REAP Study on Focusing of Attention (Fall 2006)

REAP Study on Focusing of Attention

Abstract

This study examined the effect of highlighting target vocabulary words in practice readings for vocabulary practice. Previous research has examined the highlighting of words to facilitate incidental acquisition (incidental because the main task was reading comprehension). This work, however, was aimed at studying the effects of highlighting on intentional vocabulary learning. The purpose of students using the REAP tutor is to learn vocabulary words from reading materials and subsequent practice exercises.

When reading a text in REAP, students know that they should pay attention to unknown vocabulary. When words are highlighted (as they have been in previous iterations of the REAP tutor), students can simply access the definitions for highlighted words and not actually read any of the context. However, if the words are not highlighted, students must read more of the text to find the target vocabulary words. Therefore, not highlighting words might encourage students to more deeply process materials.

On the other hand, not highlighting words may lead to students not noticing the words. Conscious noticing () of unknown words has been proposed as an important component of vocabulary acquisition.

This study was a pilot study for a study to be performed in Spring 2007 in the same class. This was the first time REAP was used by ELI students in a class other than Reading 4. Students only used the system for approximately one month and the number of subjects was fairly small.

Research question

Does highlighting target words improve learning in a reading task aimed at the intentional vocabulary acquisition of vocabulary?

Dependent variables

Post-test performance on cloze questions for words identified as unknown on a pre-test and practiced using REAP.

Number of words practiced.

Overall post-test scores.

Sentence production, long term retention, use of practiced words in writing for other classes.

Independent variables

Highlighting of target vocabulary words in practice readings.

Hypotheses

Not highlighting target words will cause students to spend longer on each text. The deeper processing of texts will not, however, outweigh the smaller number of practice opportunities available resulting from seeing fewer texts over the course of the study. Time on task is the same, so students spending longer will see fewer texts. Overall post-test scores will thus be higher for the control condition in which target words are highlighted.

Explanation

Analysis of results pending.

Annotated bibliography

De Ridder, I. (2002). Visible or Invisible Links: Does the Highlighting of Hyperlinks Affect Incidental Vocabulary Learning, Text Comprehension, and the Reading Process? Language, Learning & Technology, Vol. 6, 2002