Effects of Graded Texts on EFL College Students' Incidental ...

with the same group <strong>of</strong> learners, different teachers might have diverse opinions when
dealing with such decisions.
Moreover, from previous descriptions on sequencing procedures within the
online syllabus, it is evident that the syllabus is merely an estimation <strong>of</strong> the general
vocabulary level <strong>of</strong> a group <strong>of</strong> learners rather than addressing to a particular
individual learner’s need. Questions may be raised on how the syllabus might not be
adequate for learners whose vocabulary level falls outside the norm.
In addition to learner differences, the current online extensive reading syllabus
possesses potential limitations in respect <strong>of</strong> learner interaction. With the main
purpose <strong>of</strong> the study being to discover the effectiveness <strong>of</strong> the syllabus and to quest
for an optimal sequencing method, this preliminary version lacks the access <strong>of</strong>
providing learners involvement and interaction during reading.
Besides the incompleteness <strong>of</strong> the online extensive reading syllabus design,
methodological limitations have resulted in an indefinite answer on the question <strong>of</strong>
exposure amount and degree <strong>of</strong> incidental word acquisition. Due to the time limit,
learners in this study read only 16 texts within 12 weeks. The highest amount <strong>of</strong>
target word exposure reached 15 times, an amount proved inadequate for building up
receptive or productive word knowledge. Moreover, in the current study, the
intrinsic difficulty <strong>of</strong> target words and the lack <strong>of</strong> inferential contextual cues in
reading texts seem to increase acquisition difficulties for learners.
5.3. Directions for Future Research
The issue <strong>of</strong> required word exposure for effective incidental vocabulary
acquisition within extensive reading environments remained inconclusive in this study.
Without further confirmation, the preliminary results merely <strong>of</strong>fer a dawning
understanding <strong>of</strong> an exposure amount <strong>of</strong> at least 15 times for prominent receptive
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