THE EFFECTS OF THREE DIFFERENT VOCABULARY GLOSSARIES ON READING COMPREHENSION AND NOUN RECOGNITION OF EFL VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

• Main Authors: Yu-chu Hung, 洪于筑
• Other Authors: Ye-ling Chang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/08597571222435135502

碩士 === 國立高雄師範大學 === 英語學系 === 94 === This study investigated the effects of three different vocabulary glossaries—the marginal glosses (the MG), the glosses arranged in lexical sets (the LS), and the glosses arranged in graphic organizers (the GO), on vocational high school students’ reading comprehension and noun recognition. Specifically, the subjects’ performances on the reading comprehension tests, the immediate noun recognition tests and the delayed noun recognition tests were investigated and discussed. Furthermore, the correlations among the subjects’ performances on the tests and the subjects’ responses to the effects of the three vocabulary glossaries were explored and discussed. Three intact classes of the first year (98 subjects in total) at Tzeng-Wen Industrial Vocational High School were recruited in this study. The three classes were randomly assigned to three groups: MG group, LS group, and GO group. The MG group was required to read the reading texts with the MG; the LS group was asked to read the reading texts with the LS; the GO group was instructed to read the reading texts with the GO. After reading the reading texts, all of the three groups were asked to do the reading comprehension tests and the immediate noun recognition tests, and fill the questionnaires. One week later, the delayed noun recognition tests were carried out to measure the subjects’ vocabulary retention. The major findings of this study were summarized as follows: 1.No significant difference was found in terms of the subjects’ performances on reading comprehension tests. Thus, under the conditions in this study, the effects of the MG, the LS, and the GO on facilitating the subjects’ reading comprehension were found to be similar. 2.The GO was revealed to be significantly effective in assisting the subjects’ initial vocabulary learning than the LS, yet the effects of these three vocabulary glossaries on extending the subjects’ retention of the vocabulary for one week did not differ greatly from one another. 3.The comparisons of each group’s difference between the immediate and the delayed tests reached a significant level, which showed that all of the three groups had a significant vocabulary loss one week later. However, all of the three groups were discovered to suffer similar amount of vocabulary loss after one week. 4.Positive correlations were found between all of the subjects’ performances on the immediate and the delayed noun recognition tests, which indicated that the noun recognition tests were fairly and properly designed and the experiment was adequately controlled. It was disclosed that the MG could facilitate one’s reading comprehension and vocabulary learning at the same time. 5.All of the three groups positively deemed that the vocabulary glossary they used could facilitate their reading comprehension, increase their reading rate, and assist their vocabulary learning. Nevertheless, all of the three groups indicated that the vocabulary glossary they used might not greatly promote their interest in reading and confidence to read English texts. In conclusion, it is suggested that the language teachers and material designers can try the GO to help the students learn vocabulary. Also, since learning difficulties were found stemming from learning semantically similar new words at the same time, the language teachers and material designers should avoid presenting semantically similar new words together. In addition, the language teachers can provide students with marginal glosses when they assign supplementary reading materials. Last but no least, the language teachers should be aware that the vocabulary glossaries are not all-purpose techniques. Concerning the increase of students’ interest in learning and confidence to learn English, teachers should offer students appropriate assistance and guidance.