Contents
Chapter One Introduction 1
1.1 Overview 1
1.2 Aims and Significance of the Present Study 2
1.3 Organization of the Thesis 3
Chapter Two Literature Review 4
2.1 Definitions and Models of Cognitive Style 4
2.2 Review of Literature on Field Dependence/Independence (FD/I) 7
2.2.1 Definition of FD/I 7
2.2.2 Characteristics of FD/I 8
2.2.3 Previous Studies on FD/I 9
2.3 Review of Literature on Ambiguity Tolerance/Intolerance (AT/I) 11
2.3.1 Definition of AT/I 11
2.3.2 Characteristics of AT/I 13
2.3.3 Previous Studies on AT/I 14
2.4 Review of Literature on Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition(IVA) 15
2.4.1 Definition of IVA 15
2.4.2 Shortcomings of IVA 16
2.4.3 Previous Studies on IVA 18
2.4.4 Studies on the Factors Influencing IVA 20
Chapter Three Research Design and Methodology 25
3.1 Research Questions 25
3.2 Subjects 25
3.3 Instruments and Materials 26
3.3.1 Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) 26
3.3.2 Cognitive Style Figure Test (CSFT) 27
3.3.3 Second Language Tolerance of Ambigutity Scale(SLTAS) 27
3.3.4 Reading Material and Target Words 28
3.3.5 Vocabulary Test 29
3.4 Research Procedures 29
3.5 Data Collection 31
Chapter Four Results and Discussion 32
4.1 Descriptive Data 32
4.1.1 Descriptive Data for Cognitive Style Test 32
4.1.2 Descriptive Data for Vocabulary Tests 32
4.2 Correlation between FI and IVA 33
4.3 Correlation between AT and IVA 37
4.4 Differences between Effective Learners and Ineffective Learners 40
4.5 Discussion of the Results 42
4.5.1 Discussion on the Effect of FD/I on IVA 42
4.5.2 Discussion on the Effect of AT/I on IVA 43
4.5.3 Discussions on the FD/I and AT/I between Effective Learners and Ineffective Learners 45
4.5.4 General Discussions 46
Chapter Five Conclusions and Implications 47
5.1 Summary of the Findings Derived 47
5.2 Implications for EFL Learning and Teaching in China 47
5.3 Limitations of the Present Study and Suggestions for Further Studies 49
Bibliography 51
Appendices 57
Appendix 1 Vocabulary Levels Test 57
Appendix 2 Cognitive Style Figure Test 61
Appendix 3 Second Language Tolerance of Ambiguity Scale 66
Appendix 4 Reading Material and Target Words 67
Appendix 5 Vocabulary test 70
Abbreviations 71
Acknowledgements 72
ABSTRACT
Learning words incidentally through extensive reading is an important way for language learners to expand their vocabulary. It is also an extensively research topic in the field of second language acquisition. However, there are still many unsettled questions about incidental vocabulary acquisition. Some scholars point out that incidental vocabulary acquisition is very complex and there are many factors that may affect the outcome. These factors include richness of context clues, learning task, and learners’ vocabulary size, cognitive style, etc. Despite the fact that a series of studies have researched on these factors, the factor of learners’ cognitive style is largely neglected.
The present study probes into cognitive style from two dimensions---field dependence/independence and ambiguity tolerance/intolerance, explores the relationship between subjects’ cognitive style and their performance on incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading. Besides, the differences between effective learners and ineffective learners in their cognitive style have been investigated. There are five parts in this thesis. Part one starts with a brief introduction to the aims and significance of this investigation. In Part two, we present a survey of research and theories of cognitive style and incidental vocabulary acquisition. In Part three, we first advance the hypotheses, then provide some information concerning the subjects, instruments as well as the procedure of the investigation. Part four presents the data analysis and discussion about the results. Part five is devoted to the conclusions drawn from the present study. Furthermore, implications and limitations of the present study and suggestions for further research are discussed.
120 non-English majors in Henan University of Science and Technology are chosen as the subjects and they take the questionnaire for cognitive styles and two vocabulary tests after reading. The data collected were analyzed to find out the possible relationship between cognitive styles and incidental vocabulary acquisition performance. The results indicated that the amount of gained word knowledge significantly correlated with the degree of field independence and ambiguity tolerance, and that there is a significant difference between effective learners and ineffective learners.
The findings have both theoretical and pedagogical implications. First, they have confirmed the effects of cognitive style on language learning process, which shows that individual difference in cognitive style has certain effects on the vocabulary learning. Second, they are beneficial for the Chinese English teachers to encourage students to carry out a large amount of extensive reading in order to improve their vocabulary growth.
KEY WORDS: cognitive style, field independence, ambiguity tolerance, incidental vocabulary acquisition
Dissertation Type: Applicable Research
