Electronic Literary Texts: A Survey of Tools and some Strategies for Developers

The increased use of electronic glosses to help students with reading in a foreign language has led to numerous studies of their effectiveness with elementary or intermediate students. However, advanced students in literature classes also need help, not only with literary interpretations, but with the kinds of language problems that glossing can ease. This study surveys existing tools for creating glosses and looks at possible alternatives to help students overcome language obstacles during bottom-up reading of literary texts. In the context of additional cognitive support for top-down literary analysis, it proposes a hybrid browser-based system, combining online dictionaries with easily prepared pop-up glosses.