Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Incidental vocabulary acquisition'

This study examined incidental receptive and productive vocabulary gains within conversation-class interactions. Eleven Mexican learners of English attended four videotaped conversation lessons where 40 target words were incorporated in different types of exposure. Stimulated recall interviews with students highlighted the effect of cognates, learners' access to passive vocabulary, and use of their vocabulary knowledge in learning related words. Posttests revealed a correlation between frequency and receptive/productive gains. Mean scores showed that words mentioned with synonyms were learned most often, followed by task-essential words and last those mentioned without explanation. A two-way ANCOVA revealed main effects for cognates, and a statistical interaction between cognate status and types of exposure. A statistical correlation was found between receptive and productive gains. Aptitude scores correlated with productive gains but not with receptive gains. The results provide implications for ESL teachers who consider incidental learning of vocabulary within their conversation lessons.

In order to learn a language, it is important to develop a vocabulary because it facilitates the language skills: reading, listening, writing and speaking. According to the Swedish curriculum, students must be able to develop these skills in English. However, the national tests show that students have poor results in reading and reading comprehension in English. Therefore, as future teachers of languages in Sweden, we chose to investigate how students can develop and strengthen their vocabulary through reading. Our research questions are: What cognitive processes and strategies are used when learning vocabulary? What does research say about incidental vocabulary learning through reading? What relationship does vocabulary have with reading comprehension? We have answered our questions by synthesizing and analyzing empirical studies which have been divided into two categories: cognitive processes and strategies, and vocabulary acquisition through reading. The findings show that, when encountering new vocabulary, learners use memory, determination, social and metacognitive strategies. Learning vocabulary happens both incidentally and intentionally and during this procedure words go through cognitive processes that determine where in our knowledge system they belong but this procedure can be affected by both internal and external factors. Results show that learners find reading and reading while listening to be a good method of learning vocabulary and these approaches also show good results in incidental vocabulary acquisition. Learners acquire new vocabulary incidentally through reading but the number of words they learn varies greatly. Learner’s prior vocabulary knowledge and the level of the target text is important for the outcome of new vocabulary acquisition. If the learner does not have an adequate prior vocabulary, associations and connections cannot be made and coherence not completed. In summary, the relationship between incidental vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension is mutually beneficial. Reading provides context during a learner’s integration process and this leads to comprehension and vocabulary growth. There is a reciprocal relationship between comprehension and vocabulary growth, where both build on one another. However, since all the empirical studies did not take the same factors into consideration, the results have varied. In other words, external and internal factors can have a major impact on incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading. We suggest further research to investigate these factors in order to get a clearer picture of how we as teachers can improve strategies and instructions for vocabulary acquisition through reading.

There are many advantages to learning a foreign language, such as a better understanding of another culture, a better chance of employment, as well as metalinguistic and cognitive benefits. Unfortunately, language learning can be a long and difficult process, partly because of the amount of words necessary to achieve fluency in a language. However, informal exposure to languages can help language learning. The aim of this thesis was to explore the impact of informal exposure on the incidental acquisition of foreign language vocabulary with complete beginners in a foreign language. This was investigated in the context of multi-modal situations including verbal (auditory and written) and pictorial information. The first study investigated the acquisition of foreign language vocabulary through watching a film with subtitles, as well as the processing of subtitles using eye-tracking. In the second study, a simpler multi-modal situation (one spoken and written foreign language word form along with a line drawing depicting the meaning of the word) was used to investigate incidental vocabulary acquisition. In addition, this study investigated the use of a potentially more sensitive measure of early vocabulary learning based on the savings paradigm. The third study reported in this thesis explored the number of exposures to multi-modal stimuli necessary for incidental learning to occur. The fourth study, explored the type of connections resulting from the multi-modal incidental learning situation in the context of the current models of FL word learning. Finally, in the fifth study, the allocation of attention to the verbal and pictorial elements of the multi-modal situation were investigated using eye-tracking, as well as the impact of attention on vocabulary acquisition. The results of the studies presented in this thesis showed that incidental acquisition of foreign language vocabulary happens rapidly during a simple multi-modal situation, and that the pictorial information plays an important role. Furthermore, this type of situation was shown to be effective even with complete beginners in a foreign language and therefore could be exploited to promote informal language learning.

The importance of vocabulary knowledge gained through incidental learning is well documented. The growth of incidental vocabulary knowledge is especially crucial for middle school students due to the complex words encountered in their studies. However, research on incidental vocabulary acquisition for middle school students is lacking. The purpose of this study was to compare the relative effectiveness of three instructional conditions (reading, writing, and reading and writing) on incidental vocabulary acquisition and retention with middle school students in an English as a first language (L1) environment. In this within subjects repeated measure study, 263 eighth-grade participants received treatment in three instructional conditions with three differing levels of involvement load. Data from 2,893 individual student measures were used to evaluate the influence of instructional conditions on incidental vocabulary acquisition and retention. Analysis of mixed-effects models showed that participant scores on the reading and writing condition were consistently higher than the writing only or the reading only condition. These results indicate that instructional tasks with higher involvement loads (e.g., reading and writing or writing) offer benefits to L1 middle school students for the incidental vocabulary acquisition necessary to be academically successful.

In recent years, advances in computer technology have allowed increasingly rich multimedia content to be incorporated into educational materials in many fields, including the field of language teaching. Yet as visually appealing as such products may be, we must ask whether multimedia-enriched materials actually improve learning in a measurable way. If so, individual curriculum makers can then decide whether the benefits of the multimedia materials justify the cost of purchasing and implementing them. This study attempted to examine the effects of multimedia glossary aids on incidental vocabulary acquisition rates of L2 learners of Japanese. Subjects included 35 third- and fourth-year students of Japanese at a large private university in the United States, who read a Japanese short story using an online web application that included a multimedia-enriched glossary. A total of 27 keywords were selected from the text for inclusion in the glossary. A third were annotated with English text definitions only; another third had an English text definition plus a picture illustration; the final third had an English text definition plus a video illustration. An unannounced post-test measured vocabulary gains. A logistic mixed models regression was performed to test for differences in acquisition rate across the annotation types. Also, due to the unique dual nature of Japanese orthography, which includes both the phonemic kana and so-called ideographic kanji characters, the regression also examined interaction between orthographic representation of the keyword and annotation type on acquisition rate. A significant result (p<0.0001) was found for annotation type as a main effect, with video-annotated words showing the highest acquisition rates. Additionally, a significant interaction (p=0.0139) was observed between orthography and annotation type, indicating that multimedia glossary annotations may have affected the acquisition of phonemic kana representations of keywords differently than they affected ideographic kanji representations.

Based on the survey of Chinese students in a Sweden university,the present study finds out that Chinese EFL learners at a low level can benefit from incidental English vocabulary acquisition through reading aided by glosses, that they prefer glosses in reading materials, and whether Chinese gloss and English gloss differ in effectiveness on incidental vocabulary learning.

Several studies have been made in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) regarding incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading. However, the majority have focused on the meaning of a word to measure complete acquisition. Nation (2001) argues that there are three main criteria for knowing a word, namely form, meaning and use, and it is not until all three criteria are met that one acquires new vocabulary. Therefore, we chose to create a study which focuses on incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading, but that focuses on three sub-criteria of Nation’s three main ones, namely recognition, association and collocation. In a previous study (Erlandsson and G. Wallgren 2017) we concluded that higher vocabulary knowledge contributes to better reading comprehension. Additionally, researchers (Horst et al. 1998; Day et al. 1991; Zahar et al. 2001; Waring and Takaki 2003; Pigada and Smith 2006, and Zhao et al. 2016) have also brought up several factors, such as learners’ prior proficiency level and word frequency, that can affect the outcome of incidental vocabulary acquisition. Therefore, we decided to investigate what impact these two factors have as well.  Our research questions are: How much vocabulary is learnt incidentally through reading, and how do proficiency and word frequency affect incidental vocabulary acquisition? These questions were answered through a study made in a classroom environment with students in the 8th grade. We were inspired by a study made by Waring and Takaki (2003) who focused on two main criteria for knowing a word, form and meaning. Our study was done through reading nine chapters from the novel Holes by Louis Sachar (2001) and to determine the degree to which rate word frequency played a part in incidental vocabulary acquisition, 24 words were chosen within four different ranges of word frequency (ranging between two occurrences to 39 occurrences in the text). These 24 words were then replaced with substitute words to ensure that each test word was new to the participants. First, the participants completed a reading comprehension test to establish the participants’ reading proficiency levels in English. They were later asked to read the chapters containing the substitute words. Directly after the reading exercise, the participants completed a vocabulary acquisition test. The vocabulary acquisition test consisted of three parts that focused on recognition (word recognition), association (multiple choice) and collocation (putting the target words in a context). Results show that words are acquired incidentally through reading. Our findings show a positive correlation between high reading proficiency levels and a higher amount of words acquired. The findings also indicate a positive correlation between words within a higher frequency range with a higher chance of being acquired. Furthermore, we also observed that substitute words with low frequency in some situations had a higher uptake than those words with a higher frequency. After this observation we tried to explain the anomaly by looking into the textual context of the surrounding words and found a potential explanation in the fact that the low frequency words had very descriptive surroundings.

This study examines an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teacher's speech throughout one curricular unit of an intermediate grammar and writing course in order to better understand which high-value vocabulary students might acquire through attending to the teacher and noticing words that are used. Vocabulary acquisition is important for English for Academic Purposes students, given the vocabulary demands of academic language. The Academic Word List (Coxhead, 2000) has been shown to include important vocabulary in written academic texts, and has become a standard part of English for Academic Purposes curricula and pedagogical materials. Although explicit vocabulary instruction is important, research has shown that large amounts of vocabulary may be acquired incidentally by attending to meaning. Classroom instruction provides a great deal of input, and could potentially offer a chance for students to encounter and begin to learn academic vocabulary through incidental acquisition. However, existing research on incidental vocabulary acquisition in classrooms has focused on adult instruction and English as a Foreign Language settings, resulting in a lack of evidence about English for Academic Purposes classrooms. To respond to these needs, this study analyzes the occurrence and repetition of Academic Word List items in the teacher's speech throughout two weeks of a course in an intensive academic English program in the United States. Two weeks of naturalistic class recordings from the Multimedia Adult Learner Corpus were transcribed and analyzed using the RANGE program to find the number of academic vocabulary types in the teacher's speech and how often they were repeated. Additionally, I derived categories of classroom topics and coded the transcribed speech in order to investigate the connection between topics and academic word use. Academic Word List items are present in the teacher's speech, although they do not constitute a large proportion overall, only 2.8% of the running words. Most of the AWL types relate to specific classroom topics or routines. There are 13 AWL types repeated to a high degree, and 26 AWL types repeated to a moderate degree. These items are the most likely candidates for incidental vocabulary acquisition, though there is evidence from the videos that most of the students already understand their general meanings. It is unlikely that students could learn a great deal about AWL items that they were not already familiar with. However, it is possible that the teacher's speech provides incremental gains in AWL word knowledge. These findings show that there may be a substantial number of AWL items that students learn about even before explicitly studying academic vocabulary. Teachers should try to draw out students' familiarity with these forms when explicitly teaching AWL vocabulary in order to connect familiar words with their academic meanings and uses.

As a result of the increase of digitalisation in today’s society, the Swedish school system requires a certain degree of digital competence amongst teachers, affecting the foundation of how their teaching practice is structured. Therefore, this study aims to investigate to what extent Swedish EFL/ESL teachers in the primary years incorporate digital tools in their teaching practice, and more specifically how – and why – they are used to facilitate learners’ vocabulary acquisition/learning. In this qualitative study, five Swedish EFL/ESL teachers in the primary years participated. The five participants work at five different schools, in three different municipalities. The empirical data was collected through semi-structured interviews. The results of these indicate that vocabulary drills, generally given as homework, are the primary method of teaching English vocabulary to the EFL/ESL learners, requiring them to learn consciously and intentionally. Moreover, the results imply that a variation of tasks and teaching tools, as well as a frequency in exposure of content, is necessary for beneficial vocabulary acquisition/learning. Further, it is evident that digital tools have a profitable effect on learners’ motivation and consequently their learning. Finally, it is clear that what matters when incorporating digital tools is how they are used, rather than that they are used.

Considerable worldwide research has investigated incidental vocabulary learning from L2 reading, yet so far nothing has been published about the actual learning that comes from reading various texts. This study investigated incidental lexical growth and retention by Libyan university EFL majors who were involved in a two-month ER programme. Their vocabulary gain was measured 1 week after the participants completed the Extensive Reading (ER) programme, 2 weeks later and 9 months later. The value of this study is that it used an innovative approach, which was developed from a research design by Horst (2005). This included the electronic scanning of books and lexical frequency profiling, helping the researcher to create individualised corpus profiles from the entire set of different texts the participants read. This data was then used to select target words for each participant. The methodology was an experimental case study, which entailed an experimental and control group design. The participants were EFL learners who studied English as their subject of specialisation in one of eight Libyan state universities. An original number of 80 participants were randomly selected from the entire population in the English Language Department and assigned equally between the experimental and control groups. However, due to the fact that this study was carried out in very anomalous circumstances (during the Libyan uprising, which started on 15/02/2011), the number of participants who successfully completed the ER programme was affected (18 participants in each group). The study showed that by using a corpus analysis strategy, it was feasible to measure learners’ individualised pre-post treatment acquisition of the vocabulary they encountered in a large number of ER graded texts. The findings of the study demonstrate that ER significantly improved the Libyan EFL learners’ incidental vocabulary acquisition. By the end of the study, it was found that about the third of the target words had been acquired by the participants at both receptive and productive levels of knowledge. The findings further indicate that word repetition was an important factor for an incidental pick up of vocabulary from the ER. In relation to long-term retention rate of learning, the findings suggest that incidental word knowledge, acquired through ER, significantly declines over time.

This study establishes the preferences for vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs) in different contexts, by examining two groups of learners of Arabic (one with L1 English and the other with L1 Chinese) as an L2. The first and second experiments were designed to identify the selection and use of VLSs in intentional and incidental modes of vocabulary learning, and to examine the effects of VLSs on immediate and delayed word retention. The third experiment (eye-tracking) explored these strategies in depth, alongside the behaviours utilised for incidental vocabulary acquisition, also assessing the factors influencing be VLS use, using the eye tracking technique to aid stimulated verbal recall. A mixed methods design was used, based on triangulating the findings from quantitative (vocabulary tests and retrospective reporting of strategies) and qualitative (interviews and stimulated recall interviews using eye-tracking) data collection instruments. The study identified a list of VLSs that were used in both modes, and these were then systematically classified into four vocabulary learning categories. The quantitative data revealed a number of strategies were vulnerable to the significant effects from predictor variables; i.e., group, mode of learning, and test time. The quantitative data also showed a significant relationship between the VLSs used and the uptake of vocabulary type (noun/verb) and subtypes (concrete/abstract noun & action/state verb) in post and delayed post-test tasks. The qualitative data highlighted different ways of implementing VLS, especially with strategies identified in the incidental mode, such as guessing strategies, and repeated reading. The findings showed further interesting variations in the vocabulary gained, confirming that VLSs are conscious and essential in both modes of learning (intentional/incidental). The implications of these findings as they effect learning and teaching in the intentional and incidental context are presented and discussed.

One can argue that songs offer a useful learning opportunity for learning English as a second language since it includes the combination of music and text. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine in what ways songs can affect the ESL classroom. The aim is further to compare and apply the findings to a Swedish upper secondary school context to examine how development can take place for ESL learners in Sweden. Moreover, the approach to this study consisted of a literaturereview of articles within the research area, which were used to answer the two research questions: To what extent can the use of songs in the ESL classroom stimulate incidental vocabulary learning?Additionally, what are other potential benefits from using songs in the ESL classroom? The results were unified regarding the main question of songs and vocabulary acquisition; all findings included positive effects of songs on incidental vocabulary learning and retention of new words. Moreover, implementing songs in the ESL classroom showed more positive attitudes towards school among students and teachers; in addition, the results indicated on a decrease regarding anxiety and stress among the learners. Furthermore, the Swedish National Curriculum emphasizes the importance of a positive classroom environment for the learners, and the syllabus for English requires a variety of texts, in which songs can offer useful learning conditions for vocabulary acquisition. Therefore, the song-based approach is presented as suitable for a Swedish upper secondary classroom.

In this research project the question is raised whether it is possible to detect and analyse differences between incidental and intentional vocabulary acquisition within a traditional, systematic teaching setting of German as an L3. The ten par-ticipating Swedish students at the upper secondary level worked with two differ-ent German newspaper articles in two different ways. One set of lessons focused mainly on textual content (incidental learning) while the other involved both dis-cussions about the contents of the text and explicit vocabulary practice (inten-tional learning). The students were later tested on four separate occasions using a self-report-test involving 16 pre-tested words. The two main research questions are: How many of the encountered words will the students recall and what depth of knowledge does this recall represent? Results point to a very limited vocabu-lary acquisition through incidental learning compared to the acquisition through intentional learning which gave a higher score. The overall tendency is for ac-quired vocabulary knowledge to change over time and more so if intentionally acquired. This raises a further question: How much and what kind of work in-volving texts is needed in the classroom for long lasting vocabulary acquisition, incidental or intentional, to take place? Furthermore the results indicate that the self-report test used in the research project shows deficiencies regarding validity as well as reliability issues, which puts further focus on the test methods used in educationally applied vocabulary acquisition research.

碩士
國立清華大學
外國語文學系
94
In terms of incidental vocabulary learning, reading is commonly regarded as the major source of vocabulary acquisition for both L1 and L2 learners. Extensive reading then is encouraged as a means of enhancing vocabulary knowledge. Apart from the advantage of vocabulary acquisition, as long as the reading is comprehensible, the learners will also acquire knowledge of grammar and improvement of the four skills, listening, speaking, reading and writing (Krashen, 1989; Cho & Krashen, 1994). Hence, it is suggested that through reading, learners can gain both receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge. Nevertheless, some researchers have argued that reading cannot be the only source of language acquisition; output, such as speaking and writing, should also play some role in the language learning process (Swain, 1985; Swain & Lapkin, 1995). Some studies have found an asymmetric processing of receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge, based on the types of tasks done by learners. Most of these studies investigated the results of vocabulary gains in view of the learning order of the language, either from L1 to L2 order or from L2 to L1 order. These kinds of tasks did not represent incidental vocabulary acquisition since the main goal of the tasks was vocabulary learning. In addition, most of the instruments used in the studies were translation only. Owing to the inconsistencies in the empirical results and the lack of measurement of productive vocabulary knowledge, this study, therefore, was conducted to explore the effects of input and output tasks on incidental vocabulary acquisition. There were two groups in this study, one doing only the input task and the other emphasizing output. The input task included reading, word-definition matching, translation, and reading comprehension questions. These exercises did not require learners to produce the English words at all. For the output group, the exercises were reading and compositions. After reading an article, learners needed to write compositions using all the target words. There were 50 target words and the treatments lasted 8 weeks. Sixty-seven EFL first year senior high school students from two classes were recruited to participate in the study. In order to randomly assign the tasks, half the students in each class were in the input task group and the other half in the output task group. A pretest, five immediate and delayed posttests, and final receptive and productive posttests were used as the instruments in this study. Receptive vocabulary knowledge was measured by an adaptation of the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (Paribakht & Wesche, 1996) and English-Chinese translation. The measures for productive knowledge were sentence writing and Chinese-English translation. The writing tests were scored by two raters, one a Chinese English teacher and the other a native English speaker. Data analysis yielded the following results. First, there was no significant difference in scores between the input and output task groups on immediate or delayed posttests. Hence, this study suggests that the retention of receptive and productive vocabulary is not greatly affected by the types of tasks used and that both input and output tasks help learners acquire not only receptive vocabulary knowledge but also productive knowledge. Therefore, teaching implications are that teachers should provide more reading tasks because reading can benefit not only vocabulary acquisition but also the development of literacy. Sentence writing did provide learners opportunities to use the words in a productive way, but it did not lead them to the awareness of the proper use of the words. Regarding directions for future research, more subjects and target words should be included in the experiment and the rating scale for productive vocabulary tests should be refined.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--State University of New York at Buffalo, 2007.
Title from PDF title page (viewed on Nov. 08, 2007) Available through UMI ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Thesis adviser: Kibby, Michael W. Includes bibliographical references.

Tjan Yuet Fong.
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-117).
Abstracts in English and Chinese.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT
Chapter CHAPTER ONE: --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1
Chapter 1.1 --- BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT STUDY --- p.1
Chapter 1.1.1 --- The need for enlarging EFL learners' vocabulary size in Hong Kong --- p.1
Chapter 1.1.2 --- Task-based learning in English classrooms in Hong Kong --- p.2
Chapter 1.2 --- SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PRESENT STUDY --- p.3
Chapter 1.3 --- RESEARCH OBJECTIVES --- p.4
Chapter 1.4 --- ORGANIZATION OF THESIS --- p.4
Chapter CHAPTER TWO: --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.6
Chapter 2.1 --- ROLE OF VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE IN L2 ACQUISITION --- p.6
Chapter 2.2 --- ROLE OF INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY LEARNING IN L2 ACQUISIITON --- p.8
Chapter 2.3 --- INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY ACQUISITION IN L2 LEARNER-LEARNER ORAL INTERACTION TASKS --- p.9
Chapter 2.3.1 --- Incidental vocabulary acquisition in L2 oral context --- p.9
Chapter 2.3.1.1 --- Significance of oral context --- p.10
Chapter 2.3.1.2 --- Current studies on L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition in oral context --- p.11
Chapter 2.3.2 --- Learner-learner oral interaction tasks --- p.12
Chapter 2.3.2.1 --- Significance of learner-learner interaction from the perspective of acquisition --- p.12
Chapter 2.3.2.2 --- Significance of learner-learner interaction tasks from the perspective of pedagogy --- p.13
Chapter 2.4 --- FACTORS CONDUCIVE TO L2 INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY ACQUISITION --- p.14
Chapter 2.4.1 --- Noticing --- p.14
Chapter 2.4.2 --- Depth of processing --- p.15
Chapter 2.4.3 --- Role of input comprehension in L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition --- p.16
Chapter 2.4.3.1 --- Theoretical claims for the significance of input comprehension --- p.16
Chapter 2.4.3.2 --- Theoretical claims against the significance of input comprehension --- p.17
Chapter 2.4.3.3 --- Empirical evidence for the significance of input comprehension --- p.18
Chapter 2.4.3.4 --- Empirical evidence against the significance of input comprehension --- p.18
Chapter 2.4.4 --- Role of negotiation in L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition --- p.19
Chapter 2.4.4.1 --- Negotiation --- p.19
Chapter 2.4.4.2 --- Comprehending negotiated input and L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition --- p.20
Chapter 2.4.4.2.1 --- Theoretical claims for the significance of negotiated input --- p.20
Chapter 2.4.4.2.2 --- Theoretical claims against the significance of negotiated input --- p.21
Chapter 2.4.4.2.3 --- Empirical evidence for the significance of negotiated input --- p.22
Chapter 2.4.4.2.4 --- Empirical evidence against the significance of negotiated input --- p.22
Chapter 2.4.4.3 --- Producing negotiated output and L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition --- p.24
Chapter 2.4.4.3.1 --- Theoretical claims for the significance of negotiated output --- p.24
Chapter 2.4.4.3.2 --- Theoretical claims against the significance of negotiated output --- p.26
Chapter 2.4.4.3.3 --- Empirical evidence on the significance of negotiated output --- p.26
Chapter 2.5 --- LACK OF RESEARCH ON THIS AREA IN THE HONG KONG CONTEXT --- p.28
Chapter 2.6 --- RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES --- p.28
Chapter 2.7 --- SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER --- p.30
Chapter CHAPTER THREE: --- RESEARCH DESIGN --- p.31
Chapter 3.1 --- SELECTION OF SUBJECTS --- p.31
Chapter 3.2 --- INSTRUMENTATON --- p.32
Chapter 3.2.1 --- Test items --- p.33
Chapter 3.2.2 --- Pretest --- p.34
Chapter 3.2.3 --- Task sheets --- p.35
Chapter 3.2.4 --- Posttests --- p.36
Chapter 3.2.5 --- Questionnaire --- p.37
Chapter 3.3 --- TREATMENTS --- p.37
Chapter 3.3.1 --- Treatments on Group I and II --- p.38
Chapter 3.3.2 --- Treatment on Group III --- p.40
Chapter 3.4 --- EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES --- p.44
Chapter 3.5 --- METHODS OF DATA ANALYSIS --- p.44
Chapter 3.5.1 --- Relationship between comprehension and negotiation --- p.45
Chapter 3.5.2 --- Relationship between comprehension and L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition --- p.45
Chapter 3.5.3 --- Relationship between negotiation and L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition --- p.46
Chapter 3.5.4 --- Relative effects of producing negotiated output and receiving negotiated input on L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition --- p.46
Chapter 3.5.5 --- Relationship between the nature of negotiation and L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition --- p.47
Chapter 3.5.5.1 --- Length of negotiated word form --- p.47
Chapter 3.5.5.2 --- Word frequency --- p.47
Chapter 3.5.5.3 --- Number of clarification requests and confirmation checks --- p.48
Chapter 3.5.5.4 --- Length of explanation --- p.48
Chapter 3.5.6. --- Data from the questionnaire --- p.49
Chapter 3.6 --- SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER --- p.49
Chapter CHAPTER FOUR: --- RESEARCH FINDINGS --- p.51
Chapter 4.1 --- "SUBJECTS' INPUT COMPREHENSION, IMMEDIATE WORD GAINS AND WORD RETENTION: A GENERAL PICTURE" --- p.52
Chapter 4.2 --- RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INPUT COMPREHENSION AND L2 INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY ACQUISITION --- p.56
Chapter 4.2.1 --- Correlations between Gp I's comprehension scores of test item meanings and their two posttest results --- p.56
Chapter 4.2.2 --- Correlations between Gp II's comprehension scores of test item meanings and their two posttest results --- p.56
Chapter 4.2.3 --- Correlations between Gp II's comprehension scores of directions and their two posttest results --- p.57
Chapter 4.2.4 --- Correlations between Gp III's comprehension scores of test item meanings and their two posttest results --- p.58
Chapter 4.2.5 --- Correlations between Gp III's comprehension scores of directions and their two posttest results --- p.58
Chapter 4.2.6 --- Conclusion --- p.59
Chapter 4.3 --- EFFECT OF INPUT WITH MEANING NEGOTIATION ON L2 INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY ACQUSITION --- p.60
Chapter 4.3.1 --- Comparing Gp II and Gp III's comprehension scores of test item meanings --- p.60
Chapter 4.3.2 --- Comparing Gp II and Gp III's comprehension scores of directions --- p.61
Chapter 4.3.3 --- Comparing Gp II and Gp III's 1st and 2nd posttest results --- p.61
Chapter 4.3.4 --- Conclusion --- p.62
Chapter 4.4 --- RELATIVE EFFECTIVENESS OF RECEIVING NEGOTIATED INPUT AND PRODUCING NEGOTIATED OUTPUT IN L2 INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY ACQUISTION --- p.63
Chapter 4.4.1 --- Comparing Gp I and Gp III's 1st and 2nd posttest results --- p.63
Chapter 4.4.2 --- Comparing Gp I and Gp II's 1st and 2nd posttest results --- p.64
Chapter 4.4.3 --- Conclusion --- p.65
Chapter 4.5 --- RESEARCH HYPOTHESES TESTED --- p.65
Chapter 4.5.1 --- Testing the first hypothesis --- p.65
Chapter 4.5.2 --- Testing the second hypothesis --- p.65
Chapter 4.5.3 --- Testing the third hypothesis --- p.66
Chapter 4.6 --- RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PROPERTIES OF MEANING NEGOTIATION AND L2 INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY ACQUISITION --- p.66
Chapter 4.6.1 --- Length of negotiated word form --- p.66
Chapter 4.6.2 --- Word frequency --- p.67
Chapter 4.6.2.1 --- Word frequency produced by Gp I and Gp II --- p.67
Chapter 4.6.2.2 --- Word frequency heard by Gp I and Gp II --- p.68
Chapter 4.6.3 --- Number of clarification requests and confirmation checks --- p.68
Chapter 4.6.4 --- Length of explanation --- p.69
Chapter 4.6.5 --- Conclusion --- p.70
Chapter 4.7 --- SUBJECTS' FAMILIARITY WITH ORAL INTERACTION TASKS AND LEARNING STYLES WHEN ENCOUNTERING NEW L2 WORDS --- p.70
Chapter 4.8 --- SUBJECTS' COMMENTS ON THE TASKS --- p.72
Chapter 4.9 --- SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER --- p.73
Chapter CHAPTER FIVE: --- DISCUSSION OF RESEARCH FINDINGS --- p.74
Chapter 5.1 --- ROLE OF INPUT COMPREHENSION IN L2 INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY ACQUISITION --- p.74
Chapter 5.1.1 --- Subjects' comprehension of test adjective meanings and incidental vocabulary acquisition --- p.75
Chapter 5.1.2 --- The different cognitive processing involved in comprehension and word acquisition --- p.76
Chapter 5.2 --- ROLE OF MEANING NEGOTIATION IN L2 INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY ACQUISITION --- p.77
Chapter 5.2.1 --- Effect of negotiated input on L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition --- p.78
Chapter 5.2.1.1 --- Subjects 'meaning negotiation and comprehension --- p.78
Chapter 5.2.1.2 --- Noticing raised by meaning negotiation --- p.79
Chapter 5.2.2 --- Role of Negotiated output in L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition --- p.82
Chapter 5.2.2.1 --- Noticing raised by negotiated output --- p.82
Chapter 5.2.2.2 --- Failure to strengthen the form-meaning link --- p.83
Chapter 5.3 --- PROPERTIES OF MEANING NEGOTIATION AND L2 INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY ACQUISITON --- p.86
Chapter 5.3.1 --- Length of negotiated word form --- p.86
Chapter 5.3.2 --- Word frequency --- p.87
Chapter 5.3.2.1 --- Word frequency heard by subjects --- p.87
Chapter 5.3.2.2 --- Word frequency produced by subjects --- p.88
Chapter 5.3.3 --- Number of clarification requests and confirmation checks --- p.89
Chapter 5.3.4 --- Length of explanation --- p.89
Chapter 5.4 --- SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER --- p.91
Chapter CHAPTER SIX: --- CONCLUSION --- p.93
Chapter 6.1 --- PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS --- p.93
Chapter 6.1.1 --- Incidental learning of L2 adjectives in oral interaction tasks --- p.95
Chapter 6.1.2 --- Implementation of oral interaction tasks in Hong Kong EFL classrooms --- p.95
Chapter 6.1.3 --- Meaning negotiation as a task demand --- p.95
Chapter 6.1.4 --- Choice of unfamiliar adjectives used in the tasks --- p.97
Chapter 6.2 --- LIMITATIONS OF THE PRESENT RESEARCH --- p.97
Chapter 6.2.1 --- Small subject size --- p.98
Chapter 6.2.2 --- Experimental setting instead of the real classroom setting --- p.99
Chapter 6.2.3 --- A single 45-minute task instead of a longitudinal program --- p.99
Chapter 6.2.4 --- Encounter of the test adjectives and their meanings between the 1st and 2nd posttests --- p.100
Chapter 6.2.5 --- Investigating receptive word knowledge only in the posttests --- p.100
Chapter 6.3 --- SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH --- p.101
Chapter 6.4 --- SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER --- p.102
REFERENCES --- p.104

碩士
國立臺灣師範大學
英語學系
107
The aim of this study is to explore the efficacy of three distinct contextualized learning tasks, the reading-comprehension task, the gap fill-in task, and the picture-writing task, and reading proficiency on the incidental vocabulary acquisition and retention of junior high school students in Taiwan. The three learning tasks are formulated based on the Involvement Load Hypothesis, which assumes that the task with higher involvement load will facilitate more vocabulary learning. Based on this assumption, the incidental vocabulary acquisition from the picture-writing task is assumed to outperform than the gap fill-in task. The reading-comprehension task will elicit the least word learning among the three learning tasks. Seventy-two EFL ninth graders from three classes in a junior high school in central Taiwan participated in this study for two weeks. Prior to the experiment, a reading proficiency test to check students’ reading ability and a pretest to check students’ knowledge of 18 target words were administered. Based on the results of reading proficiency test, the participants were assigned to three task groups, each studied 18 words in three sessions via one of the three learning tasks respectively with the effect of session order and embedded text counterbalanced. In each session, 6 words were studied followed by an immediate posttest. Five days later, a delayed posttest was carried out. The results from ANOVA analysis on immediate posttest indicated that while reading proficiency reflected a significant effect, learning tasks did not, nor did interactive effect of learning task and reading proficiency. However, reading proficiency revealed a large effect size and learning task did reveal a moderate effect size. Descriptive statistics showed that PW Group, especially the subgroup of lower-proficiency readers, yielded a markedly higher mean score than the other two groups, who scored similarly. ANOVA on the delayed posttest showed the same pattern of significant test as on immediate posttest: significant effect of reading proficiency, insignificant effect of task and insignificant interactive effect between learning task and reading proficiency, and the effect size of task was minimal and reading proficiency was small. When mean scores were examined, it was found that the superiority of PW Group waned, especially for the lower-proficiency subgroup, which showed in immediate posttest an equivalent mean to those in the higher-proficiency level in the other two task groups but decreased to a level similar to those of lower proficiency readers in the other two tasks. The findings from this study had a pedagogical implication that contextualized learning tasks, be it receptive or productive, may all be conductive to promote incidental vocabulary acquisition. Although sentence production with story-picture cues, seemed to instigate more word acquisition at the completion of task, with one-round of exposure-production, the retention for whatever type of task may not hold. It is therefore suggested that further studies testing the effect of task involvement load should consider different weights of the essential component, evaluation, in the Involvement Load Hypothesis and other task variables, such as time spent on task, chances of retrieval, as well as the individual factors, such as learners’ reading proficiency and knowledge.

Abstract Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition through Aural Means: What Do English Television Programs Have to Offer? Myriam Lévesque Little research has been done with regards to the lexical environment provided by broadcasting television. In this study, the contribution of television viewing to incidental vocabulary acquisition was explored using a variety of corpora. Sitcoms, dramas and sci-fi programs were compared among themselves and to a teacher talk corpus to determine how television programs can benefit learners’ acquisition of vocabulary, particularly when combined with teacher talk. It was shown that the learnable vocabulary of teacher talk and TV-talk do not overlap. Even though dramas are slightly easier to understand than sitcoms and sci-fi programs, all three cater to the needs of advanced English as a second language students. Sci-fi programs appear to offer the most learnable words of all the programs. Because the lexical load of teacher talk is less demanding than that of TV-talk, combining the two activities to increase the number of learnable words available proves unfeasible. Implications for incidental vocabulary learning, research and pedagogy are discussed.

Reading in a second language (L2) is considered a necessary skill in increasingly globalized societies. Not only is reading for purposes of comprehension necessary for survival, also reading in an L2 is an important means by which L2 acquisition occurs, particularly where vocabulary is concerned. Consequently, there is a strong demand for L2 research to investigate the instructional conditions that will best promote reading comprehension and vocabulary through efficient and effective reading strategies. The current study addressed this dual need, reading comprehension and vocabulary acquisition, through an investigation of a particular type of pedagogical intervention, repeated reading (RR; i.e., multiple encounters with the same text), with high school English language learners in Taiwan. The study examined the effects of three conditions – Unassisted RR (repeated reading only), Assisted RR (repeated reading plus listening), and Control – on the participants’ reading comprehension and incidental vocabulary acquisition through a pre-test, post-test, and delayed post-test design. The results of the data from 42 participants suggested that L2 RR did not promote reading comprehension, nor did it contribute to a transfer of practice effect to new text in terms of reading comprehension. However, there were statistically significant incidental vocabulary gains and retention for the Unassisted RR group and some vocabulary gains for the Assisted RR group. When the percentage of unknown words of a text reached 10% and the participants were not provided with additional support, five repeated encounters with the text (over eight treatment sessions) were found to be inadequate in promoting reading comprehension. Nonetheless, the participants provided with such challenging condition still benefited from the incidental vocabulary acquisition. Findings may imply that a certain threshold of proficiency (e.g., percentage of known words of a text) is necessary for the beneficial effects of repeated reading to support comprehension. Additionally, RR alone may still be insufficient and additional support to RR may still be necessary for L2 learners dealing with difficult texts.

碩士
國立中央大學
網路學習科技研究所
103
This study investigates effects of a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) on incidental vocabulary acquisition. The MMORPG was specifically designed for English learning. Participants of this study were university students (20 to 23 years old) in Taiwan. This study explores how glossing types and frequency of gloss impact incidental vocabulary acquisition, also explores whether different game experience lead to variations of effectiveness on incidental vocabulary acquisition. Regarding the overall effectiveness of incidental vocabulary learning using MMORPG, the results demonstrate a significant difference between test scores on Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS) that were administered before and after the experiment. For both high and low game experience groups, the pre- and post-scores on VKS show significant difference, while no significant difference in VKS gain score is identified between the two groups. Regarding the impact of glossing types and game experience on the effectiveness of incidental vocabulary learning, the results show that full gloss, retrieval gloss, and inference gloss have significant difference between pre- and post-VKS gain scores. Inference gloss was significantly higher than full gloss, and there is no difference between retrieval gloss and inference gloss, and between retrieval gloss and full gloss. Therefore, inference gloss enhances incidental vocabulary acquisition more than full gloss does. For high game experience group, retrieval gloss was significantly higher than full gloss, and there was no difference between retrieval gloss and inference gloss, and between inference gloss and full gloss. Thus, for the high game experience students in this study, retrieval gloss could enhance incidental vocabulary acquisition than full gloss does. For the low game experience group, no difference in performance could be identified among full gloss, retrieval gloss, and inference gloss. Regarding the relationship between effectiveness of incidental vocabulary acquisition and flashcard frequency and game experience, the results show that frequency of flashcard is positively correlated to the effectiveness of incidental vocabulary acquisition, but at a marginally significant level. For the high game experience group, no correlation was found. For the low game experience group, a significant positive correlation was found, although at a moderate level.

碩士
國立清華大學
外國語文學系
91
ABSTRACT Learning foreign or second languages requires the acquisition of many thousands of words. Direct vocabulary instruction cannot account for the large amount of words that highly advanced ESL/EFL learners acquire. It is believed that the major way of acquiring vocabulary is through processing L2 information, a situation in which learners have no intention to commit the words appearing in the information to memory. This type of vocabulary learning is referred to as incidental vocabulary learning. Research on incidental vocabulary learning is of a large variety, and various factors conducive to effective incidental vocabulary learning have been found. Laufer and Hulstijn (2001) proposed Involvement Load Hypothesis (2001) to evaluate the factors, but there is only one empirical research on this hypothesis. Therefore, this study aimed to examine this hypothesis by investigating the effect of Involvement Load on English vocabulary acquisition in an incidental learning situation. Four tasks differing in their involvement load were designed and conducted. In terms of the involvement load, Task 4 was designed to induce the highest load, Task 3 the second highest, Task 2 the third highest, and Task 1 the lowest. The participants were given an unexpected vocabulary retention test upon completing the tasks, and were given another unexpected delayed posttest one week later. It was hypothesized that the vocabulary retention scores would be highest in Task 4, second highest in Task 3, third highest in Task 2, and lowest in Task 1. It was also hypothesized that consulting dictionary would have a better impact than reading glosses on vocabulary retention. Lastly, it was hypothesized that the text-based activity gap-filling would be beneficial to vocabulary learning. The results of analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the results of the multiple-range Duncan test showed that on the immediate posttest in the first experiment Task 2 and Task 4 were the most effective tasks, Task 3 was the second best, and Task 1 was the least effective one. On the delayed posttest, Task 4 and Task 1 became the best tasks, Task 1 and Task 3 were the second best tasks, and Task 3 and Task 2 were the least effective tasks. On the immediate posttest of the second experiment, Task 4 and Task 1 were the best tasks, Task 1 and Task 3 were the second best tasks, and Task 2 was the least task. In the delayed posttest, Task 1 was the best task, whereas the remaining three tasks─Task 4, 3, and 2─were the second best ones. In sum, the first two hypotheses in this study were not supported. However, the third and fourth hypotheses were partially supported. The partial support for the third and the fourth hypotheses suggests that if there is only one exposure to words, there is no significant difference between consulting the dictionary and reading L1 glosses. Moreover, looking up words in the dictionary and also doing one extra text-based vocabulary activity are likely to result in better retention than reading L1 glosses and doing the same text-based vocabulary activity. The negative results of the research hypotheses raise questions about the validity of the Involvement Load Hypothesis. However, this study was restricted by several confounding variables, such as the design of the novel task (Task 4), time on each task, participants’ English level, the teacher factor, participants’ guessing behaviors, and participants’ exposure to L2. These confounding variables might have prevented the study from getting valid results. Future research should take them into account, and try to reduce their effects to a minimum. This study provides directions for modification of the Involvement Load Hypothesis. For future research on establishing theoretical constructs explaining the effectiveness of vocabulary-learning tasks, this study has provided preliminary suggestions and offered another empirical testing for the present theoretical construct.

博士
國立中央大學
學習與教學研究所
101
Within language acquisition research there exists a substantial body of literature supporting extensive reading as a means of vocabulary growth for both L1 and L2 learners. Moreover, vocabulary acquisition through extensive reading has been considered as occurring incidentally because learners are focused on the task of reading instead of learning vocabulary. In recent years, a large number of extensive reading studies have been conducted investigating the effects of numerous variables on the incidental acquisition of vocabulary through reading. These experiments, however, leave two crucial language acquisition issues unaddressed. Namely, none of these studies investigated how word--­ internal form variation and/or word-­‐external multiword pattern variation affects the incidental acquisition of target vocabulary through reading. The purpose of this dissertation, accordingly, is to investigate whether varying degrees of word form variation of target words (i.e., no variation, inflectional variation, and derivational variation) and the appearance of target word tokens in multiword patterns might affect the incidental acquisition of target vocabulary through reading. A group of L1 English-­‐speaking and L2 English-­‐speaking participants were given a copy of an unmodified English novel, The BFG, containing nonce words to read within two weeks. After reading, they were first given two surprise forms of assessment (meaning recall translation and meaning recognition multiple-­‐choice) measuring acquisition of 49 target nonce words followed by an open-­‐response reflective questionnaire. Five weeks later, post hoc interviews were conducted to gain a deeper understanding of both the L1 and L2-­‐English speaking participants' perceptions of the nonce words used as target words in the dissertation research. The results revealed various significant similarities and differences between L1 and L2 speakers. As shown through the post hoc interviews, the L1 speakers did not perceive nonce words as worth learning, whereas the L2 speakers were less clear on whether they gave nonce words a different status than real English words. Moreover, data collected from an L1 control group suggests any interpretation of the L1 experimental group data must be done cautiously since the acquisition results cannot be totally attributed to incidental acquisition through reading. Analysis of target word acquisition data in terms of word form variation illuminated differences between L1 and L2 speakers, while analysis of target word acquisition data in terms of multiword patterns highlighted similarities between L1 and L2 speakers. Analysis of L2 speakers' target word acquisition results as shown on both assessments found an interaction effect between word form variation and frequency. For the meaning recall data, L2 speakers showed a statistically significant difference in acquisition between lower and higher frequency target words that exhibited derivational variation in form. However, for the meaning recognition data, L2 speakers showed a statistically significant difference in acquisition between lower and higher frequency target words that exhibited inflectional and derivational variation in form. Analysis of L1 speakers' target word acquisition results as shown on both assessments failed to find an interaction effect for word form variation and frequency. However, a statistically significant effect for word form variation was shown for both assessments. For the meaning recall, L1 speakers acquired more target words that did not vary in form than target words that exhibited inflectional or derivational variation in form. On the meaning recognition, L1 speakers acquired more target words that did not vary in form or exhibited derivational variation in form than target words that exhibited inflectional variation in form. Both groups of experimental participants acquired more target words that appeared in multiword patterns than did not appear in multiword patterns, regardless of assessment. Furthermore, an interaction effect between patterns and frequency was shown for both L1 and L2 participants' meaning recognition assessment results. While there was no significant difference in acquisition for lower frequency words that appeared in multiword patterns and lower frequency words that did not appear in multiword patterns, a significant difference in acquisition was shown between higher frequency words that appeared in multiword patterns and higher frequency words that did not appear in multiword patterns. Taking all the results together, the present dissertation research suggests: (1) frequency matters more for L2 speakers when encountering target words whose tokens exhibit inflectional and derivational variation in form, and (2) the appearance of target words in multiword patterns, especially higher frequency target words, matters to L1 and L2 speakers. Implications of the present dissertation research for the incidental vocabulary acquisition research community, corpus-­‐derived analyses, teaching practices, materials development, and L2 vocabulary acquisition through extensive reading are discussed.

碩士
國立臺灣師範大學
英語學系
105
This study aims to explore the effects of captioning on (a) aural form recognition and (b) form-meaning mapping of EFL junior high school students at different linguistic levels without formal vocabulary instruction. A quasi-experiment design was adopted, and a total of 118 EFL 8th graders at a junior high school participated in the study. Sixty students were assigned to the captioned condition and the others were assigned to the non-captioned condition (control). The students under the two caption conditions were evenly assigned into three linguistic groups (i.e., high-level, intermediate-level, and low-level) based on their achievements in English. A three-month experiment was conducted; the learning materials involved ten difficulty-appropriate videos from a cartoon series, Olivia, and each was viewed twice under both conditions. A reading comprehension test was given after the first viewing as a tool to focus the students’ attention on the meaning of the message; two vocabulary posttests (i.e., form recognition and vocabulary acquisition tests) were administered immediately after the second viewing. All participants took a vocabulary pretest one month prior to the experiment to evaluate their prior knowledge of the target words and completed pre and post learning questions before and after the learning sessions. The results of the study indicated that the availability of captioning significantly improved the participants’ overall form recognition and vocabulary acquisition. In addition, in both form recognition and vocabulary acquisition, the participants of high linguistic competence acquired substantially more word gains from video viewing than others. These results prove the positive caption effects on EFL middle school students’ incidental vocabulary learning and suggest that learners’ linguistic competence appears to be a crucial factor affecting the efficacy of using authentic captioned video material in language classroom. Pedagogical implications for employing captioned video material to enhance EFL middle school students’ language gains are included.

碩士
國立中央大學
學習與教學研究所
100
To second language learners, using dictionary while reading helps them to solve the context clues mysteries and the problem of lack of vocabulary. The aim of this study is to explore the effect of computer-mediated dictionaries on incidental vocabulary acquisition. Twenty-seven college students were randomly assigned to three conditions: (1) no-aid (control), (2) click-on dictionary, and (3) key-in dictionary. The processes of headword finding and meaning finding were recorded using eye tracking. From the perspective of cognitive load and the learning performance of vocabulary, we explored if using a dictionary was beneficial or a hindrance to learners’ vocabulary acquisition. The results of this study were as follows: 1.The two groups which had dictionaries spent significantly more time on target words than the group without any aid. But the groups with and without dictionaries had no significant difference in the performance of vocabulary acquisition, and in the self-reported degree of difficulty of the article content and vocabulary. 2.In the process of headword finding, the key-in group spent significantly more time than the click-on group on the spelling test, the average search time of target words, and the average fixation duration of target words. The key-in group also had significantly more self-reported degree of difficulty of dictionary use than click-on group. The increased cognitive load is called germane cognitive load, and it brought benefit to the spelling test for the key-in group. 3.In the process of meaning finding, the key-in group had significantly more average number of transitions between the dictionary and the article, and paid more effort to find the suitable meaning. But the two groups had no significant difference in the performance of vocabulary meaning test, and in the fixation duration and effort spent on the dictionary content. Key-in group spent too much time on headword finding, and thus it caused to interrupt the process of storing the contents of the article in working memory, so the comprehension of the article needed to be complemented by the content of the dictionary after looking up words. Based on these results, this study can provide reference for practice and future researches.

碩士
國立臺灣科技大學
應用外語系
102
This study aimed to examine the effects of different types of glosses during storytelling on Taiwanese EFL children’s incidental vocabulary acquisition. Previous studies have shown that reading (following the text) while listening to stories helps children acquire vocabulary incidentally; and listening to stories alone can be as effective for low-proficient ESL children as it is for their higher-proficient counterparts. However, reading itself can be difficult for L2 learners due to the lack of sufficient vocabulary. To solve this problem, the use of glosses has been found helpful in documented research. Yet, few studies have been conducted with school pupils whose varied abilities often cause great challenges in teaching. One hundred and fourteen (114) fourth graders were randomly assigned to one of the four groups: No gloss, L1 gloss, pictorial gloss, and L1 with pictorial gloss. A picture storybook was selected for storytelling and 19 words were included in the vocabulary test. Students took a pre-test one week prior to the study and a post-test immediately after listening to the story. One delayed post-test was then administered one week later to measure and compare the vocabulary retention performance among the four groups. The ANOVA results showed that all children improved significantly on the immediate post-test with the L1 + pictorial group performing the best. All groups regressed on the delayed test; however, no difference was found among groups in the retention test. This study suggests that young EFL learners are able to acquire new words by listening to and reading a story without the extra support of a picture and/or a gloss. If the gloss type was not the key to vocabulary acquisition, then the role of storytellers and materials deserves a greater credit. Theoretical implications and pedagogical suggestions were discussed. This result, of course, needs to be confirmed with a variety of stories: It may be that it holds only for stories that supply a rich context and take advantage of students' background knowledge.

碩士
大葉大學
應用外語研究所
97
This study aims to investigate the effects of a reading aloud (RA) strategy on ESP college students’ incidental vocabulary acquisition. The purposes of the study include (a) exploring whether extensive reading will improve students’ vocabulary knowledge, (b) investigating whether a reading aloud strategy has more impact on students’ incidental vocabulary acquisition, and (c) examining the relationship between different word features and incidental vocabulary acquisition. The subjects were thirty-four engineering majors enrolled in two ESP classes at Dayeh University in Taiwan. The experiment was conducted using quantitative methods to collect data. The instruments included vocabulary translation pretest, vocabulary translation posttest, reading materials in which the 24 target words were embedded, and “distractor” reading materials containing no target words. Participants read the reading materials over a six-week treatment period between the pretest and posttest. The results of the study revealed that extensive reading, whether through reading silently or reading aloud, helped students’ learn new words incidentally. Moreover, the reading aloud strategy was found to be more effective in promoting incidental acquisition than silent reading. Finally, in this study word length was found to play a crucial role in determining students’ vocabulary acquisition. On the basis of the research findings, some pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research were proposed. First, extensive reading may help students increase vocabulary knowledge incidentally. Students should be encouraged to read aloud when reading because the reading aloud strategy is even effective than the reading silently strategy in incidental vocabulary acquisition. The reading aloud strategy even help students to remember the meaning of longer words.

碩士
國立高雄師範大學
英語學系
92
It is the English teachers’ lifelong ambition and inevitable responsibility to help students have incidental acquisition of new words and elevate students’ vocabulary ability through reading. This is also the major purpose of the study. The subject pool in this study consisted of four classes, 186 students, who were in their second year of Tainan Nursing Five-Year Junior College. This designed teaching program aimed at instructing the students learning vocabulary strategy to help them enhance incidental acquisition of new words through guessing words meanings from contexts. The subjects in this study were assigned to an experimental group and a control group with different treatments. The students in the experimental group received the instruction of learning vocabulary strategy but the students in the control one received none. And then a comparative study was made for the purpose of investigating the effects of the learning vocabulary strategy instruction on enhancing incidental vocabulary acquisition. It also aimed at examining whether the instructional effects varied from one learner to another depending on their proficiency levels in the experimental group. The subjects’ attitudes and responses to this instruction of learning vocabulary strategy were explored as well. The summary of major findings of the study is described as follows: 1. The instruction of learning vocabulary strategy statistically significantly helped students enhance incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading. 2. The designed instruction of learning vocabulary strategy had different effects on students at different language proficiency levels and the mid-level group benefited the most from it. 3. Most of the students gave a positive attitude toward the instruction of learning vocabulary strategy. 4. The students’ English proficiency does correlate with their vocabulary gains and reading comprehension. Nevertheless, the students’ vocabulary gains doesn’t absolutely correlate their reading comprehension. Based on these findings, the researcher proposes some pedagogical implications for facilitating English instructional activities and lists some suggestions for further study of enhancing incidental vocabulary acquisition.

This study examines the effects of Song and Involvement Load on the acquisition and retention of lexical items by beginner learners of Italian. Lexical acquisition is investigated via an incidental learning experiment that is based on the premise that growth in L2 vocabulary results from rehearsal and repeated exposure to lexical items in a variety of contexts. More specifically, the study hypothesizes that Song contributes to subvocal rehearsal, a mechanism that facilitates the retention of phonological information. In addition, the study hypothesizes that Involvement Load, as posited by Laufer and Hulstijn (2001), contributes to retention through “elaborate processing”(Craik & Tulving, 1975) of lexical items. In order to evaluate participants‟ lexical acquisition, an experiment with pretest/posttest design was carried out. Participants were divided into one of five groups consisting of a Control Group and four treatment groups. Treatment groups were exposed to a Song either in a sung condition or read as a poem (i.e. without music) while the Control Group completed only the pretest and posttests. Treatment groups also completed lexical tasks designed with either low or high levels of Involvement Load. The pretest and posttests (administered at four and eight weeks respectively after the pretest) were based on Paribakht and Wesche‟s (1996) Vocabulary iii Knowledge Scale. It was hypothesized that in the case of both short-term acquisition (four weeks after the pretest) and retention (eight weeks thereafter) (i) participants exposed to Song would obtain higher scores than participants only exposed to the lyrics; (ii) participants completing High Involvement tasks would score higher than participants completing Low Involvement tasks; and (iii) the effects of Song would be greater than the effects of Involvement Load on test scores. Results indicated that at both posttests, participants exposed to Song obtained higher scores than participants only exposed to lyrics (p=0.004). Additionally, participants carrying out High Involvement tasks scored higher than participants carrying out Low Involvement tasks (p=0.017). However, a comparison of the strength of the effects of Song and Involvement Load on acquisition and retention of target items yielded inconclusive results (p=.383). The validation of many of the hypotheses suggests that song and involvement load are effective in the acquisition and retention of L2 lexical items and should be implemented in the L2 curriculum.

碩士
國立高雄師範大學
英語學系
92
Abstract The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which electronic dictionaries influence EFL students' reading comprehension and incidental vocabulary acquisition, with particular focus on electronic dictionaries' effects on students' receptive knowledge of word form and meaning. To this end, one reading comprehension test and word-form and word-meaning vocabulary tests were administered. Additionally, students' attitude toward the reading activities in the study and their motivation and strategy of dictionary use also came to light via questionnaire survey. Three classes of second-year senior high school students in Hsiao-Kang Senior High School took part in this study. Each intact class was randomly assigned to either one of the three reading conditions, that is, reading with the help of electronic dictionaries (ED group), paper dictionaries (PD group), or reading without any kind of dictionaries (ND group). During reading, the subjects in ED and PD groups were required to underline directly on the passage the words that they looked up in dictionaries and wrote down the words’ meanings in the margin; likewise, students in ND group were also instructed to underline the unfamiliar words confronting them during reading. When the reading session came to an end, the subjects then took the word-form and word-meaning vocabulary tests, and reading comprehension test in sequence and finally answered the questionnaires. For the sake of measuring students' long-term retention, the same word-form and word-meaning vocabulary tests were administered two weeks later. The major findings of the current study were summarized as follows: 1.ED and ND groups had a significantly better reading comprehension than PD group did. 2.ED group performed significantly better than PD group did in both immediate word-form and word-meaning vocabulary tests. 3.ED group significantly outperformed PD group in the delayed word-form vocabulary test. However, in the delayed word-meaning vocabulary test, the difference among the three groups' performance did not approach the significant level. 4.Electronic dictionaries enabled students to consult significantly more references than paper dictionaries did. However, as for the quality of dictionary use, no significant difference was found between ED and PD groups' correctness rate of getting word meaning. 5.It is widely agreed by the students that using dictionaries, either electronic or paper ones, had a salutary effect on their reading comprehension and vocabulary learning. 6.Most students only “sometimes” made use of dictionaries. Among the dictionary users, a large number of them utilized dictionaries for the purpose of checking word meaning. 7.The major help of electronic dictionaries for students was the enhancement of text comprehension, whereas that of paper dictionaries was the increased understanding of word meaning. To recapitulate, the results of this study revealed that electronic dictionaries cast beneficial effects on students’ reading comprehension, whereas paper dictionaries cast beneficial effects on students' vocabulary learning. For gaining the advantages of both, a combined use of both electronic and paper dictionaries is highly recommended. More importantly, students need to be taught the prudent use of dictionaries. Only in this way can they indeed benefit from rather than fall victim to dictionary use!

碩士
國立臺灣師範大學
英語學系
95
This study aimed to compare the effects of aural and written input on incidental vocabulary learning. The participants were 64 EFL first-year high school female students from a public senior high school in Taipei, who were randomly assigned to be the reading group and the listening group. The whole experiment lasted for 8 weeks. A general proficiency test was administered in the first week. In the following six weeks, once a week, they were instructed to listen to or read for overall text comprehension a narrative passage, followed by a set of comprehension questions and a vocabulary gain test on the target words. Two weeks later, the participants were tested on the same words again for retention, and were given a questionnaire inquiring their opinions on the two learning conditions. Independent-samples t-tests show that the reading group outperformed the listening group in both the vocabulary gain and retention tests. Other major findings are as follows: (1) the findings suggest a significant and positive interrelating relationship between text comprehension and L2 vocabulary acquisition in the listening learning condition, but not in the reading one; (2) It is revealed that the role of L2 proficiency proved relevant to incidental vocabulary acquisition and retention for Group L, but not for Group R; (3) The findings show that word exposure frequency had an insignificant effect on incidental vocabulary acquisition and retention. To conclude, the research findings suggest that though overall written input proved significantly more conducive to incidental vocabulary acquisition than aural input, the lexical learning results from listening to narratives could be almost as fruitful, provided that the texts selected are moderately comprehensible, sufficiently rich in contextual clues, and appealing to learners.

碩士
國立高雄師範大學
英語學系
94
ABSTRACT The study aims to look into the comparisons between pocket electronic dictionaries and paper dictionaries in reading comprehension and incidental vocabulary acquisition of English-major college students. The focus of incidental vocabulary acquisition is on the students’ receptive knowledge of word form and word meaning. Besides, the students’ strategies for dealing with unfamiliar words and their opinion about using dictionaries are revealed by questionnaire survey. Two classes of English-major university freshmen at National Kaohsiung Normal University participated in the study. The same proficiency level of the two classes of students was confirmed by examining their college entrance examination scores. Each intact class was randomly assigned to either pocket electronic dictionary group (ED group) or paper dictionary group (PD group). When reading a text, the subjects were required to underline every unfamiliar word and write down its meaning if they looked up an unfamiliar word in dictionaries. After the reading activity, the subjects took a reading comprehension test, an immediate word-form test, and an immediate word-meaning test in sequence. At the end, they filled in a questionnaire. In order to measure the subjects’ long-term vocabulary retention, the same word-form and word-meaning tests were administered two weeks later. The major findings of the present study are summarized as follows: 1. Statistically, ED and PD groups yielded the same degree of reading comprehension. 2. On the immediate word-form and word-meaning tests, ED and PD groups displayed the same degree of incidental vocabulary retention, statistically. 3. On the two-week delayed word-form and word-meaning vocabulary tests, the ED group displayed statistically more incidental vocabulary retention than the PD group did. 4. Statistically, ED and PD groups had the same number of dictionary consultation frequency. 5. When the subjects had both pocket electronic and paper dictionaries by their sides, then they preferred to use pocket electronic ones. Besides, they still tended to use dictionaries more frequently than other word-attacking strategies when pocket electronic dictionaries were present, whereas they would prefer to use contexts rather than paper dictionaries to decipher the meaning of an unknown word when only paper dictionaries were present. 6. The majority of the subjects consulted pocket electronic dictionaries rather than paper ones every time or often when doing reading. Moreover, the main purpose of using pocket electronic dictionaries was to look for word meaning, while that of using paper ones was to look for related phrases and their example sentences. 7. The majority of the subjects reported that they only sometimes or even never failed to search for wanted information in pocket electronic dictionaries or paper ones. Moreover, the main type of failure to search for wanted information in pocket electronic dictionaries was related phrases and their example sentences, while that in paper ones was synonym/antonym. In conclusion, the results of the present study revealed that pocket electronic dictionaries could contribute as much as paper ones did on the reading comprehension and immediate vocabulary tests, and even outshined paper ones on the delayed vocabulary tests. Moreover, both kinds of dictionaries had merits and demerits as well. Thus, students might make the most of different types of dictionaries by consulting them for different purposes.

碩士
國立臺灣師範大學
英語學系
103
This study aims to examine the effects of pictures provided in story reading on incidental vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension by junior high school EFL readers in Taiwan. Picture books, with the supply of pictures, may provide English beginning readers additional input for meaning making of words and texts. Sixty-four eighth graders in a Taipei municipal junior high school read two story books in two presentation modes, one with pictures and another without, in consecutive two weeks. The presentation sequence of the two topics and the two presentation modes was counterbalanced. After each reading, students took a vocabulary Multiple Choice test and a True-or-False reading comprehension test. Two weeks after each reading session, students took delayed vocabulary tests on the same set of words and filled out a perception questionnaire. T-test results indicate that, overall, supplying pictures for story reading did promote vocabulary acquisition immediately and two weeks after story reading. Moreover, the provision of pictures also facilitates the comprehension in general. However, further examination into the effect of picture on each of the two topics revealed that the picture effects were restricted to one topic, Camping, only; the other topic, Baseball, did not show effects on immediate vocabulary acquisition, delayed vocabulary acquisition, or reading comprehension. It was speculated that Baseball might be more familiar and easier for the students, and thus minimizing students’ resort to pictures. Hence, topic might mediate the effects of picture on the vocabulary acquisition and comprehension from story reading by junior high students. Suggestions for pedagogical practice and for future studies were therefore made.