FIRST BLOG REFLECTION

"TO GLOSS OR NOT TO GLOSS":
AN INVESTIGATION OF READING COMPREHENSION ONLINE
Lara L. Lomicka
The Pennsylvania State University
Language Learning & Technology
Vol. 1, No. 2, January 1998, pp. 41-50

So many times in my years as a student of English, when I have had to read a text I have found myself trapped in a word I cannot understand, and if the dictionary is not near, I misunderstood the meaning of an entire paragraph.

This article makes a review in the use of glosses as a tool for reading comprehension and explores different uses of them and the introduction of technology to improve their results (using images and audio to support the word meaning). The article also describes an experience with a limited group of students using this kind of devices. Although more research is needed, the data from this pilot study suggest that the use of multimedia annotations may aid comprehension and the development of a situation model.

In my opinion when students read a text, one of the most difficult challenges they have is to get lost for not knowing a word, when this happens students feel frustration and the work becomes impossible to solve. Many times the solution is going to the dictionary when it is possible but I think that the use of dictionaries interferes in the process of reading. Glosses constitute a good possibility to help our students in their reading comprehension and in the acquisition of new vocabulary.

Is important to remark that the use of audiovisual aids that help in the contextualization of concepts is very important and has a direct relation with our learners’ styles. The use of a software that provide additional help in the understanding can gives us, as teacher an opportunity to be multimodal.
The article: http://llt.msu.edu/vol1num2/article2/default.html