The concept of second language materials is not complete without mentioning vocabulary glosses. According to Davis (1989), vocabulary glosses are always evident in the second language materials. Additionally, Bell and LeBlanc (2000) explain that glossing helps learners understand words and phrases through text adaptation. The authors indicate that glossing, therefore, assists second language learners comprehend relevant reading materials at their disposal. Park (1986) defines gloss as that comprehensive description of the meaning of a word. Moreover, Nation (2001) elaborates that gloss is the concise definition of a synonym that are used in respective language adopted either L1 or L2. Many studies have been conducted to identify the significance glossing in reading and vocabulary learning. The results of these studies have provided mixed results with some indicating that glossing enhances vocabulary learning (Davis, 1989; Jacobs, 1994; Hulstijn, Hollander, and Greidanus, 1996), while others stating that glossing does not have any impact on vocabulary learning (Johnson, 1982; Jacobs, DuFon, & Fong, 1994; Ko, 1995).
In the recent past, attention has been eased from the implication of glossing having positive results on the issue
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The Japanese respondents were divided into four groups. The respondents were then subject to a test where they read a 390 worded story that had 14 glossed and highlighted words. When they clicked on the highlighted word, either a gloss or a picture appeared alongside the glossed word on the computer screen. With two tests following subsequently, results were released where there was no significant difference between L1 and L2 glosses. Additionally, the investigator was able to note that, where the L1 continuously maintained their scores, the other two groups showcase significant
The Stroop Effect Comparing Color Word Labels and Color Patch Labels Abstract The current study examined four components of the Stroop effect using a manual word response and a manual color response. The major focus being the three semantic components – semantic relatedness, semantic relevance and response set membership, that contributes to the Stroop interference. The results indicated that there was a response set membership effect in both the manual word response and manual color response, suggesting that interference occurs in the lexicon system when a manual word response is used and interference was located at a late selection stage, for manual color response. Glaser & Glaser (1989) have suggested interference in the lexical system when a vocal response is required, but no interference using a manual response, and that manual responses output via the semantic system.
The levels of processing have become a central phenomenon in cognitive psychology in the last several decades. In everyday tasks, one may not realize that he or she is using the semantic processing for deeper analysis of the story. For example, when reading a novel, it comes naturally and is most likely stored into long-term memory for recall (Craik& Lockhart, 1972, p. 680); that way when the person is discussing about that novel in conversation, it is easy to remember important facts or characters without having to go back and confirm. Craik and Lockhart (1972), as cited in Glanzer, 1972, p. 680) highlighted that in free recall, variables such as presentation rate, and word frequency, affect long-term but not short-term retention. In a positive and negative recall in both incidental and intentional learning environments performed by Craik & Tulving (1975, pg.276), it was concluded that deeper level processing requires more time, but the qualitative nature of the task determines the level of recall. As a result attention is required when focusing on a certain task.
Teachers who work with English Language Learners know that academic language takes longer to achieve proficiency in than does conversational language. On average, ELL students need at least two years to achieve conversational language and, five to nine years to develop academic language proficiency. Many English words ELL students are exposed to in school, they have not yet learned or even heard in their first language, which makes transference of knowledge impossible. The vast differences in the ability to use conversational versus academic language can be a hindrance to these students and have lasting effects on their academics and therefore, their lives.
Reading requires people to train their minds to understand the text. Media has also played a key role in shaping actual parts of the brain to understand written language. Studies have demonstrated that readers of different languages developed differently in the “mental circuitry” apart from each other’s language. In the brain, variations can be found all over the cognitive regions responsible for language. Car goes on to explain that one could assume that there will be differences between the use of the Net and reading physical matter.
Before I started planning the lesson, I asked myself whether the students possessed necessary vocabulary words to talk about the environmental issues. Vocabularies related to the environment are academic ones that need to be pre taught so that students can comprehend their reading, and then use the new vocabulary words in the production of English. Teaching vocabulary is extremely important because “second language learners rely heavily on vocabulary knowledge, and that lack of vocabulary knowledge
The independent variable for this experiment was the type of word presented and consisted of three variants; congruent, incongruent, non-colour. The dependent variable was the reaction time for each response, recorded in milliseconds throughout this experiment.
In this experiment we replicated a study done by Bransford and Johnson (1972). They conducted research on memory using schemas. All human beings possess categorical rules or scripts that they use to interpret the world. New information is processed according to how it fits into these rules, called schemas. Bransford and Johnson did research on memory for text passages that had been well comprehended or poorly comprehended. Their major finding was that memory was superior for passages that were made easy to comprehend. For our experiment we used two different groups of students. We gave them different titles and read them a passage with the intentions of finding out how many ideas they were able to recall. Since our first experiment found no significant difference, we conducted a second experiment except this time we gave the title either before or after the passage was read. We found no significant difference between the title types, but we did find a significant difference between before and after. We also found a significant title type x presentation interaction. We then performed a third experiment involving showing objects before and after the passage was read. There we did encountersome significant findings. The importance and lack of findings is discussed and we also discuss suggestions for future studies, and how to improve our results.
In an effort to create a context for learning, one needs to define the language that will be used to teach a subject. So often in schools, from first grade through graduate studies, when teaching a new subject matter or concepts it is necessary to teach the vocabulary that will accompany that subject. However, we often spend little time making sure that vocabulary is learned and consequently without the prerequisite knowledge of vocabulary of learning the learning of information related to it is difficult. This need for definition of relevant language is seen in multiple sources with textbooks being on of the greatest sources of it. The books highlight, bold, or italicize critical words and provide definitions of the word or within the text or margins. This definition of terms gives the reader the knowledge basis to understand the content of what they are reading. If the books authors did not define these terms, then understanding the information they are trying to convey would be difficult.
To accomplish vocabulary development, before reading the teacher needs to instruct their students on any prerequisites that they need to understand to interpret the text appropriately. This means the teacher has to pull out the most important words as well as those that may be too difficult for the stud...
In this paper, I will analyze reading strategies for the content area of language arts in a fifth grade class. Reading comprehension is one of the most critical skills a student can master. Without a firm grasp on the comprehension process, learners will struggle in every subject they encounter, whether it’s science, math, or social studies as well as everyday living skills. The content areas typically included disciplines like science, social studies/history and math, but any area outside of English literature instruction constitutes a content area. The reading associated with content area courses reflects not only the concepts and ideas important to these subjects, but also the text structures used by those practicing the field.
In the twentieth century, the avoidance of the using L1 in classrooms dominated teachers’ minds; as well it was implemented in many policies and guidelines of language teaching (Cook, 2001). Thornbury (2010) listed a set of arguments against using L1 in L2 classrooms mainly for that the translation of L2 into another language will play negative effects on students’ learning process. He pointed out that the use of L1 will result learners to have a cognitive dependence on their mother tongue at the expense of developing independence TL learning. Although the two language systems are not equivalent in many aspects, students may have an awareness of the notion of equivalence of the two languages if translation serves to convey meanings. Some argue that the use of translation to convey the meaning of the TL is more efficient and more memorable. However, Thornbury (2010) sees the opposite. He stated that the simple and direct way of translation will make L2 knowledge less memorable since the process lacks mental efforts in working out meanings.
The study of the mental lexicon deals with how words are acquired, comprehended, organized, stored, retrieved, and produces. The term “mental lexicon” is used interchangeably with what some scholars refer to as “internal lexicon” (Bonin, 2004). It involves the different processes and activations done in the brain in order to store the words and form an internal memory which functions as a mental dictionary. Psychologist and linguists who are concerned with this study believe that words are stored in relation to their phonological, semantic, syntactic and even orthographical features.
Good reading skills are very important in learning languages. Reading improves spelling because as students learn to sound out letters and words, spelling comes easier. It helps to expand the vocabulary, since the best way to acquire a large vocabulary is to read. Students learn new words as they read and put them in their mind for later use. . They also unconsciously absorb the information about things like how to structure the sentences, how words are used in different contexts, and it gives a better understanding of the word usage and definitions than the cold facts of a dictionary. It improves a person’s vocabulary and knowledge without the person even knowing it. Even if students do not understand every word, they will hear new sounds, words and phrases which they can then try out, copying what they have heard. They can comprehend ideas, follow arguments and detect implications. Reading texts also provide good models for English writing. Krashen (2004) found that reading is extremely important in learning English, since it is the only way to “become a good reader, develop a good writing style, an adequate vocabulary, advanced grammar” and the only way to “become a good speller”.
As the name suggests, linguistic learners most easily acquire information through words. They love to read, write, and tell stories. Memorizing names, places, dates, and trivia come naturally to these learners (Mantle, 2002). People with a linguistic preference have an awareness of the sounds, rhythms, and meaning of words. These students learn best by saying, hearing, and seeing words.
It is necessary to draw a distinction between foreign language and second language learning. According to (Wisniewski, 2007), a language lear...