Match glossed-text difficulty to learners' proficiency level and vary gloss placement beyond marginal glosses¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The article's findings support two implementable practices for EFL reading instruction: selecting texts whose readability matches learners' ability, and presenting glosses in forms other than the familiar marginal format. The authors state that "the matching of the readability level of a text with the language ability of subjects is likely a key factor in the effectiveness of gloss support," and that the finding that marginal glosses were least effective "could serve as an important reminder for L2 textbook writers to include other kinds of glosses besides the more popular marginal gloss."

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Texts must be selected through readability formulas, instructor difficulty ratings, and pilot testing, as the authors did

Constraints¶

• Glosses may not be sufficient for low-proficiency students; performance may depend more on overall English reading ability and text appropriateness

Target Learners¶

• non-English-major EFL university students at low-intermediate to intermediate proficiency

Target Learning Goals¶

• L2 reading comprehension and vocabulary acquisition and retention

Related Strategies¶

• Select authentic texts with highly informative contextual cues matched to learner proficiency, and add multimodal glosses when context is insufficient
• Guidelines for designing and deploying multimedia glosses in reading texts

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• 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. http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl. doi:10.64152/10125/66828