Burcu Varol

Current computer technologies can provide resources for the reader to employ both lexical and topic-level knowledge through glosses. As the reader is engaged in processing the text, s/he can easily access definitions of words or get more information about the topic through hyperlinks. However, there is little consensus regarding the effects of these resources especially on reading comprehension. Given the role of working memory (WM) in reading comprehension, the effects of these text resources may be mediated by WM capacity. As such, the current study, through a between groups experimental design, aims to compare the performance of low-knowledge readers on vocabulary and recall measures when they are exposed to glosses providing lexical information versus topic-level information. It also aims to examine whether WM mediates the effects of gloss content. Upon determining the participants' WM capacity through a backward digit span task, they were randomly assigned to one of the experimental groups, which were exposed to an expository text with either vocabulary glosses or topic-level glosses or to the control group which received no glosses. After reading the text, the participants were given recall and vocabulary measures. Findings yield a significant relationship between WM and reading comprehension regardless of treatment condition and immediate positive effects of glosses on incidental vocabulary learning.

The present study investigated whether Turkish learners of English from two proficiency levels, namely pre-intermediate and advanced, use target-like compliment response strategies in English and whether there is pragmatic transfer from the learners’ first language in responding to compliments through a Discourse Completion Test. In order to compare the transfer effects, the baseline data was collected from native speakers of both Turkish and English as well as Turkish EFL students. According to the findings, all the groups reflected a similar pattern by showing a high preference for accepting and deflecting strategies. However, the positive transfer effect was observed in the micro strategies under acceptance and deflecting as well as strategy combinations. Turkish native speakers also tended to respond to compliments more with returns and bald acceptance whereas native English speakers with neutral elaboration. In line with these findings, EFL learners also tended to use accepting and deflecting more. Important pedagogical implications were drawn in the light of these findings to guide second language teaching curricula.