A Comparative Study Of The Effects Of Different Input Modalities On Incidental Vocabulary Knowledge Acquisition For Junior High School Students

In recent years,incidental vocabulary acquisition has been a major area of interest within the field of second language acquisition.Researchers have paid great efforts to find out how incidental vocabulary learning could be achieved and be promoted.Existing studies mainly attach great importance to incidental vocabulary learning through reading input,most of which focus on the acquisition of word meaning.Incidental vocabulary acquisition under different input modalities remains to be further explored because of the contradictory results.Based on working memory and the cognitive theory of multimedia learning,three research questions are specified as follows:1)Which input modality(reading,listening and reading-while-listening)is the most effective way for L2 incidental vocabulary knowledge acquisition and retention?2)What are the effects of different input modalities on three aspects of vocabulary knowledge:word form,part of speech and word meaning?3)What are the students’attitudes toward three input modalities for incidental vocabulary acquisition?The present study sets out to compare the impact of L2 reading,listening and reading-while-listening input on incidental vocabulary acquisition and retention of three aspects of vocabulary knowledge(word form,part of speech and word meaning)with the help of vocabulary knowledge scale,vocabulary knowledge tests and interview.The study included a pilot study,treatment,immediate tests,and delayed tests.The participants were one hundred and five junior high school students in Grade Seven in Baoan district of Shenzhen,who were assigned to three experimental groups:reading group,listening group and reading-while-listening group,35 students for each group respectively.These three experimental groups read,listened to,and read while listened to the same passages and finished the same comprehension task,which made it possible for students to focus on the understanding of selected materials.Later,all participants received the immediate Vocabulary Knowledge Scale and test of three aspects of vocabulary knowledge after the treatment;while the delayed Vocabulary Knowledge Scale and test of three aspects of vocabulary knowledge were conducted two weeks later,with participants uninformed of these tests.Additionally,a semi-structured interview was carried out to explore students’ attitudes toward incidental vocabulary knowledge acquisition under three different input modalities.Based on the results of immediate and delayed Vocabulary Knowledge Scale,immediate and delayed tests of three aspects of vocabulary knowledge,several conclusions can be drawn as follows:1)it is feasible for junior high school students to acquire a certain degree of vocabulary knowledge incidentally through the input of reading,listening and reading-while-listening,and reading-while-listening input has the greatest effect on vocabulary acquisition than reading input and listening input.Nevertheless,there is little difference between reading-while-listening input and reading input.What’s more,listening input is the most beneficial way for vocabulary retention among three input modalities.2)Among three aspects of vocabulary knowledge,the word form is the easiest to acquire in reading,listening and reading-while-listening input,followed by part of speech,and the effect of word meaning incidental acquisition is the worst.3)The qualitative result illustrates that students’ attitudes toward incidental vocabulary acquisition in three different input modalities are mostly positive,and they hold the view that reading-while-listening input can be used more in their daily English learning to acquire vocabulary knowledge.What’s more,word form is the easiest to acquire in incidental vocabulary acquisition compared with part of speech and word meaning.Finally,the author points out the limitations of the present study and puts forward some suggestions for future studies.