Study On The Effects Of Different Reading Tasks Based On “Involvement Load Hypothesis” On Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition Of Senior High School Students

Vocabulary is the foundation of language learning and is very important in learner’s language learning process.Due to the heavy study load and time constraints of high school students,finding effective methods and theories to guide their vocabulary learning is essential.By the preliminary literature reading and the experience in M secondary schools in S City,researcher finds that there is a phenomenon of direct explanation of words out of context in teaching,in this way,most students deal with the words with rote memorization,resulting in heavy learning burden and low interest.Therefore,with the help of context,based on the “Involvement Load Hypothesis”,this study investigates students’ incidental vocabulary acquisition effect and the levels of situational interest in different reading tasks,to explore the applicability of the “Involvement Load Hypothesis” in senior high school learners,compare the efficiency of incidental vocabulary acquisition in different reading tasks,and expect to help senior high school learners find effective methods to improve the incidental acquisition of vocabulary.99 students from two classes in S city M Secondary School took part in this study.“Involvement Load Hypothesis”,“Input-Output Hypothesis” and “Noticing Hypothesis” are employed as theoretical basis to investigate students incidental vocabulary acquisition effects and situational interest in four different reading tasks based on “Involvement Load Hypothesis”: a multiple-choice task,a gap filling task,a translation task and a sentence-making task,in order to test “Involvement Load Hypothesis” and explore the difference of students’ situational interest.The two classes were divided into four groups(Experimental Group A,Experimental Group B,Experimental Group C and Experimental Group D)according to students’ mid-term examination results,and using Latin Square Design Method,four reading tasks have been implemented in the four groups.After that,tools such as test papers,questionnaires and SPSS 21.0 were used to analyze the effects of different reading tasks on students’ vocabulary incidental acquisition and the level of situational interest.This study focuses on the following three questions: 1.what are the differences in the vocabulary immediate incidental acquisition and delay retention of reading tasks with different involvement load in senor high school students? 2.What are the differences in the vocabulary immediate incidental acquisition and delay retention of reading tasks with the same involvement load in senor high school students? 3.What are the differences in the effects of different reading tasks based on the“Involvement Load Hypothesis” for senior high school students’ situational interest?The study found that: firstly,among the reading tasks with different involvement loads,the immediate acquisition and delayed retention effects of reading tasks with high input amounts were significantly better than this reading tasks with low involvement loads,which verified the involvement loads hypothesis;secondly,among the reading tasks with the same involvement loads,the effects of reading tasks with different input and output types,“search” and “assessment” elements were not significantly different.There is little difference in the effect of reading tasks,“search” and “assessment” elements on students’ incidental acquisition of vocabulary;thirdly,four different reading tasks based on the “involvement loads hypothesis”had positive effect on students’ situatioanl interest,but there was no significant difference,so high involvement loads do not necessarily produce high situational interest.Three pedagogical insights emerged from the experiment: first,“Involvement Load Hypothesis” can be used to guide and improve the effect of vocabulary teaching in senior high school;secondly,high involvement load reading tasks can be used to enhance incidental vocabulary acquisition;and finally,reading tasks involving target words can be selected or set to help students acquire new words while comprehending the text.