3. Studies on Effect of Different Glosses on Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition

There is numerous evidence showing that acquiring vocabulary incidentally through reading can’t achieve as much as we expect (Knight, 1994; Paribakht & Wesche, 1997; Laufer, 2001) and is “not much better than random guessing in the tests” (Waring & Takaki, 2003: 131). The reasons can be concluded as follows: firstly, learners simply fail to notice the unfamiliar words while reading (Rottetal., 2002); secondly, learners are unable to guess the correct meaning of the new words  because of insufficient contextual clues. 

Based on this,researchers adopt gloss as an interfere means to facilitate vocabulary incidental acquisition researchers adopt gloss as an interfere means to facilitate reading comprehension and improve vocabulary learning.It has been widely proved that gloss has a positive effect on L2 vocabulary acquisition (Chun&  Plass,  1996;  Knight,  1994;  Paribakht  &  Wesche,  1997). 

In recent years, the researches relating to the effect of gloss on L2 language acquisition have shown new characteristics, shifting from whether gloss has a positive effect to what gloss can better promote L2 language acquisition. (Yoshi, 2006) 

4. Conclusion

In conclusion, the major findings of the present study are stated as follows: 1) A better comprehension of the text does lead to a higher rate of incidental vocabulary acquisition of word knowledge. 2) Glossing in both Chinese and English with phonological is the most effective in enhancing the word knowledge in both the immediate retention and in the delayed retention. 3) Glossing in Chinese (C) with phonological is the most effective in the immediate retention test of word knowledge. But this type is the least effective in enhancing the word knowledge in the delayed retention. 4) Glossing in English with phonological (E) is the poorest in enhancing the word knowledge in the immediate retention.

References 

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