An Experimental Study On The Effects Of Reading-and-Writing Tasks On Second Language Vocabulary Learning Of Junior School Students

Wang(2011)once pointed out that the effect of foreign language learning depends on the close interconnection of language comprehension and output activities.Therefore,a reading-and-output activity has been proposed by scholars,in most cases manifested in summary writing and continuation task.It remains controversial to author on which output activity is more efficient in English vocabulary learning.Besides,few studies have explored the effects of the second language(L2)proficiency level in English vocabulary acquisition.Therefore,in order to compare the learning effects of different kinds of reading-and-writing tasks on learners with different language proficiency levels,the current research put forward the following questions:(1)What are the effects of different reading-and-writing tasks to L2 vocabulary learning of junior school students at varying aspects,such as word form,meaning and use?(2)What are the differences in learners with different L2 proficiency levels within the same group in terms of word form,meaning and use owing to varied reading-and-writing tasks?In this experiment,60 junior school students from two parallel classes in Guangzhou were selected as the experimental subjects,and they were divided into two parallel groups,one class was the continuation group(CG),the other was the summary writing group(SWG),with 30 in each.According to the L2 proficiency level,the two groups were further divided into high-level group and low-level group,with four groups,each group of 15 people.The whole research procedure lasted six weeks,which includes pre-test,pilot study,teaching training,treatment,post-test,think-aloud and delayed post-test.By comparing the writing performance and the results on vocabulary tests of learners with different L2 proficiency levels in the continuation task and summary writing task,to explore how L2 proficiency level and task type influence participants’ writing performance and vocabulary learning.The results showed that:(1)Continuation task and summary writing can promote L2 vocabulary learning,including word form,meaning,and use.(2)Compared with summary writing,continuation task can effectively promote L2 vocabulary learning,especially in word meaning and use.The test results of word form in the CG are similar to those of the SWG,but the test results of word meaning and use in the CG are higher than those of the SWG.(3)Different reading-and-writing tasks have different effects on learners with different L2 proficiency levels in vocabulary learning.The degree of lexical and phrasal alignment of poor L2 learners is less than those of the good L2 learners.The current research aims to help L2 learners attain a new method of vocabulary learning,and to improve their writing performance accordingly.Besides,the research also hopes to provide some enlightenment for teachers in vocabulary teaching and design.