The Influence of Involvement Load in Contextualized Learning Tasks on Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition

• Main Authors: Ku, Ling-Shen, 顧玲慎
• Other Authors: Chu, His-Chin
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2018
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/47mfqc

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.