本研究旨在探討指定閱讀中，文本主題熟悉度對字彙習得之效益。參與研究者為北台灣某高職一百七十位學生，參與者英文程度依全民英檢測驗分為初級至中級程度。
本研究為期五週：第一週對參與者進行總字彙程度測驗（以大學入學考試中心所發布之高中六千四百零八個字彙為命題範圍）以及全民英檢初級閱讀測驗，並且施行一份有關文本主題熟悉度的問卷，以選出參與者所最熟悉與最不熟悉的文本各一篇，研究者並於其中選出標的字彙；第二週對參與者施以標的字彙前測；第三週對參與者進行指定閱讀文本之閱讀理解能力測驗以及標的字彙即時測驗；第五週對參與者施以後測來測出字彙保留程度。
有關文本主題熟悉度對於參與者字彙習得之結果分析，以成對樣本t考驗進行，並比較中級程度者與初級程度者在熟悉與不熟悉文本主題中，閱讀理解和單字習得之表現；同時亦以皮爾森相關係數，探討參與者之總字彙量、閱讀能力、閱讀理解分數、單字習得之間的關聯係數。
本研究結果顯示：文本主題熟悉度對於參與者之單字習得有顯著影響；參與者在主題熟悉度較高之文本中，字彙習得表現比熟悉度低之文本表現顯著較優；此外，中級程度者在字彙習得表現方面比初級程度者顯著較優，尤其是在閱讀熟悉度低之文本方面，字彙習得優劣表現更為顯著。同時本研究經皮爾森相關係數分析發現，參與者之總字彙量與其閱讀中之字彙習得呈現高度相關，而參與者之閱讀能力與其閱讀理解分數則呈現中度相關。
本研究結果建議：既然參與者之總字彙量與參與者字彙習得呈現高度相關，若要從指定閱讀中幫助英語學習者增進字彙，教師最好選擇學習者對主題較熟悉的文本，或者，若教師需指定學習者閱讀主題熟悉度低的文本時，尤其對於英語程度為初級程度者，最好先進行有關該閱讀文本背景知識的教學。

This study is aimed at examining whether texts of different topics in EFL readers or textbooks enhance vocabulary gain and vocabulary retention. In a planned reading situation, do familiar topics enhance greater vocabulary gain and retention than unfamiliar topics? This study investigated the effects of topic familiarity in planned reading on vocabulary gain and vocabulary retention.
Participants in the study were 170 mixed-level English learners, from elementary level to intermediate level, at a vocational high school in northern Taiwan. The whole experiment lasted for five weeks. In the first week, the participants completed a vocabulary size test and a reading section of a published General English Proficiency Test in Taiwan (GEPT); a questionnaire on text topic familiarity was also administered, based on which two texts, one of most familiar and the other of most unfamiliar, were determined. In the second week, all participants took a pretest on 20 target words (TWs) chosen from the two texts. In the third week, all participants read both chosen texts and finished an immediate test on the same TWs and a reading comprehension test. Two weeks later, a posttest was given to measure participants’ retention of the same TWs. The scores of readers’ vocabulary gain and retention were analyzed by Paired-Samples t-tests; the relationships of vocabulary size, reading proficiency, reading comprehension, vocabulary gain and retention were examined by Pearson’s correlations coefficient. According to the results of the GEPT reading comprehension, the participants were further grouped into intermediate readers (H group) and elementary readers (L group).
The results showed that topic familiarity in planned reading had significant impact on vocabulary gain and retention. All participants (170), elementary readers (34), and intermediate readers (34) had significant vocabulary gain and vocabulary retention. All three groups had significantly higher vocabulary gain and retention in the familiar text than in the unfamiliar text. Furthermore, intermediate readers achieved higher vocabulary gain and retention than elementary readers in both familiar and unfamiliar texts. In the unfamiliar text, the retention disparity across the two proficiency groups showed significance, intermediate readers retained more words than elementary readers did. Consistent with previous studies, the results of this study reconfirmed that readers’ vocabulary size has high correlation with vocabulary gain and retention, and readers’ reading proficiency has moderate correlation with reading comprehension.
The researcher-teacher, based on the results of this study, suggests that, to increase learners’ vocabulary size, EFL teachers of elementary to intermediate levels select texts whose topics are familiar to their learners. If teachers need to teach unfamiliar texts, background knowledge will be important to all learners, especially to elementary readers.

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