This paper reports on a study on the effects of reading-writing integrated tasks on vocabulary learning and explored the differential roles of creative construction and non-creative construction in promoting lexical l...This paper reports on a study on the effects of reading-writing integrated tasks on vocabulary learning and explored the differential roles of creative construction and non-creative construction in promoting lexical learning. Participants were 90 first-year English majors, randomly assigned to two experimental groups(continuation and retelling) and one control group, with 30 students in each group. Results showed that the continuation group generated a substantial amount of creative construction and produced significantly more instances of creative imitation than the retelling group. The continuation group outperformed the retelling group for both receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge gain and retention, but differences were only significant in terms of productive vocabulary retention. Finally, productive vocabulary knowledge retention among the continuation group was significantly and positively correlated with creative imitation(meaning creation coupled with language imitation), but not with linguistic alignment per se. As productive vocabulary knowledge constitutes the learner ’s ability to use lexical knowledge to express ideas in dynamic contexts, the findings afforded evidence that creative imitation could be the answer to the fundamental issue of L2 learning(i.e., mapping static language onto dynamic idea expression). The pedagogical implications as well as future research directions are also discussed.展开更多
Retelling is a very efficient means of generative learning; it engages students in meaning reconstruction, and consequently facilitates students' reading comprehension. This study aims to explore how the retelling...Retelling is a very efficient means of generative learning; it engages students in meaning reconstruction, and consequently facilitates students' reading comprehension. This study aims to explore how the retelling technique can affect Chinese tertiary-level students' reading comprehension of narrative and expository texts.展开更多
文摘This paper reports on a study on the effects of reading-writing integrated tasks on vocabulary learning and explored the differential roles of creative construction and non-creative construction in promoting lexical learning. Participants were 90 first-year English majors, randomly assigned to two experimental groups(continuation and retelling) and one control group, with 30 students in each group. Results showed that the continuation group generated a substantial amount of creative construction and produced significantly more instances of creative imitation than the retelling group. The continuation group outperformed the retelling group for both receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge gain and retention, but differences were only significant in terms of productive vocabulary retention. Finally, productive vocabulary knowledge retention among the continuation group was significantly and positively correlated with creative imitation(meaning creation coupled with language imitation), but not with linguistic alignment per se. As productive vocabulary knowledge constitutes the learner ’s ability to use lexical knowledge to express ideas in dynamic contexts, the findings afforded evidence that creative imitation could be the answer to the fundamental issue of L2 learning(i.e., mapping static language onto dynamic idea expression). The pedagogical implications as well as future research directions are also discussed.
文摘Retelling is a very efficient means of generative learning; it engages students in meaning reconstruction, and consequently facilitates students' reading comprehension. This study aims to explore how the retelling technique can affect Chinese tertiary-level students' reading comprehension of narrative and expository texts.
