I. Introduction

A. Background

In the previous module, we have discussed about prefixes, suffixes, and

word families. Words usually have several meanings. To study the uses of

an appropriate word we have to study words in context. In this module the

writer tries to emphasize words in context. One way to ensure that

language learning occurs in meaningful context and that language

processing goes beyond the level of isolated sentences to develop

instructional models where language and content are closely intertwined

Developing students’ strategies for handling unknown words has

always been one of the principal challenges of English reading classes. In

general, the usual approach to this challenge is to have students read only

passages in which every word is known, or else allow them to consult a

bilingual dictionary or the teacher for the definition of every new word in

the passage. The drawbacks of this approach are obvious. Too much

dictionary work can kill all interest in reading and even interfere with

comprehension, because readers become more concerned with individual

words and less aware of the context which gives them meaning. It also

results in very slow and inefficient reading (Wallace 1982).

Students to derive meaning with the help of context clues is an effective

approach to increase vocabulary and reading comprehension.

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Guessing vocabulary from context is the most frequent way to discover the

meaning of new words. Honeyfield (1977) stresses the importance of

context by arguing that even with a functional vocabulary of the 3,000

most frequently occurring items in English, learners will still not know

approximately 20 percent of the items they will encounter in an

unsimplified text.

B. Goals:

1. To show the importance of teaching vocabulary in context

- To show Types of context clues including Morphology,

Reference words, Cohesion, Synonyms and antonyms,

Definitions, Cohesion, Hyponyms, Restatement, Example,

Summary, Comparison and contrast, Punctuation, Class

application and, Advantages of a context-based approach

2. Explain the things related to vocabulary instructional

C. Scope

This module contains some problems in vocabulary such as:

- Types of context clues including Morphology, Reference words,

Cohesion, Synonyms and antonyms, Definitions, Cohesion,

Hyponyms, Restatement, Example, Summary, Comparison and

contrast, Punctuation,

- Class application

- Advantages of a context-based approach

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II. Teaching Vocabulary In Context

Researchers (Kruse 1979; Nation 1980; Gairns and Redman 1986; Oxford

and Crookall 1988) agree that to learn words in context and not in isolation

is an effective vocabulary learning strategy. A word used in different

contexts may have different meanings; thus, simply learning the definitions

of a word without examples of where and when the word occurs will not

help learners to fully understand its meaning. Learning an isolated list of

words without reference to the context is merely a memorization exercise

which makes it difficult for learners to use the words in spoken and written

language. Looking at the context in which the word appears seems to be

the best way of learning vocabulary. Good readers also take advantage of

their background knowledge in processing the context and in creating

expectations about the kind of vocabulary that will occur in the reading

According to Yu Shu Ying is a lecturer in the foreign language

department of the Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing,

China there are four assumptions underlie this discussion of a context-

based approach to acquiring vocabulary.

1. Drawing inferences from what we observe is fundamental to

thinking, and the same principle can be used in the reading

process. Schema theory suggests that the knowledge we have

is organized into interrelated patterns. These patterns are

constructed from our previous experiences and guide us as to

what we might expect to encounter in a new context (Nunan

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1991). Making use of what we know in order to understand the

unknown is a common practice in our daily lives. For instance, if

we are in a building and observe that someone is entering

folding a wet umbrella, we will infer that it is raining outside.

2. Vocabulary is connected with grammar, so familiarity with

grammatical patterns helps the reader guess the meaning of

words. For example, a word can be classified as a grammatical

item or as a vocabulary item. Beautiful is a vocabulary item, and

in functional grammar it is also an epithet in the nominal group

the beautiful girl and reflects the speaker’s opinion of the person

described. The connection between vocabulary and grammar

can be seen by the interdependence of grammatical and lexical

cohesion. In a typical text, grammatical and lexical cohesion

support each other.

3. The subject matter of a passage is interrelated and the text is

often redundantly structured. To help readers, writers often give

definitions or extensive clues within the text when a new word

appears. So readers may have more than one chance to

understand the passage.

4. By nature, reading is a process of hypothesis formation and

verification; it is a communicative act between a writer and a

reader (possibly a large number of readers). Consequently, the

reader’s understanding is unlikely to be 100 percent accurate.

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As Wallace (1982:33) puts it, "The mother-tongue speaker

learns to be content with approximate meaning…. [H]e is

satisfied with a meaning which makes sense of the context." He

compares this view of reading to the work of secret agents: "In

the secret service there is a principle called the ‘need-to-know’

principle.... [I]n other words, agents are not told more than they

need to know in case they get caught and betray their

comrades. Perhaps in vocabulary learning the ‘need-to-know’

principle could also be applied. Students should not be told

more about the meanings of words than they need to know to

understand the context so that they don’t get confused"

(Wallace 1982:33).

A. Types of context clues

There are a number of different context clues that can help a reader

infer the meaning of a new word.

Morphology  The students can derive word meanings by

examining internal, morphological features, like prefixes,

suffixes, and root words.

Reference words  Identifying the referents of pronouns may

provide a clue to the meaning of an unfamiliar word.

Example: Malnutrition gave him the shallowest of chests and

thinnest of limbs. It stunted his growth.

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In this sentence, the effect of malnutrition is obvious.

Students should be able to guess what malnutrition could

have done to growth.

Cohesion  Sometimes words in the same sentence or in

adjacent sentences give an indication of the meaning of an

unfamiliar word, because these words regularly co-occur

with the unfamiliar word, producing what has been termed

"collocational cohesion" (Halliday and Hasan 1976:287).

Synonyms and antonyms  Often the reader can find the

meaning of new items in the same sentence.

Example: We had never seen such a large cave: it was

simply enormous.

Obviously, the unknown word is a synonym for large.

Example: To be pretty and not plain, affluent and not poor,

represents status in certain social groups.

We note that pretty and plain are opposites. When we see

the next pair of words in a parallel construction, we can

assume that affluent is the opposite of poor, and must

therefore mean rich.

Hyponyms  Very often the reader can see that the

relationship between an unfamiliar word and a familiar word

is that of a general concept accompanied by a specific

example (a hyponym).

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Example: The museum contained almost every type of

vehicle: cars, buses, trains, and even old carriages and

coaches.

Vehicle is being used as a hyponym; it encompasses all of

the other items which are listed. Also, all of the listed items

are of the same category.

Definitions  Sometimes the writer defines the meaning of

the word right in the text.

Example: Many animals live only by killing other animals and

eating them. They are called predatory animals.

Alternatives  The writer may give an alternative of an

unfamiliar word to make the meaning known.

Example: Ichthyologists, or specialists in the study of fish,

have contributed to our understanding of the past.

The word ichthyologist is unfamiliar to some readers, but the

writer explains the meaning by giving a more familiar term.

Restatement  Often the writer gives enough explanation for

the meaning to be clear.

Example: X ray therapy, that is, treatment by use of X ray,

often stops the growth of a tumor.

The phrase that is signals a clarification of a previously used

word.

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Example  Many times an author helps the reader get the

meaning of a word by providing examples that illustrate the

use of the word.

Example: All the furniture had been completely removed so

that not a single table or chair was to be seen.

The learner should be able to guess the meaning of furniture

from the two examples which are mentioned.

Summary  A summary clue sums up a situation or an idea

with a word or a phrase.

Example: Mrs. Christopher contributes money to the Red

Cross, the Girls Club, and the Cancer Society. She also

volunteers many hours in the emergency ward of the

hospital. She is indeed altruistic.

From the account of Mrs. Christopher’s deeds, the reader

can infer that altruistic means unselfish.

Comparison and contrast  Writers can show similarity or

difference.

Example: The ancient mammoth, like other elephants, is

huge.

This sentence indicates similarity and clearly states that the

ancient mammoth is a type of elephant.

Punctuation  Readers can also use clues of punctuation

and type style to infer meaning, such as quotation marks

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(showing the word has a special meaning), dashes (showing

apposition), parentheses or brackets (enclosing a definition),

and italics (showing the word will be defined).

B. Class application

There are three stages of applying a context-based approach to

vocabulary acquisition for adult EFL learners.

1. The teacher’s first task is to draw the students’ attention to cue

words and phrases. Signals of connection, such as the words and

and but and the phrases that is to say and in spite of, relate

sentences or parts of sentences to each other. Generally, they

specify "the way in which what is to follow is systematically

connected to what has gone before" (Halliday and Hasan

1976:227).

By introducing the explicit function value of a signal word in a

sentence, the teacher helps students work out the meaning of a

difficult sentence or an unfamiliar word. Students become sensitive

to these signals for context clues step by step, and they become

skillful in identifying and using them to successfully infer meaning.

To that end, in my classes I guide the students to clarify for

themselves the function of the signal word in the sentence. I

introduce cue words like this, that, it, and other indicators to help

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the students spot context clues. See Nation (1979) for a complete

list of connectors.

Let me take the example of cause-and-effect context clues. The

strategies for such a pattern include recognizing the pattern and

then locating the effect(s) and the cause(s). These are not always

neatly arranged. Students should be told that signal words like

leads to, results in, because, and caused by are used to indicate

the cause-and-effect relationship. By suggesting a few strategies to

be carried out for context clues, the teacher can help students

comprehend the larger chunks of information found in texts and get

them over "word block." See Robinson (1983:184–202) for his

suggestions of study strategies for different text patterns.

2. The second task is to use leading questions to direct the students in

a step-by-step search for context clues. With their limited

experience in the target language and without the guidance of the

teacher, students may find it hard to identify context cues. The

available clues may be unnoticed or students may not be aware of

words that are collocational. The teacher should use specific

questions that direct the students’ attention to the surrounding

environment of an unknown word and that elicit responses to help

focus the discussion.

One example is to ask students to use a substitution word or

expression for the unknown word. The teacher then asks if the

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substitution fits the context clues. Students can revise their ideas to

fit the context, probably resulting in a different substitution word.

Obviously, some vocabulary development will occur when using

this type of substitution strategy.

3. The third task is to prepare exercises that practice inferring the

meaning of unknown words in short contexts. In the long run, it is

probably more important for students to be able to explain how they

infer the meaning of new words than simply to get a particular

example right or wrong. In this step, the teacher selects some short

paragraphs, appropriate in terms of level of difficulty, to practice

strategies of inference. Each paragraph should contain one or more

context clues. The teacher should ask students to infer meaning

independently and then to explain how they made the inference.

The teacher provides the students with a handout of selected

paragraphs of suitable length containing underlined words which

are not known by the class. The students’ task is to work out the

meaning of the unknown words and to explain how they did it. In

this exercise, the emphasis is on the process of inferring.

Discussion should center on the strategies the students apply and

the useful cue words and phrases they can find in the passage that

help them guess. The aim is not to always guess a meaning

exactly, but to become aware of the surrounding information in

which a word is embedded, which both influences and points to its

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meaning. Some students may make wrong guesses. However, they

should be encouraged as long as their attempt to infer the meaning

of the unknown word uses an active searching and thinking

process. Sooner or later they will master the skill of developing

vocabulary by inferring.

There is a more advanced and elaborate type of follow-up to this

kind of exercise, in which a number of unknown words are located

in one passage. The learner is asked not to define the target words,

but to indicate which words or phrases are helpful in inferring the

meaning (Wallace 1982). There are other useful types of inference

exercises that help develop the skill of inferring from context, for

example, gap-filling, cloze exercises, context enrichment exercises,

and word-replacement techniques (see British Council Teachers

1980:83–85).

C. Advantages of a context-based approach

In addition to increasing students’ vocabulary, this approach has

several advantages.

1. It helps readers not only learn words but also know how to use them

in context. Guessing the meaning of a word from its use in context

requires an understanding of semantic properties, register, and

collocation. It makes readers aware of one important feature of

vocabulary, namely, that context determines the meaning of words.

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2. Training students to infer meaning from context gives them a

powerful aid to comprehension and will speed up their reading.

3. This approach allows the learners to make intelligent, meaningful

guesses. This will make the learning task much more active and

challenging than direct explanation of words. It has a problem-

solving characteristic that appeals to most people and challenges

them to make use of their intelligence to an extent that is not always

common in language classes.

4. It helps readers develop a holistic approach toward reading.

Because the context of a new word may be drawn from a group of

sentences, a paragraph, or even the entire text, they learn to direct

their attention to language units larger than the sentence while they

are looking for context clues.

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III. Problems of teaching vocabulary in context

.

In studying vocabulary in context, we often depends on the general

context of the sentence to help us choose the right vocabulary in

context. Here some strategies we can apply in choosing :

1. Look at the word being asked about and the words choices. If we

are familiar with the word, guess which word is correct

2. Read the sentence in which the word appears. If you were familiar

with the word and guessed at the answer, make sure that the word

that you choose fits with the word as it is used in sentence. Or in

the sentences before or after help you guess the meaning.

3. If you are not sure which answer is correct, read the sentence with

each of the four choices in place. Does one seem more logical,

given the context of the sentence, than the other three? If not do

any seem illogical? (Those you can eliminate)

4. If you are still not sure, make the best guess you can.

In the real test, sometimes two of the answer choices for these items

might be “correct” definition of word that is asked about. In those

cases we must decide which of the two is correct in the context of the

passage. In ordinary reading there are a number of clues that can help

you determine the meaning of an unknown words:

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1. Synonyms

The first state to institute compulsory education was

Massachusetts, which it mandatory for student to attend school

twelve weeks a year.

The word Mandatory is a synonym for the word compulsory.

2. Examples

Many gardeners use some kind of mulch, such as chopped leaves,

peat moss, grass clipping, pine needles, or wood chips, in order to

stop the growth of weeds and hold moisture.

From the examples given, it is clear that mulch is plant matter.

3. Contrast

In the 1820s, the Southern states supported improvements I the

national transportation system, but the northern sates balked.

Since the Southern states supported improvements, and since word

signalling contrast (but) is used, it is clear that the Northern states

disagreed with this idea, and that the word balked must mean

objected or refused

4. General context

In a desert, vegetation is so scanty to be in capable of supporting

any large human population.

As is generally known, deserts contain little vegetation, so clearly

the word scanty must mean scarce or barely sufficient.

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Here some exercises

Exercise 1

Read each item then choose answer choice that could best be used in place of the underlined expression as it appears in the sentence.

1. Every atlas has its own legend.

a. mythical story

b. famous

c. explanation of symbols

d. story

2. The planet Mercury is visible to the naked eye but is not the easiest

planet to spot.

a. unclothed

b. unaided

c. unarmed

d. free

3. Above the snow line, any mountain hollow is permanently occupied with

snow.

a. filled

b. busy

c. composed

d. clothed

4. The glass factories of Toledo, Ohio, boomed after Michael Owen

invented a process that turned out bottles by the thousand

a. exploded

b. resounded

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c. prospered

d. attached

5. Dr. Rene Dubos, a French physician who came to United States in

1924, searched for substances that would check the growth of

bacteria.

a. restrict

b. investigate

c. see

d. inspect

6. The root of the horseradish plant has biting taste.

a. chewing

b. sharp

c. sarcastic

d. sweet

7. The double bass is shaped like a viola and has a deep rich tone.

a. valuable

b. resonant

c. abundant

8. A public library is a resource the entire community can draw on.

a. illustrate

b. approach

c. utilize

d. play

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9. A business concern with two or more owners is referred to as a

partnership

a. firm

b. worry

c. state

d. industry

10. The salt is finer than rock salt.

a. made up of smaller particles

b. of better quality

c. freer of impurities

d. worse

11.Shirley Jackson sometimes chilling, sometimes hilarious stories were

largely ignored in critics at the time they were published.

a. freezing

b. frightening

c. interesting

d. boring

12. As a child, the sharpshooter Annie Oakley hunted game with such

success that, by selling it, she was able to pay off the mortgage on her

family’s farm.

a. animals

b. athletic competition

c. race

d. plants

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13.All chimpanzees are extremely curious about their surroundings.

a. strange

b. inquisitive

c. uncared

d. bored

14.Furniture design and manufacture were originally the work of

individuals, but by the eighteenth century, many furniture makers had

teams of craftsmen to help them carry out their plans.

a. transport

b. obey

c. implement

d. left

15.Samuel Latham Mitchell help found Rutgers Medical College in New

Jersey in 1826, and he produced several important works in chemistry

and geology.

a. books

b. accomplishments

c. factories

d. jobs

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Exercise 2

Focus: Answering vocabulary in context question about words or phrases

in reading passage.

Directions: Answer the questions about the vocabulary in the passage,

and mark the words or phrases that are closest in meaning to the words or

phrases that are asked about.

The Civil War created feverish manufacturing activity to supply

critical material, especially in the North. When the fighting stopped, the

stage was set for dramatic economic growth. Wartime taxes on production

had vanished, and the few taxes that remained leaned heavily on real

estate, not on business. The population flow from farm to city increased,

and the labour force it provided was buttressed by millions of newly arrived

immigrants willing to work for low wages in the mills of the North and on

the railroad crews of the Midwest and West.

Government was nothing if not accommodating. It established tarrif

barriers, provided loans and grants to build a transcontinental railroad, and

assumed a studied posture of non-intervention in private enterprise. The

social Darwinsm of British philosopher Hebert Spencer and American

economist William Graham Summer prevailed. The story was that

business, it left to its own devices, would cull out the week and nurture the

strong. But as business expanded, the rivalry heated up. In the 1880s, five

railroads operating between New York and Chicago were vying for traffic,

and two more were under construction. As a result of the battle, the fare

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between the cities decrease to $ 1. The petroleum industry suffered from

similar savage competition, and in the 1870s, many oil industries failed.

1. The word “feverish” is closest in meaning to

a. extremely rapid

b. sickly and slow

c. very dangerous

d. understandable

2. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word “critical”

a. industrial

b. serious

c. crucial

d. insulting

3. The phrase “the stage was set” closest to the meaning to which of the

following

a. The play was over

b. The progress continued

c. The foundation was laid

d. The direction was clear

4. The phrase “real estate” refer to

a. tools and machines

b. actual income

c. new enterprises

d. land and building

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5. The word “accommodating” closest to the meaning to

a. persistent

b. indifferent

c. balanced

d. helpful

6. Which of the following could be best substituted for the word “posture”

a. stature

b. predicament

c. position

d. situation

7. The word “prevailed” is closest in meaning to

a. influenced

b. triumphed

c. premiered

d. evolved

8. The phrase “left to its own devices” means

a. forced to do additional work

b. allowed to do as it pleased

c. made to change its plans

d. encouraged to produce more goods

9. The word “vying” closest in meaning to

a. competing

b. hoping

c. arranging

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d. caring

10. The word “savage” closest in meaning to

a. fierce

b. growing

c. surprising

d. genuine

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Exercise 3

All birds have feathers, and all animals with feathers are birds. No

other major group of animals is so easy to categorize. All birds have

wings, too, but wings are not peculiar to birds.

Many adaptations are found in both feathers and wings. Feathers

form the soft down of geese and ducks, the long decorative plumes of

ostriches, and the string flight feathers of eagle and hawks. Wings vary

from the short, broad ones of chickens, which seldom fly, to the long, slim

ones of albatrosses, which spend almost at their lives soaring on air

currents. In Penguins, wings have been modified into flippers and feathers

into a waterproof covering. In kiwis, the wings are almost impossible to

detect.

Yet diversity among birds is not so striking as it is among mammals.

The difference between hummingbird a penguin is immense, but hardly as

startling as that between a bat and whale. It is variations in details rather

than in fundamental patterns that has been important in the adaptation of

birds to many kinds of ecosystems.

1. The word “categorize” is closest in meaning to:

a. appreciate

b. comprehend

c. classify

d. visualize

2. Which is of the following is closest in meaning to the phrase

“peculiar to”

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a. unusual for

b. common to

c. necessary for

d. unique to

3. The word “slim” is closest in meaning to:

a. slender

b. powerful

c. graceful

d. soft

4. The word “detect” closest in meaning to:

a. utilize

b. extend

c. observe

d. describe

5. Which of the following is closest in meaning to word

“diversity”:

a. function

b. heredity

c. speciality

d. variety

6. The word “hardly” is closest in meaning to:

a. definitely

b. not clear

c. possibly

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d. not always

7. The word “startling” is closest in meaning to:

a. initial

b. exciting

c. tremendous

d. surprising

8. The word “fundamental” is closest in meaning to:

a. basic

b. shifting

c. predictable

d. complicated

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Exercise 4

Manufactured in tranquil New England town of Concord, New

Hampshire, the famous Concord Coach came to symbolize the Wild West.

Its rugged body and suspension system of leather straps could handle the

hard jolts from rough roads. A Journalist in 1868, describing a railroad

shipment of 30 coaches bound for Wells, Fargo and Company, wrote,

“They are splendidly decorated…. The bodies of red and the running parts

yellow. Each door has a handsome picture, mostly landscapes, and not

two coaches are exactly alike”.

Wells, Fargo and Company was founded in 1852 to provide mail

and banking services for gold camps of California and later won a

monopoly on express services west of the Mississippi. A Wells, Fargo

Concord Coach carried nine to fourteen passenger plus baggage and

mail. The accommodations were by no means plush. However, the

stagecoach was swiftest method of travel through much of the Far West.

1. The word “tranquil” is closest in meaning to:

a. peaceful

b. bustling

c. industrial

d. tiny

2. The word “symbolize” is closest meaning to

a. recollect

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b. fulfil

c. deny

d. represent

3. Which of the following cold be best substitute for the

word “rugged”

a. streamlined

b. roomy

c. sturdy

d. primitive

4. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the

word “jolts”

a. sign

b. shocks

c. sights

d. shots

5. The phrase “bound for” is closest in meaning to:

a. belonged to

b. destined for

c. built by

d. paid for

6. The word “splendidly” is closest in meaning to:

a. superbly

b. deliberately

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c. specifically

d. slightly

7. The word “plush” is closest in meaning to:

a. normal

b. luxurious

c. memorable

d. unpleasant

8. Which of the following is closest meaning to the word

“swiftest”

a. most comfortable

b. cheapest

c. most direct

d. fastest

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Exercise 5

The Hopi people of Arizona stress the institutions of family and

religion in harmonious existence that makes the self-sacrificing

individual the ideal. The Hopi individual is trained to feel his or her

responsibility to and for the peaceful People-the Hopi’s own term for

themselves. Fighting, bullying, or attempting to surpass others bring

automatic rebuke from the community.

Implicit in the Hopi view is an original and integrated theory of the

universe. With this they organize their society in such a way to obtain a

measure of security from a harsh and hazardous environment made up

of human foes, famine, and plagues. They conceive of the universe-

humans, animals, plants, and supernatural spirits-as an ordered

system functioning under a set of rules known to them alone. These

rules govern their behaviour, emotion, and thoughts in a prescribed

way.

1. The word “stress” is closest in meaning to:

a. emphasize

b. define

c. describe

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d. persuade

2. Which of the following could best substitute for the word

“harmonious”:

a. cooperative

b. dangerous

c. philosophical

d. exclusive

3. The word “term” is closest in meaning to:

a. era

b. name

c. area

d. law

4. The word “bullying” is closest in meaning to:

a. lying

b. organizing

c. entertaining

d. tormenting

5. The word “foes” is closest in meaning to:

a. fear

b. needs

c. enemies

d. failure

6. Which of the following could best be substituted for the word

“hazardous”

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a. changing

b. random

c. familiar

d. dangerous

7. Which of the following can replace the word “rebuke”

a. prestige

b. criticism

c. reaction

d. acknowledgement

8. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word

“prescribed”

a. set

b. disorderly

c. legal

d. compatible

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Exercise 6.

Canadian researchers have discovered a set of genes that

determine the lifespan of the common nematode, a type of worm. This

finding sheds new light on the aging process that may eventually allow

them to delay the inexorable process of aging and date.

By manipulating the newly discovered genes, the team of McGill

University in Montreal was able to increase the life span of the nematode

five-fold. Altering the genes apparently showed the metabolism of the

worms to a more leisurely pace. This in turn may show the accumulation

of the DNA defects thought to cause aging.

Although the cause of aging in humans are undoubtedly more

involved, researchers are confident that the discoveries will provide

invaluable clues about this heretofore mysterious process.

1. The word “determine” is closest in meaning to:

a. control

b. modify

c. maintain

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d. shorten

2. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the phrase “sheds

new light on”

a. contradicts what known about

b. gives new meaning to

c. provides new information about

d. calls more attention to

3. The word “inexorable” is closest in meaning to:

a. cruel

b. unstoppable

c. essential

d. incomprehensible

4. Which of the following could best be used in place of the phrase

“more leisurely”

a. more relaxed

b. livelier

c. easier

d. more irregular

5. The word “involved” is closest in meaning to:

a. committed

b. serious

c. apparent

d. complicated

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6. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word “clues”

a. plans

b. secrets

c. signals

d. hints

7. The word “heretofore” is closest in meaning to:

a. universally

b. almost

c. previously

d. somewhat.

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IV.Conclusion

Application of this approach might be successful in your classes.

The students may find it stimulating and enjoyable, and are eager to try it

whenever an unknown word appears. They become more independent

and develop learner autonomy. This approach has a positive effect on the

students’ reading habits. It helps them build up confidence in their reading.

36

References

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Journal Supplement Guidelines, 3, pp. 83–85.

Gairns, R., and S. Redman. 1986. Working with words: A guide to

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Press.

Halliday, M. A. K., and R. Hasan. 1976. Cohesion in English. London:

Longman.

Honeyfield, J. 1977. Word frequency and the importance of context in

vocabulary learning. RELC Journal, 2, pp. 35–40.

Kruse, A. F. 1979. Vocabulary in context. ELT Journal, 33, 3, pp. 207–213.

Nation, I. S. P. 1979. The curse of the comprehension question: Some

alternatives. RELC Journal Supplement Guidelines, 2, pp. 85–103.

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———. 1980. Strategies for receptive vocabulary learning. RELC Journal

Supplement Guidelines, 3, pp. 18–23.

Nunan, D. 1991. Language teaching methodology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:

Prentice Hall.

Oxford, R., and D. Crookall. 1988. Learning strategies. In You can take it

with you: Helping students maintain foreign language skills beyond the

classroom, ed. J. B. Gleason. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Robinson, H. A. 1983. Teaching reading, writing, and study strategies: The

content areas. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Wallace, M. 1982. Teaching vocabulary. London: Heinemann Educational

Books.

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