A Comparative Study Of Intentional And Incidental Vocabulary Learning For Chinese Non-English Majors

In the field of second language acquisition, there are still no definite answers about how vocabulary can best be learned or taught. Intentional vocabulary learning is deliberate learning of word forms and definition (Nation, 2001). Unlike intentional vocabulary learning, incidental vocabulary learning refers to the occurrence of word acquisition when learners' conscious focus is on understanding the meaning rather than on the goal of vocabulary learning. Many researchers currently take the position in support of incidental vocabulary learning because it is considered to be contextualized, pedagogically efficient, and learner-based. However, some L2 vocabulary research has also highlighted its shortcomings for it can not lead to a long-term retention. Compared with incidental vocabulary learning, intentional vocabulary learning has a great advantage of elaborately learning new words. Learners' attention can be drawn to many aspects of vocabulary at a time. Moreover, semantic aspects of vocabulary acquisition heavily rely on intentional learning processes, with the deeper processing leading to the longer and better retention, which supports the Level of Processing framework presented by Craik and Lockhart (1972) and also the Involvement Load Hypothesis developed by Hulstijn and Laufer (2001).The present thesis aims at investigating the effects of these two approaches to vocabulary learning. Half of the subjects (called the control group) receive incidental vocabulary learning from reading, the other half (called the experimental group) receive the combination of vocabulary instruction with incidental vocabulary learning. Both groups study the same ten target words, and the immediate and delayed vocabulary tests are used to assess their receptive vocabulary knowledge acquired. Also a summary writing test is carried out to identify any significant differences in the productive vocabulary knowledge acquired. The results indicate that the combination of vocabulary instruction with incidental vocabulary learning leads to greater gains, in terms of both the receptive and the productive vocabulary knowledge acquired. Also vocabulary size is a variable in achieving productive vocabulary knowledge in the control group. But in the experimental group, vocabulary size exerts no influence on achieving either the receptive or the productive vocabulary knowledge.By comparing the results of the two groups, the effectiveness of roles of learners' attention, cognitive processing, involvement load, context, learning style and word exposure frequency are examined. It is concluded that in Chinese EFL context, the combination of intentional with incidental vocabulary learning is the more suitable approach for Chinese EFL learners. And Chinese non-English majors of small vocabulary size can benefit more from direct vocabulary instruction and intentional vocabulary learning. Based on these findings, implications for vocabulary teaching and suggestions for more suitable approaches to vocabulary learning of Chinese EFL learners are considered.