The Effect of Lexical Glossing Types on Persian L2 Learners’ Reading and Listening

Amid the factors influencing L2 learners’ reading/listening abilities, language of glossing can be named. This study was an attempt to ascertain if L1/L2 lexical glossing differed in their effectiveness on L2 reading and listening comprehension. Sixty female advanced English learners selected from a language institute in Iran were grouped into 2 classes and required to take 3 TOEFL tests: 1 as a pretest to ensure their homogeneity, and 2 to determine the impact of glossing on reading/listening comprehension. Running a MANOVA and 2 independent samples t tests, the results revealed that the class receiving L1 gloss (Persian) outperformed the class receiving L2 gloss (English) in both reading and listening comprehension. The study may have some implications for L2 pedagogy discussed throughout the paper.