Meaning-Inferred Gloss and Meaning-Given Gloss on Incidental Vocabulary Learning

Abstract

本文探討「多選推測字義提示」與「單一翻譯字義提示」是否對詞彙學習有所差異，同時也探討語言程度是否會影響此兩類字義提示之詞彙學習。研究對象為台灣中部某高中學生共175 名，由該校兩班高三（程度高組）、兩班高一（程度低組）組成，其中高三及高一各一班為「推測」組，另一班則為「翻譯」組。本研究先從兩篇閱讀文章中，每篇挑出10 個目標詞彙共20 個，以測量詞彙學習；在「推測」組的文章裡，每個目標詞彙後會有三個中文選項供學生選擇，而在「翻譯」組的文章中，目標詞彙後僅出現該詞彙之單一中文翻譯。所有學生都重複接受同一詞彙測驗三次，即前測、立即後測、延宕後測，每次題目及選項的順序不同；之後，再以雙因子變異數分析資料。結果顯示這兩種字義提示對學生之非刻意詞彙學習都有幫助，而「多選推測字義提示」強於「單一翻譯字義提示」；至於語言程度的高低對詞彙學習及習得的成效則不顯著。

The purpose of the present study is to examine whether meaning-inferred gloss (MI), involving mental processing of new words through decision-making process, generates better vocabulary learning than meaning-given gloss (MG) does. Also, it is our concern whether proficiency levels (High and Low) enhance vocabulary learning together with the two gloss types in question. The participants in the present study were 175 English learners from four intact classes in a senior high school in central Taiwan: two classes were third-year students (High) and the other two first-year students (Low). One class in each year was assigned to MI and the other MG. The treatments were that, when reading two passages, participants of the MI group were given three alternatives of each target word in L1 while those of the MG group were given single L1 translation of each target word. All participants were repeatedly tested on the target words before, immediately after, and two weeks after reading the passages. The results of this two-by-two factorial design analyzed by two-way ANOVA reconfirmed, in both vocabulary gain and retention, that the two glosses are beneficial for incidental vocabulary learning and that the effects of meaning-inferred gloss are greater than those of meaning-given gloss. The factor of proficiency levels, on the other hand, was found non-significant in both vocabulary gain and retention.