the effect of different types of glosses on incidental vocabulary learning of iranian english learners

the effect of different types of glosses on incidental vocabulary learning of iranian english learners

vocabulary plays an essential role in acquiring the second language which constitutes an enormous task for language learners. in this regard, it is clear that there is a link between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. however, more knowledge of vocabulary seems to pave the way for better reading comprehension and also more reading can lead to more vocabulary knowledge if learners pay attention to unknown words in the text. for this purpose, the present study aimed at investigating the effect of glosses on vocabulary learning during reading comprehension task. thus, three groups of goharshad high school students inzahedan were selected.

each of which included 30 participants who were exposed to three types of glosses. the first group had no gloss and only the selected words were boldfaced. the second group had l1 gloss in which the persian equivalent of the boldfaced words was written in the margin of the reading comprehension task. the final group had l2 gloss with explanations, definitions and examples. the results of the study showed that the group which had l2 gloss with explanations outperformed other group. the significant difference between the groups may signify the fact that english classes should not be overwhelmed with l1 use of language.