Textual Glosses, Text Types, and Reading Comprehension

Abstract

Studies conducted in the field of second language (L2) learning have revealed that the impact of gloss types on reading comprehension is an issue of debate. The present study investigated this issue across narrative and expository texts. The glosses applied in this study included single gloss in participants’ first language (SL1G), single gloss in participants’ second language (SL2G), and multiple-choice gloss (MCG) in participants’ L2. A total of 108 undergraduate students majoring in English Literature and Translation at the University of Kashan in Iran read the texts under three conditions: SL1G, SL2G, and MCG. After reading, participants answered a multiple-choice (MC) reading comprehension test. To control the participants’ reading proficiency, an MC cloze test was given to them a week later. One-Way ANOVA and follow-up post hoc Tukey’s HSD tests (p<.05) showed that the most facilitative gloss type for the participants’ reading comprehension of the narrative and expository texts were SL1G and SL2G respectively. When surveyed, participants showed their preference for marginal glosses in L2.