Effects of Annotation Types Used at Different Point of Time during Reading on Vocabulary Learning

The study aims to investigate the effectiveness of two annotation types (text-only and text-picture) as well as the timing in annotation use during reading (pre-reading, while-reading and post-reading) on vocabulary learning of English major freshmen. Based on the analysis of the data collected from posttests and questionnaire, the following findings are obtained: 1) among three points of time in annotation use, the pre-reading annotation use results in the best vocabulary production and recognition, closely followed by the post-reading annotation use and then the while-reading annotation use; 2) when comparing the two annotation types, the text-picture annotations were more effective than the text-only annotations on improving vocabulary production and recognition; 3) there was no interaction between annotation types and points of time in annotation use. The findings indicate that the right use of annotations during reading will substantially promote vocabulary learning. They also shed some light on the research on annotation and vocabulary learning and provide implications on vocabulary instruction and teaching materials design.