Chapter One Introduction
1.1 Research Background
Vocabulary is considered a critical component of the whole language learning. Thesize of vocabulary directly influences the development of listening, reading, speaking andwriting. For instance, a lot of unknown words，which learners encounter while readingcould cause difficulties in processing the text. Research has found that lexical errors canimpede communication more seriously than those of grammar (Ellis，1994). Laufer (1998)stated that the most striking difference between foreign learners and native speakers is inthe quantity of words each group possesses. By the same token，Lewis (2000) maintainedthat the single most important task facing language learners is acquiring a sufficientlylarge vocabulary. These statements well speak of the vital importance of vocabulary to thelearning of a foreign language. In China，where English is taught as a foreign language，great importance is attachedto the development of vocabulary. However, English learners and their teachers generallyhold the view that the acquisition of large amount of vocabulary is one of the mostchallenging yet necessary tasks in the process of English learning. Virtually, the effects ofacquiring English vocabulary are far from satisfactory for university students in China.
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1.2 Research Significance
Researches on incidental vocabulary acquisition are prosperous recently，with a greatmany focused on picking words through extensive reading. This paper, which iscategorized as an empirical study, will make a thorough exploration to incidentalvocabulary acquisition in English listening set. Thus，it can be regarded as a priorinvestigation to incidental vocabulary acquisition through other channels.A great many researchers support the opinion that the vast majority of vocabularyc be learned indirectly through reading and listening tasks (e.g., Nagy，Herman, &Anderson, 1985). Among them, Laufer (2001)，after studying numerous cases, believesthat word-focused tasks are playing a significant role in improving the vocabularyknowledge of language learners and task-based instruction is essential for lexicalacquisition. In 2001, Laufer and Hulstijn put forward the Involvement Load Hypothesis，which took the first step in grading L2 vocabulary learning tasks by introducing aconstruct of involvement with motivational and cognitive dimensions. It predicts theeffects of tasks on vocabulary learning in terms of their involvement loads. It would haveimmense theoretical significance for building the L2 vocabulmy learning model if theHypothesis is fully tested. Yet a few empirical studies (Duan & Yan，2004) have beenconducted to test it and the results haven't fiilly supported the Hypothesis.
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Chapter Two Literature Review
2.1 Second Language (L2) Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition
Paribakht and Wesche (1999) presented thefollowing definition: incidental vocabulary acquisition is what takes place when "learnersfocus on comprehending meaning rather than on the explicit goal of acquiring newwords". According to Schmidt (1994)，incidental vocabulary acquisition is the acquisitionwithout the intent to leam, or as the acquisition of one thing, e.g.，vocabulary, when thelearner's primary objective is to do something else. As Krashen (1989) put it, incidentalvocabulary acquisition is a kind of “by-product” of other activities. Intentional vocabularyacquisition, in contrast, refers to acquiring vocabulary by rote learning or doingvocabulary exercises or activities to enforce the acquisition of certain words intentionally.Acquisition and learning are not distinguished in this thesis，since the main differencebetween them is that the first one emphasizes the process，and the second one focuses onthe result.To put it simply，incidental and intentional learning can be distinguished by whetheror not participants are told in advance that they will be tested immediately after theexperiment. Thus in the incidental learning situation, learners are required to perform atask involving the processing of target words without being told in advance that they willbe tested afterwards on their recall of those words. Since the present study deals withincidental vocabulary acquisition in classroom and learning tasks，it has to be made clearthat the acquisition that occurs in the different tasks is regarded as incidental, for learnersare unaware of the following vocabulary test.
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2.2 Theoretical Contributions Most Relevant to L2 Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition
During the process of applying the incidental vocabulary learning hypothesis intoresearches, Krashen, a leading advocator of the incidental vocabulary acquisition,commenced to apply the Input Hypothesis to the acquisition of vocabulary. The InputHypothesis is the core of Krashen (1985)，s theories of second language acquisition whichhas great impact on other areas of language researches and teaching. Language inputrefers to the language which learners hear and receive and from which they can learnsomething. The Input Hypothesis states that learners acquire languages when they areexposed to comprehensible input (i+1) which contains linguistic forms slightly in advanceof their current interlanguage system (i). "i" refers to the learners' current level, “1，，is thegap between the current level and the next level，and “i+1，，indicates the next level in thelearners' language acquisition. In order to successfully fill in the gap, the input providedshould be neither too difficult nor too easy to understand. Language learners progressfrom their current level of competence to a higher level by understanding input containing“i +1”. To put it another way, a learner's language learning process proceeds naturallywhen he or she receives L2 input which is one step beyond his or her current level oflinguistic competence. For instance, if a learner is at a stage “i”，then acquisition takesplace when he or she is exposed to comprehensible input that belongs to level "i +1”.
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Chapter Three Research Methodology........ 26
3.1 Research Design ........ 26
3.2 Subjects ........ 26
3.3 Materials........ 28
3.4 Procedures........ 30
3.5 Data Collection and Analysis........ 32
Chapter Four Results and Discussion........ 34
4.1 Results for the First Research Question........ 34
4.2 Results for the Second Research Question........ 38
4.3 Results for the Third Research Question........ 39
4.4 Results of the Semi-structured Interview........ 42
4.5 Discussion ........ 44
Chapter Five Conclusions and Pedagogical Implications........ 51
5.1 Summaiy of the Study ........51
5.2 Implications for Language Teaching and Learning........ 52
5.3 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research ........54
Chapter Four Results and Discussion
4.1 Results for the First Research Question
The first question is "Does task-induced involvement influence the retention of newvocabulary words of EFL learners in the context of listening?" As is presented inChapter 3，Group 1 refers to those subjects who took the task with the involvement loadindex being 2, the involvement load of the task taken by Group 2 is 1, and as for Group 3，the involvement load of the task is 3 which is the highest among them. One-wayANOVA was performed on the three tasks to find out if there is increase or significantincrease among the immediate posttest and delayed posttest in the knowledge of thetarget words. A bar chart was adopted to display the mean scores gained by differentgroups over time clearly. The results were presented in Table 4.1 and Figure 4.1.
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Conclusion
The present study was designed to test particular predictions of the involvement loadhypothesis in English learning across the different task types. To be more specific, itstudied the role that involvement load might play in vocabulary task's incidentaleffectiveness through listening. Besides，the previous task has been conducted without theconsideration of learning strategies, and the fact is that involvement load may influencelearners' use of learning strategies. Thus the relationship between task-ipducedinvolvement and learners' use of listening strategies is to be investigated in the study. Thethree core researches are 1. Does task-induced involvement influence the retention of newvocabulaiy words of EFL learners in the context of listening? 2. Does 'search' or‘evaluation，have positive effects on incidental vocabulary acquisition? 3. Is there anyconnection between task-induced involvement and learners' use of listening strategies?
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