Does Reading Literary Texts Have Any Impact on EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Retention?

This study seeks to find out whether EFL learners’ exposure to literary texts is in any way different from their exposure to nonliterary texts with respect to their ability to deal with related vocabulary items. Furthermore, the present study also sets out to examine whether EFL learners perform differently on reading comprehension tests derived from literary texts compared with those derived from nonliterary ones. The analysis of the data brought to light the fact that exposure to a plethora of literary texts does not imperatively bring any significant gain in the comprehension of literary or nonliterary texts. Even so, it is concluded that exposure to vocabulary items in literary texts may, in point of fact, help EFL learners to build up solid vocabulary knowledge.