2.4.1　Definition of Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition

2.4.1DefinitionofIncidentalVocabularyAcquisition

ItisgenerallyacceptedthataconsiderablepercentageoftheL2vocabularyisacquiredincidentally,i.e.asa“by-product”ofreading(Nagy,Anderson,&Hermann,1985;Nation&Coady,1988;Nation,2001).Incidentalvocabularyacquisitionhasbeenidentifiedwitheitheracquisition(Krashen,1981)orimplicitlearning(Ellis,2008).Intheliterature,incidentalvocabularyacquisitionhasbeendefinedas“learningwithoutanintenttolearn,orasthelearningofonething,forexamplevocabulary,whenthestudent'sprimaryobjectiveistodosomethingelse”(Laufer&Hulstijn,2001,p.10),and“thelearningofnewwordsasaby-productofameaning-focusedcommunicativeactivity,suchasreading,listening,andinteraction,whichoccursthroughmultipleexposuretoawordindifferentcontexts”(Huckin&Coady,1999,p.185).ThisstudyusesthedefinitionofincidentalvocabularyacquisitiongivenbyEllis(2008),i.e.,“learningofsomespecificfeaturethattakesplacewithoutanyconsciousintentiontolearnit”(p.966).

Itisnotdifficulttolistouttheadvantagesofincidentalvocabularyacquisitionoverdirectinstruction:(a)itispedagogicallyefficientbecauseitallowstwoactivities,suchasvocabularyacquisitionandreading/listening,tooccuratthesametime,(b)itismoreindividualizedandlearner-basedbecausethevocabularybeingacquiredisdependentonthelearner'sownselectionoflearningmaterials,and(c)becauseincidentalvocabularyacquisitionusuallyoccursintheprocessofreading,vocabularyiscontextualized,whichgivesthelearnerarichersenseoftheword'suseandmeaningthanthatfromtraditionalexercises.

However,asforanexactdefinitionandcharacterizationoftheprocessesandmechanismsinvolvedinincidentalvocabularyacquisition,manyquestionsremainunanswered.Averygeneralproblemwiththeoperationaldefinitionofincidentalvocabularyacquisitiongivenaboveisthatitseemstosuggestthatincidentallearningoccursunconsciously.AsGass(1999)noted,however,definingincidentalvocabularyacquisitionasthe“side-effect”ofanotheractivityneglectstheactiveroleofthelearnerinthisprocess.Thefactthatlearningoccursasaby-productofreadingdoesnotautomaticallyimplythatitdoesnotinvolveanyconsciousprocesses.Theseemingequationof“incidental”with“unconscious”isalsocriticizedbyEllis(1994a,p.38),whobelievedthatincidentalvocabularyacquisitionisnon-explicitinsofarasitdoesnotinvolveanexplicitlearningintention(theoverallgoalofthelearneristextcomprehension),butthatneithertheprocessnortheproductofsuchlearningisnecessarilyimplicitinthesenseofnon-conscious.

Intypicalexperimentsinvestigatingincidentalvocabularylearning,learnersarerequiredtoperformataskinvolvingtheprocessingofsomeinformationwithoutbeingtoldthattheywillbeafterwardstestedontheirrecallofthatinformation.Onemethodistoexposelearnerstotherelevantmaterialwithoutaninstructiontolearn,whichgenerallymeansthatlearnersmustperformsometaskthatleadsthemtoexperiencetheto-be-testedmaterialbutdoesnotleadthemtoexpectalaterretentiontest.Forexample,learnersarerequiredtocompletealisteningtaskwithsomevocabularyitemsembeddedinthelisteningtext,andarelatertestedontherecallofthevocabularyitems,asinthestudyreportedinthisthesis.

Anotherwayofinvestigatingincidentallearningistoasklearnerstolearnsomething,butnottheinformationtargetedforsubsequenttesting.Forexample,learnersaretoldtolistentoatextandthenrecallthecontentsofit.However,theyarenottoldinadvancethattheywillbetestedafterwardsontheirrecalloftheunfamiliarwordsinthelisteningtext.