Liu Xiaoyi
Zhuhai Campus, Beijing Institute of Technology, China

A Qualitative Exploration of the Influence of L1 Sentence-Level Translation Glosses and L2 Dictionary-Definition Glosses on Incidental Vocabulary Learning

The last decade has witnessed mushrooming publications of English magazines and newspapers issued by Chinese publishing houses or educational organizations in co-operation with different English news or media companies. Such reading materials contain authentic English texts covering a wide range of text types and contents. One notable feature of such reading materials is the lexical glosses accompanying the authentic texts. Lexical items that are assumed difficult in authentic selections are predominately glossed with L1 sentence-level translations and occasionally presented in L2 dictionary definitions. Most studies now have found that glossing has a positive effect on incidental vocabulary learning (Hulstijn, Hollander and Greidanus, 1996; Jacobs, Dufon and Fong, 1994; Laufer, 2000; Rott, 2005; Watanabe, 1997).

However, in examining the extant research on printed lexical glosses, I was struck to find that research on L2 dictionary-definition as a possible glossing technique is virtually nonexistent, although some learning-oriented English magazines and newspapers published in China such as 21st Century have begun to present the glosses in the form of L2 dictionary definitions. Therefore the construction and processing of L2 dictionary-definition glosses (L2DDGs) remain largely unexplored. This paper will present an in-depth investigation into how L1 sentence-level translation glosses (L1STGs) and L2DDGs affect L2 incidental vocabulary learning by reading. Using think-aloud and retrospective procedures, this study explores how target words under these two different modes of glossing conditions are processed and acquired. Protocol data led to the identification of nine gloss processing behaviours and the construction of two preliminary gloss processing models. Support was found for the hypothesis that L2DDGs triggered deeper cognitive processing than L1STGs. The situation was less clear-cut regarding the effect of the two glossing formats on vocabulary acquisition and retention.

Immediate vocabulary test result did not lend empirical support to the claim that L2DDGs would foster stronger word retention, which was seemingly at variance with the ‘depth-of-processing’ theory (Craik and Lockhart, 1972). Possible reasons were sought by referring back to the ten independent linked-up profiles that include each participant’s think-aloud report, retrospective report and vocabulary test results. Finally the participants’ preferences for these two types of glosses were elicited through semi-structured interviews. This paper ends with implications for practice and future research.

Presenter
Liu Xiaoyi is a teaching assistant in the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Zhuhai Campus, Beijing Institute of Technology. Her research interests include second language acquisition, classroom research and cultural teaching. She teaches College English and English Reading at undergraduate level.