An Empirical Study Of The Influence Of Different Glosses On L2Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition Through Reading

Vocabulary is the core of language. Many researches have indicatedthat learners can incidentally acquire some new words through reading.However, most research focuses on L1and L2glosses, while little takesEnglish example gloss into consideration. There is a need to further studythe influence of L1and L2glosses plus English example gloss on L2incidental vocabulary acquisition.Based on the theoretical framework of Krashen’s (1985)Comprehensible Input Hypothesis, Craik&Lockhart’s (1972) Depth ofProcessing Hypothesis, and Laufer&Hulstijn’s（2001）Involvement LoadHypothesis, the present study is primarily aimed at examining the effectsof different glossing types on incidental vocabulary acquisition. Itattempts to solve whether the four glossing types (L1translation, L2explanation, L1translation plus English example, L2explanation plusEnglish example) significantly increase participants’ ability tocomprehend target words and use them in sentence making or not; andwhich glossing type is more effective in facilitating incidental vocabularyacquisition.120sophomoric non-English majors from Ming De Collegewere chosen for the study. They were assigned into four groups readingthe same text with10target words under different glossing conditions: L1translation gloss, L2explanation gloss, L1translation plus Englishexample gloss, and L2explanation plus English example gloss. The studyconsisted of three tests: pretest, immediate posttest and delayed posttest.Complicated statistical analyses were run on the collected data bySPSS17.0.The results show that all the four glossing types can significantlyfacilitate participants’ target words comprehension and sentence making. Among them, L1translation plus English example gloss is most effectivein facilitating incidental vocabulary acquisition, followed by L2explanation plus English example gloss, L1translation gloss, and L2explanation gloss.