Study on the Effects of Gloss Type on Chinese EFL Learners’ Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition

Abstract

Abstract-Gloss is a common practice in reading materials. This study aims to explore the effects of gloss type on Chinese EFL learners' English incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading. The experimental results indicate that: (1) multiple-choice glosses outperformed single glosses in incidental vocabulary gain and retention during reading; (2) compared with single glosses, multi-choice glosses were more conductive to vocabulary production.

The impact of L1 and L2 Glosses on EFL Learners' Incidental Vocabulary Learning Through Reading: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Research on the effectiveness of textual glosses in second language learning has been conducted in various contexts. In a quasi-experimental study, Gan (2014) found that single and multiple-choice glosses were more effective than no glosses in aiding vocabulary acquisition for Chinese college undergraduates. Moreover, the multiple-choice glosses outperformed the single gloss condition.…”

“…The reviewed studies provided almost identical operationalizations of incidental vocabulary learning. Gan (2014) operationalized incidental vocabulary learning as being a byproduct of reading. To ensure that learners do not primarily focus on vocabulary learning, the learners in this study were asked to recall the text they had read in their mother tongue.…”

“…This subsection seeks to highlight factors that explain these results. Gan (2014) explained the superiority of multiple-choice glosses from the point view of cognitive psychology and the involvement load hypothesis. She explained that three factors determine the effect of glosses.…”

Glossing and vocabulary learning

“…In most, the students were given tasks that engaged them intensively with the texts and their glosses. For example, students were asked to read a text with a view to reproducing its contents (e.g., Gan, 2014;Ko, 2012;Rott et al, 2002) or with a view to answering numerous questions that prompted the students to inspect the glosses (e.g., Samian et al, 2016). The effectiveness for vocabulary learning of text comprehension tasks that direct learners' attention to target words has been demonstrated convincingly by Peters et al (2009).…”