Abstract:
Vocabulary has been one of the most important variables that
affect second language learning (Egbert, 2005) and lexical errors are the most
common among second language (L2) learners Meara (1984). This is true of
the undergraduates of the University of Jaffna who learn English as a Second
Language (ESL) as evidence from their written corpora reveal. The limited
knowledge of vocabulary of the undergraduates has impacted on their
reading comprehension and in turn on writing in both conventional and
Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) environment. Studies of
many scholars (Nagy, Herman and Anderson, 1985; Nation and Coady, 1988;
Stoller and Grabe, 1993) have revealed that there is a symbiotic relation
between vocabulary knowledge and reading. The extent of students’
vocabulary knowledge relates strongly to their reading comprehension and
overall academic success (Baumann, et.al, 2003). Therefore it is important to
improve the vocabulary knowledge of the undergraduates in order to
facilitate the learning of ESL. Further, only the first few thousand most
common words are learnt by a L2 learner through direct instruction and the
rest of the words are learnt incidentally. However, vocabulary acquisition is
incremental. Therefore this study investigated whether L2 incidental
vocabulary acquisition can be enhanced using L1 glosses and L2 glosses
among low proficiency L2 learners and compared the effectiveness of L1
glosses and L2 glosses in enhancing incidental vocabulary learning in a CALL
environment. The study revealed that both L1 and L2 glosses enhanced
incidental vocabulary acquisition. However, L1 glosses were more effective
compared to L2 glosses for low proficiency L2 learners.
