Context vs. Translation: The Effect of Vocabulary Practice on the Reading Comprehension of High School French Students

Abstract

Students of a second language (L2) often have difficulty reading in L2 due to difficulty with unfamiliar vocabulary. The effect of learning vocabulary prior to reading an L2 passage was studied and three interventions were compared. The three interventions were: reading the passage without any intervention, the use of translation flashcards consisting of an L2 word and its native language (L 1) translation, and the use of contextual flashcards consisting of an L2 word and an original L2 sentence containing the word. Dependent variables for this study were: correct responses on translation quizzes, correct responses to sentence completion activities and correct responses to reading comprehension questions. Five out of six students improved most in reading comprehension through the use of translation flashcards, while both translation and contextual flascards improved results on translation and sentence completion activities.