by learners’ L2 level;third,the duration of the study is limited and cannot fully reflect the maintenance of the task effects.