Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This study investigated how repeated occurrences of novel words and the corresponding number of first-language in-text glosses influenced novel words processing and learning outcomes during second-language reading. Using eye-tracking, 48 college students in China read a 4,693-word graded reader. With 2 balanced versions, 24 words (12 glossed and 12 non-glossed) occurring 1 to 7 times served as target words. Results showed that, first, processing times of target words were shorter in the gloss condition, and combined processing times of target words plus glosses were shorter than the times of non-glossed target words; second, processing times of target words in two conditions showed different trajectories across repeated occurrences, whereas processing times of first-language glosses remained relatively constant; and third, first-language glossing augmented the effect of occurrence frequency in meaning recall but undermined its effect in form recognition. Theoretical and pedagogical implications were discussed.

Keywords

Second-language reading incidental vocabulary learning first-language glossing occurrence frequency eye-tracking

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Barcroft

(2002). Semantic and structural elaboration in L2 lexical acquisition. Language Learning, 52(2), 323–363. https://doi.org/10.1111/0023-8333.00186

Barcroft

(2006). Can writing a new word detract from learning it? More negative effects of forced output during vocabulary learning. Second Language Research, 22(4), 487–497. https://doi.org/10.1191/0267658306sr276oa

Barcroft

(2015). Lexical input processing and vocabulary learning. John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.43

Barr

D.J.

Levy

Scheepers

Tily

H.J.

(2013). Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing: Keep it maximal. Journal of Memory and Language, 68(3), 255–278. https://doi.org/10/gcm4wc

Bates

Maechler

Bolker

Walker

(2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1), 1–48. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v067.i01

Boers

(2022). Glossing and vocabulary learning. Language Teaching, 55(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444821000252

Cheng

Y.H.

Good

R.L.

(2009). L1 glosses: Effects on EFL learners’ reading comprehension and vocabulary retention. Reading in a Foreign Language, 21(2), 119–142. https://doi.org/10125/66828

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. (2002). The contemporary Chinese dictionary (Chinese-English ed.). Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

Cobb

(2015). Range for texts v.5.4. Retrieved May 15, 2020, from https://www.lextutor.ca/cgi-bin/range/texts/

10.

Elgort

Beliaeva

Boers

(2020). Contextual word learning in the first and second language: Definition placement and inference error effects on declarative and nondeclarative knowledge. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 42(1), 7c32. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263119000561

11.

Elgort

Brysbaert

Stevens

Van Assche

(2018). Contextual word learning during reading in a second language: An eye-movement study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 40(2), 341–366. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263117000109

12.

Elgort

Wetering

R.V.D.

Arrow

Beyersmann

(2024). Previewing novel words before reading affects their processing during reading: An eye-movement study with first and second language readers. Language Learning, 74(1), 78–110. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12579

13.

Ellis

(1994). Consciousness in second language learning: Psychological perspectives on the role of conscious processes in vocabulary acquisition. AILA Review, 11, 37–56.

14.

Godfroid

(2020). Eye tracking in second language acquisition and bilingualism: A research synthesis and methodological guide. Routledge.

15.

Godfroid

Ahn

Choi

Ballard

Cui

Johnston

Lee

Sarkar

Yoon

H.-J.

(2018). Incidental vocabulary learning in a natural reading context: An eye-tracking study. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 21(3), 563–584. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728917000219

16.

Godfroid

Hui

(2020). Five common pitfalls in eye-tracking research. Second Language Research, 36(3), 277–305. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658320921218

17.

Godfroid

Winke

(2015). Investigating implicit and explicit processing using L2 learners’ eye-movement data. In Rebuschat

(Ed.), Implicit and explicit learning of languages (pp. 73–90). John Benjamins.

18.

Gries

S.T.

(2021). (Generalized linear) mixed-effects modeling: A learner corpus example. Language Learning, 71(3), 757–798. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12448

19.

Horst

Cobb

Meara

(1998). Beyond a clockwork orange: Acquiring second language vocabulary through reading. Reading in a Foreign Language, 11(2), 207–223. https://doi.org/10125/66953

20.

Huang

Lin

(2014). Three approaches to glossing and their effects on vocabulary learning. System, 44, 127–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2014.03.006

21.

Hulstijn

J.H.

Hollander

Greidanus

(1996). Incidental vocabulary learning by advanced foreign language students: The influence of marginal glosses, dictionary use, and reoccurrence of unknown words. The Modern Language Journal, 80(3), 327–339. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1996.tb01614.x

22.

Jacobs

Dufon

Hong

C.F.

(1994). L1 and L2 glosses in L2 reading passages: Their effectiveness for increasing comprehension and vocabulary knowledge. Journal of Research in Reading, 17(1), 19–28. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9817.1994.tb00049.x

23.

Jiang

(2000). Lexical representation and development in a second language. Applied Linguistics, 21(1), 47–77. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/21.1.47

24.

Joseph

H.S.S.L.

Wonnacott

Forbes

Nation

. (2014). Becoming a written word: Eye movements reveal order of acquisition effects following incidental exposure to new words during silent reading. Cognition, 133(1), 238–248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2014.06.015

25.

Kang

Kweon

S.-O.

Choi

(2020). Using eye-tracking to examine the role of first and second language glosses. Language Teaching Research, 26(6), 1252–1273. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168820928567

26.

Kim

H.S.

Lee

J.H.

Lee

(2020). The relative effects of L1 and L2 glosses on L2 learning: A meta-analysis. Language Teaching Research, 25(3), 451–475. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168820981394

27.

M.H.

(2012). Glossing and second language vocabulary learning. TESOL Quarterly, 46(1), 56–79. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3

28.

Kuznetsova

Brockhoff

P.B.

Christensen

R.H.B.

(2017). LmerTest package: Tests in linear mixed effects models. Journal of Statistical Software, 82(13), 1–26. https://doi.org/10/dg3k

29.

McKeown

M.G.

Curtis

M.E.

(2014). The nature of vocabulary acquisition. Psychology Press.

30.

Mohamed

A.A.

(2018). Exposure frequency in L2 reading: An eye-movement perspective of incidental vocabulary learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 40(2), 269–293. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263117000092

31.

Nagy

W.E.

Herman

Anderson

R.C.

(1985). Learning words from context. Reading Research Quarterly, 20(2), 233–253.

32.

Nassaji

(2003). L2 vocabulary learning from context: Strategies, knowledge sources, and their relationship with success in L2 lexical inferencing. TESOL Quarterly, 37(4), 645. https://doi.org/10.2307/3588216

33.

Nation

I.S.P.

(2006). How large a vocabulary is needed for reading and listening? Canadian Modern Language Review, 63(1), 59–82. https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.63.1.59

34.

Nation

I.S.P.

Webb

(2011). Researching and analyzing vocabulary. Heinle.

35.

Ouyang

Huang

Jiang

(2020). The effects of glossing on incidental vocabulary learning during second language reading: Based on an eye-tracking study. Journal of Research in Reading, 43(4), 496–515. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9817.12326

36.

Pellicer-Sánchez

(2016). Incidental L2 vocabulary acquisition from and while reading: An eye-tracking study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 38(1), 97–130. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263115000224

37.

Pellicer-Sánchez

Conklin

Vilkaite-Lozdiene

(2021). The effect of pre-reading instruction on vocabulary learning: An investigation of L1 and L2 readers’ eye movements. Language Learning, 71(1), 162–203. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12430

38.

Peters

Webb

(2018). Incidental vocabulary acquisition through viewing L2 television and factors that affect learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 40(3), 551–577. https://doi:10.1017/S0272263117000407

39.

Reichle

E.D.

Perfetti

C.A.

(2003). Morphology in word identification: A word-experience model that accounts for morpheme frequency effects. Scientific Studies of Reading, 7(3), 219–237. https://doi.org/10.1207/S1532799XSSR0703_2

40.

Rott

(1999). The effect of exposure frequency on intermediate language learners’ incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 21(4), 589–619. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263199004039

41.

Rott

(2005). Processing glosses: A qualitative exploration of how form-meaning connections are established and strengthened. Reading in a Foreign Language, 17(2), 95–124. https://doi.org/10125/66793

42.

Rott

(2007). The effect of frequency of input-enhancements on word learning and text comprehension. Language Learning, 57(2), 165–199. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2007.00406.x

43.

Rott

Williams

(2003). Making form-meaning connections while reading. Reading in a Foreign Language, 15(1), 45–75. https://doi.org/10125/66591

44.

Tadayonifar

Elgort

Siyanova-Chauturia

(2025). Contextual learning and retention of phrasal verbs: The effects of definition placement and typographic enhancement. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 47(1), 157–180. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263124000718

45.

Teng

(2020). Retention of new words learned incidentally from reading: Word exposure frequency, L1 marginal glosses, and their combination. Language Teaching Research, 24(6), 785–812. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168819829026

46.

Uchihara

Webb

Yanagisawa

(2019). The effects of repetition on incidental vocabulary learning: A meta-analysis of correlational studies. Language Learning, 69(3), 559–599. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12343

47.

Warren

Boers

Grimshaw

Siyanova-Chanturia

(2018). The effect of gloss type on learners’ intake of new words during reading: Evidence from eye-tracking. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 40(4), 883–906. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263118000177

48.

Webb

(2007). The effects of repetition on vocabulary knowledge. Applied Linguistics, 28(1), 46–65. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/aml048

49.

Webb

(Ed.). (2020). The Routledge handbook of vocabulary studies. Routledge.

50.

Webb

Nation

(2017). How vocabulary is learned. Oxford University Press.

51.

Webb

Uchihara

Yanagisawa

(2023). How effective is second language incidental vocabulary learning? A meta-analysis. Language Teaching, 56(2), 161–180. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444822000507

52.

Williams

J.N.

(2005). Learning without awareness. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27(2), 269–304. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263105050138

53.

Williams

Morris

(2004). Eye movements, word familiarity, and vocabulary acquisition. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 16(1–2), 312–339. https://doi.org/10.1080/09541440340000196

54.

Yanagisawa

Webb

Uchihara

(2020). How do different forms of glossing contribute to L2 vocabulary learning from reading? A meta-regression analysis. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 42(2), 411–438. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263119000688

How do first-language in-text repeated glosses in second-language reading influence novel words processing and learning outcomes beyond effects of occurrence frequency?

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References