In second language teaching methodology, 'real-life' communicative use of language has long receivedmuch attention and conscious learning is thus more or less supposed to be irrelevant. SL learning should bela...In second language teaching methodology, 'real-life' communicative use of language has long receivedmuch attention and conscious learning is thus more or less supposed to be irrelevant. SL learning should belargely unconscious, just as a child learns his native language. However, many SL researchers and teachersdoubt the unconscious learning. This article suggests that while for young children SL learning undercommunicative naturalistic condition may be favorable, consciousness may be more beneficial for adults due totheir intellectual maturity and richer experience.展开更多
College EFL learners in Taiwan are often required to do online reading after school to get more exposure to English. Websites designed for EFL learners often provide some post-reading exercises to help them acquire wo...College EFL learners in Taiwan are often required to do online reading after school to get more exposure to English. Websites designed for EFL learners often provide some post-reading exercises to help them acquire words. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine a series of vocabulary tasks from one English learning website by revealing their induced involvement loads and the effects of the loads on learners＇ vocabulary acquisition. Sixty-four sophomore non-English majors were at intermediate English proficient level. They were randomly assigned to four groups representing four learning conditions doing from none to three post-reading activities, respectively. The results showed that similar increase on the retention of word meanings was observed between any two exercises. Furthermore, the significant difference was found between the first and the fourth learning conditions. This suggests that after doing three post-reading exercises, reaching five involvement loads, the EFL learners could make a difference on word gains.展开更多
This study investigates the effects of exposure frequency and contextual richness in reading on the acquisition of different aspects of vocabulary knowledge. An intact class of 35 second- year English majors read an a...This study investigates the effects of exposure frequency and contextual richness in reading on the acquisition of different aspects of vocabulary knowledge. An intact class of 35 second- year English majors read an adapted story, with the target pseudo words highlighted, and then took ten carefully sequenced vocabulary tests. The test scores were subjected to multiple regression analyses. Follow-up semi-structured interviews were also conducted. The findings show that （a） frequency and contextual richness were closely related to vocabulary knowledge of spelling, grammar and syntax, with frequency playing a more influential role than contextual richness; （b） contextual richness contributed exclusively to gains in meaning and paradigmatic association, while frequency did not exert much influence in this regard; （c） knowledge of spelling and grammar was probably implicitly acquired, whereas word meaning gains required both explicit attention and conscious processing.展开更多
文摘In second language teaching methodology, 'real-life' communicative use of language has long receivedmuch attention and conscious learning is thus more or less supposed to be irrelevant. SL learning should belargely unconscious, just as a child learns his native language. However, many SL researchers and teachersdoubt the unconscious learning. This article suggests that while for young children SL learning undercommunicative naturalistic condition may be favorable, consciousness may be more beneficial for adults due totheir intellectual maturity and richer experience.
文摘College EFL learners in Taiwan are often required to do online reading after school to get more exposure to English. Websites designed for EFL learners often provide some post-reading exercises to help them acquire words. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine a series of vocabulary tasks from one English learning website by revealing their induced involvement loads and the effects of the loads on learners＇ vocabulary acquisition. Sixty-four sophomore non-English majors were at intermediate English proficient level. They were randomly assigned to four groups representing four learning conditions doing from none to three post-reading activities, respectively. The results showed that similar increase on the retention of word meanings was observed between any two exercises. Furthermore, the significant difference was found between the first and the fourth learning conditions. This suggests that after doing three post-reading exercises, reaching five involvement loads, the EFL learners could make a difference on word gains.
文摘This study investigates the effects of exposure frequency and contextual richness in reading on the acquisition of different aspects of vocabulary knowledge. An intact class of 35 second- year English majors read an adapted story, with the target pseudo words highlighted, and then took ten carefully sequenced vocabulary tests. The test scores were subjected to multiple regression analyses. Follow-up semi-structured interviews were also conducted. The findings show that （a） frequency and contextual richness were closely related to vocabulary knowledge of spelling, grammar and syntax, with frequency playing a more influential role than contextual richness; （b） contextual richness contributed exclusively to gains in meaning and paradigmatic association, while frequency did not exert much influence in this regard; （c） knowledge of spelling and grammar was probably implicitly acquired, whereas word meaning gains required both explicit attention and conscious processing.
