Comparing the Effects of Listening Input and Reading Input on Chinese EFL Learners' Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition

This study examines the effects of listening and reading activities on Chinese EFL learners' incidental acquisition in vocabulary form, meaning and production. Each listening activity included a dialogic text and an information-transfer tasks; each reading activity comprised a reading text and five comprehension questions, and each text contained five low-frequency target words for the study of incidental acquisition. The results showed that the Reading Group had a general advantage over the Listening Group in acquisition of all the three vocabulary aspects, and the Listening Group manifested nearly an equal acquisition in word meaning. Overall, the study proves the notably advantageous effects of reading input on word acquisition. Concerning vocabulary acquisition through listening, this study points to the pedagogical importance of increasing opportunity for learners to process input with rich contextual clues through task repetition.