A Case Study On Applying Glossing To Different L2 Reading Stages And Its Effects On Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition

Vocabulary as an essential part of language structure is the basis of language activities; vocabulary learning/acquisition is also very important in learning any second or foreign language. For most of the English learners and teachers, to enlarge the vocabulary and improve the efficiency of vocabulary acquisition are very important and also somewhat difficult. In English learning, reading is an effective way to promote vocabulary acquisition. And an application of glossing would better facilitate the students to acquire the vocabulary through reading. Based on Krashen’s Input Hypothesis (1985), Craik and Lockhart’s Depth of Processing Hypothesis (1972), Schmidt’s Noticing Hypothesis (1990) and Laufer and Hulstijn’s Involvement Load Hypothesis (2001), this study aims to probe into the effect of three different glossing types (Chinese glosses, English glosses, Multiple-choice glosses) and glossing application in three reading periods (pre-reading, while-reading, post-reading) on vocabulary acquisition of high school students of Grade 1 through an empirical study.The participants of this study are 120 students from a local high school in Nanchang. They are divided into three groups according to their classes:the pre-reading gloss use group (PreG), the while-reading gloss use group (WhG) and post-reading gloss use group (PostG). The 120 participants will meet all three types of glosses in the reading material, but the glosses will be given by the teacher in different reading periods according to which group they are in. After reading the passage, they will first take an immediate vocabulary test and a following-up delayed vocabulary test after two weeks and then fulfill some written questionnaires individually. The data collected from the two tests and individual replies to questionnaires are processed by the tool of SPSS 16.0. The concluding findings are drawn as follows:1. The pe-reading gloss use condition can lead to the best vocabulary acquisition achievement in immediate vocabulary test. As for the long-term retention of vocabulary, the post-reading gloss use group outperformed the other two groups.2. The multiple-choice glosses are mostly effective for vocabulary acquisition when compared to the other two types of glosses. Both in immediate and delayed vocabulary tests, the students of higher vocabulary level and those of lower vocabulary level can acquire the vocabulary better while they are applying multiple-choice glosses.3. There is little evidence to show significant interaction between the gloss types and the reading periods in which the glosses are used.The findings above indicate that if the suitable glosses are used in appropriate time in reading will promote vocabulary acquisition. Meanwhile, the present study can provide some implications on vocabulary learning, teaching and extracurricular reading material compiling.