Effects Of Gloss Types On Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition Of Junior High School Students

There is little doubt that incidental vocabulary acquisition is one of the most common ways to lexical development.Glosses,as an input enhancement,are conducive to aiding learners' vocabulary acquisition Multiple studies so far have been devoted to investigate the effectiveness of various gloss positions on vocabulary acquisition.However,considering that the results of previous research are not conclusive,the current study is in an attempt to examine which gloss position has more significant effects on learners'vocabulary recall and vocabulary retention.Drawing on Cognitive Load Theory and Noticing Hypothesis,the present study is designed to explore the efficacy of in-text glosses,marginal glosses and footnote glosses on incidental vocabulary acquisition.There are chiefly three questions that will be addressed.1)What are the effects of different gloss positions on the immediate recall of target words?2)What are the effects of different gloss positions on the delayed retention of target words?3)What is students' attitude toward different gloss positions?To this end,a total of 120 participants selected from three intact classes in a junior high school constituted three experimental groups(in-text gloss group,marginal gloss group and footnote gloss group).These groups were basically similar in vocabulary size according to the outcomes of Vocabulary Level Test.Additionally,a pilot study was administered to ensure the validity of target words and the reading material.All subjects were required to read the same text under different gloss conditions and then complete four reading comprehension questions under allotted time.Finally,an immediate vocabulary post-test and a delayed vocabulary post-test conducted two weeks later were given to participants in order to test learners' vocabulary recall and retention Both post-tests took the same form except for lexical orders in each test After the delayed post-test,a semi-constructed interview was carried out with an eye to investigating learners' preference toward different gloss locations.Experimental data in the present study were principally analyzed via One-way ANOVAThe major findings of this study are as follows:1)The in-text gloss group demonstrated the greatest performance in the immediate post-test,followed closely by the marginal gloss group,while the footnote gloss group performed the worst.Thus,it could be concluded that both in-text and marginal glosses had more significant effects on the immediate recall of target words than the footnote gloss.2)In the delayed post-test,the group with access to the in-text gloss obtained the highest mean score which was slightly higher than that of the marginal gloss group.The footnote gloss group had the lowest mean score.Therefore,both in-text and marginal glosses outperformed the footnote gloss on the delayed retention of target words.Further,there was a dramatic decrease in scores of the delayed post-test,which indicated that learners'vocabulary retention was weakened after two weeks.3)While students confirmed the positive effects of glosses on vocabulary learning,they varied in their attitude toward different gloss positions.Most students preferred in-text and marginal glosses to the footnote glossesThe current study sheds some light on vocabulary learning and teaching.For instance,instructional materials developers and English teachers should provide learners with carefully glossed materials in order to minimize learners' cognitive load.However,given the fact of small size of samples and limited vocabulary types in the present study,more related studies are still required.