Research On Implicit Learning And Its Transfer Effect Of Semantic Prosody Of English Synonyms

Implicit learning refers to the process in which people unconsciously acquire complex knowledge in stimulating environment,and it is an important mechanism for human language acquisition.Previous studies have shown that people can acquire collocational meanings(e.g.,semantic prosody)of a second language implicitly.On this basis,this study investigates the implicit learning of semantic prosody of English synonyms by Chinese learners and the unconscious transfer of acquired semantic prosody knowledge.In theory,the investigation of the above issues can provide further evidence for the implicit learning mechanisms of second language vocabulary and the flexibility of implicit knowledge.In practice,this study can provide new ideas for the teaching and learning of second language vocabulary.Two experiments were conducted in the present study.Experiment 1 investigated whether Chinese learners could acquire the semantic prosody of English synonyms implicitly.In experiment 1a,a single factor between-subject design was used to investigate the implicit learning of semantic prosody of English synonyms by using subjective awareness measure.In experiment 1b,a single factor between-subject design was used to investigate the implicit learning of semantic prosody of English synonyms by using objective awareness measure.Experiment 2 investigated whether people can unconsciously transfer the acquired semantic prosody knowledge to other domains besides language.In experiment 2a,a single factor within-subject design was used to investigate whether the implicitly acquired semantic prosody knowledge can unconsciously affect people's evaluation of events.In experiment 2b,a single factor within-subject design was used to investigate whether the implicitly acquiredsemantic prosody knowledge can unconsciously affect people's evaluation of others' impression.The results of experiment 1 showed that the overall percentage of correct response of the experimental group was significantly higher than the control group and chance level,indicated that the participants have acquired the knowledge of semantic prosody.And both the subjective awareness measure(experiment 1a)and the objective awareness measure(experiment 1b)indicated that the knowledge acquired by the participants was unconscious.The results of experiment 2 showed that the score of the events modified by positive semantic prosody was significantly higher than those modified by negative semantic prosody(experiment 2a),and the score of the impression modified by positive semantic prosody was significantly higher than those modified by negative semantic prosody(experiment 2b),indicated that the participants can transfer the acquired semantic prosody knowledge to new materials.And the results of verbal reports and structural knowledge attributions showed that the participants unconsciously transfer the acquired semantic prosody knowledge to the evaluation of events and impression of others.Based on the results of this study,the mainly conclusions were as follows:(1)Chinese learners can implicitly acquire the semantic prosody of English synonyms.(2)Learners can unconsciously transfer the acquired semantic prosody knowledge to the evaluation of events and impression of others.