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Research has shown that context cue instruction can improve EFL learners’ ability to infer word meanings from context, improve their comprehension and enable them to read independently (Nash & Snowling, 2006; Yuen, 2009; Çetinavci, 2013; Dwaik et al., 2013; and Samiyan et al., 2014). However, this strategy has not been explicitly taught in the context of secondary schools in Vietnam, and language learners are assumed to learn the strategy on their own. Therefore, this study was conducted to find out the extent to which context cue instruction enhances learners’ ability to infer word meanings from context and to investigate learners’ perceptions towards this strategy. In this study, 26 English major eleventh graders in an upper-secondary school in Can Tho City, Vietnam, were instructed to guess meanings of unfamiliar words using the contextual guessing strategy in three three-hour sessions. Achievement tests and learners’ reflection done in class were employed as sources of quantitative and qualitative data. Data from the pre-tests and post-tests indicated a significant improvement in learners’ ability to guess meanings of unfamiliar words using the contextual guessing strategy. Results of twenty-six reflections also showed positive perceptions towards using this strategy. It could be implied that secondary school teachers should train and encourage learners to guess meanings of unknown words based on the contextual cues, and integrate context cue instruction into reading lesson plans to help strengthen learners’ ability to infer word meaning from context.
This paper reports a study which examines how text-based vocabulary instruction influences English as a foreign language (EFL) freshmen's reading comprehension and explore their perceptions on this type of instruction in reading comprehension. It was a quasi-experimental study with control and experimental groups including eighty freshmen at a university. The quantitative data from reading tests for pre-test and post-test were used to examine students' reading comprehension over nine weeks. The qualitative analysis used semi-structured interviews to examine students' perceptions towards text-based vocabulary instruction in reading comprehension. The findings reveal that text-based vocabulary instruction influenced positively students' reading achievement after the experiment and that they had positive perceptions towards this type of instruction in their reading lessons.
Lexical inferencing as an efficient strategy to deal with unfamiliar words has attracted much attention in the comprehension literature. While literature abounds with studies focusing on the nature of lexical inferencing in reading, few studies have delved into the processes involved, the knowledge sources used and the factors influencing lexical inferencing in listening. This study sought to investigate the role of listening proficiency in lexical inferencing success and identify knowledge source patterns used by Iranian EFL learners for making inferences. To this end, a total of fifty-six Iranian EFL learners were assigned into three levels of listening proficiency and were required to infer the meanings of unknown words in listening excerpts. In the qualitative phase and to identify the patterns of knowledge source use, data were collected from 9 participants in individual interview sessions. Verbal reporting method was used where the subjects were asked to report the meanings of the unknown words in think-aloud sessions. The findings revealed the profound impact of listening proficiency on lexical inferencing. In-depth analysis of the protocols demonstrated the contribution of listening proficiency to making correct guesses and using more combinations of knowledge sources. Keywords: strategy, lexical inferencing, knowledge sources, listening proficiency, protocols
Vocabulary learning is an essential part in foreign language learning as the meanings of new words are very often emphasized, whether in books or in classrooms. It is also central to language teaching and is of paramount importance to a language learner. Recent research indicate that teaching vocabulary may be problematic because many teachers are not confident about best practice in vocabulary teaching and at times don't know where to begin to form an instructional emphasis on word learning (Berne & Blachowicz, 2008) In this article, I summarizes important research on the impotence of vocabulary and explaining many techniques used by English teachers when teaching English, as well as my own personal view of these issues.
Language Teaching
Teaching the Use of Context to Infer Meaning: A Longitudinal Survey of L1 and L2 Vocabulary Research2005 •
This study examined a group of learners’ lexical inferencing strategy use, their vocabulary size, and their success in guessing word meaning. Participants responded to a questionnaire, and then performed a one-time reading of a short passage containing ten unknown words. A sub-sample of ten students participated in an interview. Four tests measuring their ability to recognize and recall form and meaning of the target words were used. Results revealed that (a) those who performed sufficiently in these tests used certain strategies more effectively than those who had relatively lower scores in these tests; (b) learners’ vocabulary size played a significant role in using context effectively, and learners with a larger vocabulary size made more correct lexical guesses than those with a smaller one; (c) learners presented the best scores in form recognition, followed by meaning recognition, recall of meaning, and recall of form, which showed a gap between receptive learning and productive learning of an unknown word. Follow-up individual interviews showed that these learners’ actual lexical inferencing practices in the reading experiment were in line with learners’ self-reported strategy, reinforcing the validity of the study.
Dictionary use can improve reading comprehension and incidental vocabulary learning. Nevertheless, great extraneous cognitive load imposed by the search process may reduce or even prevent the improvement. With the help of technology, dictionary users can now instantly access the meaning list of a searched word using a mouse click. However, they must spend great cognitive effort identifying the most appropriate meaning for a given context, contributing to the disruption of the flow of reading and decreasing the positive effect of dictionary use. Furthermore, dictionary users face difficulty in exploiting accumulative illustrations from multiple contexts to understand obscure words whose appropriate meanings are not in the dictionary or are difficult to identify. To address these issues and to offer language learners, especially lifelong learners, effective support for incremental and incidental learning of vocabulary through reading, this research proposes a dictionary interface named RoLo (Remind on Lookup). Each time an unfamiliar word is re-looked up, RoLo reminds users about contextual information and word knowledge learned in previous encounters of the word in an appropriate manner. Two studies were conducted to evaluate RoLo. The first study, with 34 participants, examined the effect of RoLo use on incidental vocabulary learning. The second examination, involving 43 participants who used the prototype of RoLo for one month, investigated dictionary users’ evaluation of RoLo. The results show that RoLo helps dictionary users enhance vocabulary learning and text comprehension and search for unfamiliar words more easily and faster.
The present study attempted to investigate the impact of sentence-level grammar instruction, explicitly and through consciousness-raising, on Iranian EFL learners' lexical inferencing behavior and subsequent learning of inferred vocabulary. It also aimed at examining the relationship between the number of used knowledge sources and success in lexical inferencing. To address these issues, a quasi-experimental study with a mixed design involving two treatment groups and one control group was conducted. The participants were 47 adult learners at intermediate proficiency level. A counterbalanced design was utilized to eliminate the effect of the topic familiarity on the learners' performance. Retrospective data were collected from eight participants, as well. Further, the eight participants were divided into two groups (successful and less successful) in Consciousness-raising versus explicit grammar teaching 46 order to identify the differences between the two groups' lexical inferencing behavior. The findings indicated that sentence-level grammar instruction could place learners in a better position to infer the meaning of unfamiliar words more successfully and also could help them recall the inferred vocabulary better. The results are significant due to the controversy surrounding teaching grammar; moreover, they confirm the positive role of the number of knowledge sources in the lexical inferencing success.
2019 •
Kanji learning is considered to be a hard job when it comes to learning Japanese. However, studies on kanji learning strategies are uncommon in Japanese language academia in Vietnam. In other countries, many research models on kanji learning strategy use and effectiveness were developed. With regard to language context in Vietnam, this paper reports an investigation on the relationship between strategy use and effectiveness, and learners' perceived effectiveness of kanji learning strategy. Data collected from 122 learners has given some solid answers to the questions on strategy use-effectiveness relationship and perceived effectiveness of learners.
The learning of vocabulary is an important part in foreign language learning. The meanings of new words are very frequently emphasized, whether in books or in verbal communication. Vocabulary is considered as central in language teaching and is of paramount importance to a language learner. Vocabulary is a basic of one learns a foreign language. Few research indicate that teaching vocabulary can be considered as problematic, as some teachers are not really sure about the best practice in the teaching and sometimes not really aware how to start forming an instructional emphasis on the vocabulary learning (Berne & Blachowicz, 2008). Through this article, the writer summarizes the related research that focus on the importance of vocabulary and explains many techniques used by some English teachers and lecturers when teaching English, as well as writer's personal view of the issues. INTRODUCTION As foreign language for Indonesian, learning English is like constructing a traditional building. A good engineer, a well-drawn blueprint, tends to be made for constructors to follow. It can be compared to a good language learner who is inclined to make plans and sticks to them afterwards. Similarly, steel can be compared to grammar which seems to most English Foreign Language (EFL) learners a monotonous and boring eyesore, given the fact that most EFL learners feel, more or less, worried when faced with grammar. However, it is generally accepted that EFL learners cannot have a good command of English without an in-depth sense of the structure of English. Gravel and sand can be compared to words, phrases, collocations and idioms, which are indispensable in taking shape of both receptive and productive language learning skills. Cement and water can be compared to sentence patterns and construction, which have the magic power to create different kinds of verses to attract the audience. As far as mastering a foreign language is concerned, none of the language properties is to be ignored. Among the language properties mentioned above, " vocabulary acquisition is central to language acquisition, whether the language is first, second, or foreign" (Decarrico, 2001, p. 285). If learners lack vocabulary knowledge, they soon discover that their ability to comprehend or express themselves clearly is limited (Decarrico, 2001; Nation, 2001). Vocabulary that has been considered as the head of language is not always considered as valued when English is taught in school or other formal class. If one asks what have been done to develop students' knowledge in English, some educators may come out with the teaching approach which is then indicated by the academic achievement that measured through a very high frequency word measurement as per the need of social context. Grammar is normally used as the measurement of students' English achievement now days. It could be due to the simplicity of theory in delivering and in measuring students' achievement. How the students understand the concept of unfamiliar words, gain a greater number of words with their own effort, and use the words successfully in communication purposes is still far to achieve. How the vocabulary learning is not considered very importance in second and foreign language pedagogic is pervasive.
English Language and Literature Studies
The Use of Dictionary and Contextual Guessing Strategies for Vocabulary Learning by Advanced English-Language Learners2013 •
AARE Conference Proceedings
Vocabulary Strategies in Reading: Verbal Reports of Good Comprehenders2006 •
2011 •
The Modern Language Journal
Reading‐Based Exercises in Second Language Vocabulary Learning: An Introspective Study2000 •
Jurnal Ilmu Pendidikan
VERBAL REPORTS OF PROFICIENT READERS IN COPING WITH UNFAMILIAR WORDS2006 •
Sino-US English Teaching
A Call for the Reengineering of Iranian ESP Textbooks2010 •
System (Elsevier) [SSCI-Indexed]
The effects of code-switched reading tasks on late-bilingual EFL learners' vocabulary recall, retention and retrieval2018 •
Applied Linguistics
The Effects of Topic Familiarity and Passage Sight Vocabulary on L2 Lexical Inferencing and Retention through Reading2007 •
Language Learning
Verspoor, M.H. & Lowie, W. (2003). Making sense of polysemous words. Language Learning 53:3. pp. 547-586.2003 •
Reading Research Quarterly
Morphological Awareness in Vocabulary Acquisition Among Chinese-Speaking Children: Testing Partial Mediation via Lexical Inference Ability2014 •
Lecture Notes in Computer Science
In Defense of Contextual Vocabulary Acquisition2005 •
International Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vocabulary learning and instruction in a second or foreign language1994 •
Computer Assisted Language Learning
Theoretical and Methodological Pluralism in Designing Effective Lexical Support for CALL2003 •
Essays on the Work of Hector-Neri Castañeda
Contextual Vocabulary Acquisition: from Algorithm to Curriculum2014 •
AILA Review 6: 10-20
A factor of difficulty in vocabulary learning: deceptive transparency.1989 •
Arizona Working Papers in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching
The effect of guessing vocabulary in reading authentic texts among pre-university students2010 •
The Annual Review of Education, Communication, and Language Sciences
TO WHAT EXTENT GUESSING THE MEANING, FROM THE CONTEXT, IS HELPFUL IN TEACHING VOCABULARY.2013 •
Theory and Practice in Language Studies
The Effect of Teaching Critical Reading Strategies on Advanced Iranian EFL Learners' Vocabulary Retention2015 •
International Journal of Research Studies in Language Learning
Topic familiarity, passage sight vocabulary, and L2 lexical inferencing: An investigation in the Iranian EFL context2013 •