A Study On The Effects Of Different Forms Of Glosses On The Incidental Acquisition In English Vocabulary For Junior High School Students

Incidental vocabulary acquisition refers to students ’ incidental acquisition of new words while completing other tasks.Many scholars believe that gloss can help learners avoid guessing errors in English vocabulary learning or in English reading.As to which type of gloss is more conductive to incidental vocabulary acquisition,further research is needed.This research aims to answer the following questions:（1）Which type of gloss,no gloss,Chinese gloss,English gloss or Chinese plus English gloss,is more conducive to junior high school students ’ immediate memory and retention of concrete words?（2）Which type of gloss,no gloss,Chinese gloss,English gloss or Chinese plus English gloss,is more conducive to junior high school students ’ immediate memory and retention of abstract words?The participants in this research were 80 students of Grade nine in a middle school in Jingdezhen.They were divided into four groups,Chinese gloss group,English gloss group,Chinese plus English gloss group and no gloss group.All participants were asked to read a same English passage with different glossing types and to complete the reading comprehension test.Then they had an immediate vocabulary test.A week later,they took a delayed vocabulary test.Finally,SPSS25.0 was used for statistical analysis of the test data.The findings are as follows:（1）Chinese plus English gloss is most conducive to the immediate memory and retention of concrete words and（2）Chinese plus English gloss has a better effect on the immediate memory of abstract words.But Chinese gloss is the most effective gloss type for the retention of abstract words.In addition,whether for concrete words or abstract words,retention of words will weaken with time going by.Based on the findings above,several implications can be offered for English learners,English teachers and editors of English materials.Firstly,gloss can help readers understand new words more accurately,which is conducive to better understanding of the reading material.And with gloss,students can become less dependent on their teachers.Secondly,teachers should encourage students to read more materials with appropriate glosses,such as magazines and newspapers.And teachers should assist students to find reading materials with appropriate glosses according to their English proficiency and reading needs.In addition,it is also necessary for teachers to innovate new vocabulary teaching methods.Finally,the editors of English reading materials should supply different types of glosses according to learners at different proficiency levels or with different reading needs when designing or developing English reading materials.