This study aims to explore the effect of L2 (English)textual glosses with different presentation formats (in the margin and at the bottom of the page) on intermediate-level English as foreign language (EFL) learners' vocabulary retention and recall. Ninety-four participants inintact classes were randomly assigned to three conditions: marginal gloss, bottom-of-the-page gloss, and control. The treatment lasted for two months during which the experimental groups were exposed to marginal and bottom-of-the-page glosseswhile reading texts. The data gathered from a vocabulary post-test and a month later, a delayed post-test were submitted to repeated measures ANOVAs paired comparisons and showed the superiority of gloss over no gloss conditions. Also, marginal gloss was superior in the retention as well as recall tests,suggesting that the certain gloss locations may result in more in-depth form-meaning connections and hence foster better lexical retention. Pedagogical implicationsfor L2teachers and material designers were discussed.
