The Effects Of Task Type And Task-induced Involvement Load On Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition For EFL Learners Through Listening

Laufer&Hulstijn put forward task-induced Involvement Load Hypothesis from the perspective of motivational and cognitive dimension.After Involvement Load Hypothesis was proposed,studies concentrating on Involvement Load Hypothesis abroad and at home present an increasing developmental trend.But in terms of content investigated,there exists extremely disbalance.Studies on incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading are richest.While studies on incidental vocabulary acquisition through listening,speaking and writing are far behind studies through reading.Although the issue that reading context is most beneficial for incidental vocabulary acquisition has been examined and supported by lots of researchers e.g.Huckin&Coady,Schmitt,Fukkink,Blok&Glopper,Gass&Selinker.However,the same as reading,listening,speaking and writing are language learning skills.Thus,this study aims to investigate incidental vocabulary acquisition through listening.In Laufer&Hulstijn’s study,they did not explore the issue whether task type affected incidental vocabulary acquisition from the perspective of theory and they also did not make a survey related the issue whether task type affected incidental vocabulary acquisition.They made a prediction that task type may not affect incidental vocabulary acquisition and any output task may not lead to better results than any input task.What is more,they predicted that higher degrees of involvement load in a word induced by the task(natural or artificial)would result in better retention regardless of whether it is an input or an output task.But that needs to be further examined.At present,large amount of researches have designed two types of tasks,input type(receptive type)and output type(productive type)usually with higher degrees of involvement load.At the same time,when the effects of task type on incidental vocabulary acquisition are surveyed,the answer that whether involvement load is the only factor in learning task affecting incidental vocabulary acquisition can be found.Therefore,on the basis of above reasons,this study conducts an empirical study on exploring Involvement Load Hypothesis through listening context.Based on the theory Input Hypothesis,Output Hypothesis,Depth of Processing Theory and especially Involvement Load Hypothesis,this study aims to answer the following questions by making a survey.Question 1:Whether there is the same effects of different task type(input type/output type)with the same involvement load on incidental vocabulary acquisition?Question 2:What is the effects of task type on short-term memory and long-term memory(words retention)?Question 3:Whether the task with higher degrees of involvement load has better effects on incidental vocabulary acquisition than the task with lower degrees of involvement load through listening?Question 4:What is the effects of involvement load on short-term memory and long-term memory(word retention)?For answering the above questions,the author carries out a research which consists of 67 freshmen of English major as participants.And listening exercises and Wesche&Paribakht’s Vocabulary Knowledge Scale are applied as instruments.By analyzing collected data using Paired Sample T Test and ANAOVA with SPSS 21.0,the following conclusions are gotten:(1)Different task type with same involvement load has the same effects on incidental vocabulary acquisition.(2)Task type does not affect retention of vocabulary.That is short-term memory and long-term memory of vocabulary acquisition are not affected by task type.(3)The issue that task with higher degrees of involvement load has better effects on incidental vocabulary acquisition than the task with lower degrees of involvement load through listening is not absolutely.It should be partial right.(4)Involvement load only affects short-term memory but long-term memory of incidental vocabulary acquisition.The survey results of this study prove that the wide usage of Involvement Load Hypothesis and correctness of Laufer&Hulstijn’s prediction of effects of task type on incidental vocabulary acquisition.According to survey results,the author proposes some constructive advice in terms of English vocabulary teaching.