Constraints on inferring word meaning from context

Abstract

In a discussion of second language vocabulary teaching and learning, the premise is that vocabulary development from context should not be used as a teaching strategy exclusive of other methods, such as direct teaching through word pair translation; rather, these approaches should be seen as complementing each other. Several arguments in favor of inferring word meaning from context are examined, and research comparing this technique to word-pair translation is reviewed. Ways in which vocabulary size and problems with comprehension and retention limit the effectiveness of word meaning inference are discussed, and a procedure for making this technique more effective is outlined. The technique includes these steps: (1) determining the part of speech; (2) examining, and if needed, simplifying the context surrounding the unknown word; (3) analyzing the clauses and sentences before and after the sentence containing the unknown word, to determine relationships between them; (4) guessing the unknown word; and (5) comparing the guess to the unknown word's part of speech and to the context, while remaining aware of the potential for faulty word analysis. A dictionary is to be used if needed to check the guess, and re-analysis performed if needed. Contains 23 references. (MSE)