The Effects Of Different Post-reading Tasks On Incidental Idioms Acquisition Of Senior High School Students

Incidental acquisition is of importance in vocabulary acquisition,which proposed that vocabulary can be incidentally acquired.After numerous studies,researchers have confirmed positive effect of tasks on incidental acquisition.In order to better utilize the promotion effect of tasks,Laufer and Hulstijin put forward the Involvement Load Hypothesis,combining motivation and cognitive factors to grade tasks,predicted that tasks with higher involvement load give rise to better performance in vocabulary acquisition and retention.Based on ILH,the current study explores the effects of post-reading tasks on incidental idioms acquisition by senior high school students.Three tasks were designed: read and gap-filling,read and sentence-making,read and sentence-translating.The involvement load was higher in reading and sentence-making and sentence-translating than that of reading and gap-filling task,while read and sentence-making has the same involvement load with read and sentence-translating.The research questions are as follows:1.What are the effects of different post-reading tasks on idioms acquisition in the immediate post-test?2.What are the effects of different post-reading tasks on idioms acquisition in the delayed post-test?3.What is the difference between immediate effects and delayed effects on idioms acquisition for each task?86 students in a rural senior high school were invited as participants.Their recent scores were used to split them into three groups.They read the same material,completed corresponding tasks in the same time period.After finishing tasks,they received the immediate post test,and then the 10 days delayed post test.After that,6 participants were interviewed,which was conducted to supplement and analyze data.SPSS 24.0 was the tool to analyze data,and the results reveal:(1)For immediate effect of idioms acquisition,tasks of higher involvement load(read and sentence making and sentence-translating)exerted better performance than lower one(read and gap-filling task)with statistical significance,while tasks with same involvement load(sentence-making and sentence-translating)didn’t show significant difference.(2)For delayed effect of idioms acquisition,tasks with higher involvement load was still dominant,but for tasks with the same involvement load,read and sentence-making task performed significantly better than read and sentence-translating task.(3)From IT to DT,All groups exhibited a substantial idioms loss,with the sentence-making task retaining best.The ILH has been confirmed in tasks with different involvement load.The higher involvement load,the better incidental acquisition effect.However,its validity for tasks with same involvement load needs further modification and improvement.The current study possesses theoretical and pedagogical significance.Theoretically,it provided more empirical evidence and proposed suggestions to supplement criteria for ILH.Practically,it offers book editors and instructors more effective and flexible methods to facilitate students ’ idioms acquisition and consolidate idioms retention on the incidental learning process.