On The Impact Of Task Load On Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition In Senior High School English Reading Class

Vocabulary is the building block of a language.In foreign language learning,the number of target language learners is limited.Therefore,in English reading,the acquisition of English words has become a difficult problem for middle school English teachers.Theoretically,input-output theory,attention hypothesis,and processing level theory provide the basis for effective vocabulary incidental acquisition in high school English reading.In practice,some English reading classrooms have conducted a series of experiments based on the Input Quantity Hypothesis(Laufer & Hulstijn,2001),and have presented very enlightening conclusions and suggestions.Based on these theoretical and practical results,and taking into account of the current situation of students’ vocabulary incidental acquisition in domestic high school English reading classrooms,the thesis aims to investigate how to help high school students improve their vocabulary incidental acquisition ability and achieve the best vocabulary incidental acquisition effect through reading instructions.Specifically,this study will focus on the following three questions: 1.What is the current situation of English vocabulary incidental acquisition among high school students? 2.Under the same amount of input,can different reading tasks promote learners’ vocabulary acquisition? 3.Which type of reading task will improve students’ vocabulary incidental acquisition in the best manner?Founded on the Input Quantity Hypothesis,this thesis uses questionnaires,interviews,case designs,and experimental methods to study 145 students in 3 classes of senior high school in H city,Hubei province,for 3 months.Among them,50 students are selected from each of the general classes;the third class,senior class(14),is selected as the experimental class with 45 students,divided equally into three groups for the purpose of the experiment only,and three students are randomly selected from each group for one-on-one interviews at the end of the experiment.The results of the questionnaire survey,interviews,and front-and back-side scores are statistically and analytically analyzed as follows: 1.The overall situation of English vocabulary incidental acquisition among high school students at this stage is poor,and students do not know enough about vocabulary incidental acquisition,nor do they really appreciate the importance of vocabulary incidental acquisition.2.All three types of reading tasks improve students’ vocabulary incidental acquisition with the same amount of input.All students in the experimental class improve their performance on the back side of reading,with the writing group having the fastest improvement on the back side and the translation group having the second highest improvement.3.The extent to which vocabulary incidental acquisition is boosted by different reading task types varies,with the writing group showing higher indices of both demand and search factors than both the translation and reading groups,and vocabulary incidental acquisition is the most prominent performance.Based on the above findings,the study also makes suggestions on the status of vocabulary incidental acquisition,the appropriateness of reading materials,the variety of reading tasks,and the appropriateness of reading skills and vocabulary acquisition in senior high school reading teaching,in order to achieve a positive interaction between the reading ability and vocabulary incidental acquisition of high school students.