Incidental Vocabulary Learning Supplemented with On-line Reading Activity in Hypertext Environment

This study was carried out to compare Iranian college students’ rate of incidental vocabulary learning when reading texts for different purposes (specific vs. general) and in different conditions (marked vs. unmarked) using Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) . The hypertext software programme which was used in this study is characterized with prominent capabilities such as presenting the on-line texts, highlighting special words, accessing the various types of lexical information (e.g. dictionary definitions, concordancing examples, pronunciation, etc.). The participants were 60 freshmen non-English major students who were selected through administering a sample test of University Entrance Exam and initially divided into two main groups: general vs. specific reading task groups and they were asked to read two texts, one in marked condition and the other in unmarked condition. The data were gathered from the following sources: a) a pretest b) immediate vocabulary test. The gathered data were analyzed through using 2 independent two-way ANOVAs. The results revealed that highlighting hyperlinks increased students’ rate of incidental vocabulary learning.. Moreover, with regard to the type of reading task, the results suggested that a content-oriented (specific) reading task increased significantly the rate of incidental vocabulary learning. The results of similar study would be more generalizable if the research lasts for a longer period of time or covers wider type of texts and subjects.