Effect of Text Type on Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners' Verb Learning through Glossing

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the effect of different text types on the learners’ verb learning when glosses were used. In this true-experimental research, two types of texts, namely, expository and narrative, were utilized. To achieve the objective, 30 female learners in the 16-20 age range who were studying at Adib English Institute in Rasht, Iran were selected from among 50 participants based on their performance on Quick Placement Test. The qualified learners were randomly divided into two groups (control and experimental) comprising 15 learners in each. Afterwards, a 30-item vocabulary pretest was administered. Then both groups were exposed to ten reading texts (five narrative texts and five expository texts) with the target verbs glossed for the experimental group. After the completion of a five-session treatment, participants of both groups were given a vocabulary posttest to measure their verb learning. The findings showed that in the experimental group the use of glossing in expository texts leads the learners to more proficiency in verb learning. In other words, the experimental group that received instruction on glossing for the reading tasks made a noticeably better performance on expository type as compared with narrative text type.

Keywords

• Expository Text
• Glosses
• Narrative Text
• Text Type
• Vocabulary Learning