Research On The Effects Of Glosses On Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition In English Reading

In the process of second language learning, the vocabulary size directly influences the learners’ proficiency, and incidental acquisition is an effective way to enlarge it. Recently, more and more researchers and language teachers have begun to concentrate on the effects of glosses on incidental vocabulary acquisition. However, the empirical researches are few, especially the researches on non-English majors of higher vocational colleges. In order to enrich the related research, with the theoretical foundation of Noticing Hypothesis, Depth of Processing Theory and Involvement Load Hypothesis, the present study aims to examine the effects of three different types of glosses on the incidental vocabulary acquisition for higher vocational college learners and which one is the most conductive to facilitate incidental vocabulary acquisition.The current experiment randomly selects 92 freshmen from three parallel classes in Shi Jiazhuang Medical College as the subjects. Through the immediate and delayed posttests, and the interview, a series of comparative analysis are conducted to testify the effects of Chinese plus English glosses, single English glosses and multiple-choice English glosses on the incidental vocabulary acquisition in reading. One of the innovations of this article lie in that the author selects high proficiency group and low proficiency group from different glossing groups according to the scores in the immediate and delayed posttests. Specifically, four research questions are addressed in the study:(1) In the immediate vocabulary test, are there any significant differences in the effect of three types of glosses on incidental vocabulary acquisition in reading? If yes, which is the most effective one to acquire the vocabulary incidentally?(2) In the delayed vocabulary test, which type of gloss is more effective for words retention?(3) What are the respective effects of glosses on the learners of high and low language proficiency?(4) What are students’ views on glossing in English reading materials?The results of this study prove that the effects of multiple-choice glosses are superior to English glosses and Chinese plus English glosses, which verifies the theory of involvement load hypothesis. Whereas in the aspect of vocabulary retention, Chinese plus English glosses is the most effective. Contrary to the immediate posttest, the effect of incidental acquisition of multiple-choice glosses is the worst. Unlike most of the current research conclusions, in the present research, the effects of English glosses is the worst either in the immediate or the delayed posttest.This study provides some valid reference for English teachers, English learners and the editors of textbooks and English extracurricular materials in the aspect of choosing and compiling the reading materials. Besides, some effective and feasible suggestions for English vocabulary learning and teaching are come with up in this paper.