Procedure in Applying Contextual Guessing Strategy

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c. Procedure in Applying Contextual Guessing Strategy

In order to guess the meaning of an unknown word successfully, there are two systematic guessing procedures which can be followed by the students. The first is guessing procedure based on Bruton and Samuda 1981. Nation 1990 commented that their guessing procedure tends to be a trial-and-error approach. In Bruton Samuda’s guessing procedure, the guessing occurs very early and being followed by justification and elaboration. As a result, in this guessing procedure, the learners will gain less exposure in analyzing the context clues. The second one is Clarke Nation’s guessing procedure 1980. Nation 1990 reviewed that their guessing procedure provides a simple system of checks to ensure that the guess is closest to the right meaning of an unknown word. Besides, Nation 1990 explained that Clarke and Nation’s guessing procedure was simpler. Hence, in this CAR, the researcher employed that guessing procedure. The steps involved in Clarke and Nation’s guessing procedure will be summarized as follows. 1 Getting Closely at the Unknown Word In this initial step, the students are asked to decide the part of speech of the unknown word e.g. noun, verb, adjective, or adverb. 2 Looking at the Immediate Context This step enables the students to examine the context of the clause or sentence containing the unknown word. For instance, “if the unknown word is a noun, what adjectives describe it? What verb is it near? If the unknown word is a verb, what noun does it go with? Is it modified by an adverb? If the unknown word is an adjective, what noun does it go with?” Nation, 1990: 162. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 29 3 Looking at the Broader Context This step is looking at the relationship between the clause or sentence containing the unknown word and other sentences or paragraphs. Nation 1990 listed that sometimes the relationship is indicated by conjunctions, such as but, because, if, and when or by an adverb, like however and as a result. The relationship can also be signalled by rhetorical relationships, like cause and effect, contrast, inclusion, time, exemplification, and summary. Furthermore, punctuation may be also helpful as a clue, since semicolons usually indicate a list or an inclusion relationship and dashes may signal restatement or clarification. Reference words, for example, this, that, and such also provide meaningful information as a clue to guess the unknown word. 4 Reviewing This step reviews all the previous steps which have been done. Nation 1990 said that in this step, the students will be encouraged to use the knowledge which has been gained from such clues to finally guess the meaning of the unknown word. 5 Checking This final step includes checking that the guess is correct. Nation 1990 stated that there are two ways to see that the guess is correct. First, the students can see that the part of speech of the unknown word is the same as that of the guess; if so, the students can replace the unknown word with the guessed word. Subsequently, if the sentence makes sense, the guessed word is probably a good paraphrase for the unknown word. Second, as the final checking, the students can PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 30 break the unknown word into its prefix, root, and suffix, if possible, to see if the meanings of the prefix, root, and suffix correspond to the guessed word. If the result signals no relationship, the students may recheck the guessed word, but the students do not need to make any changes if it still seems to be the correct choice.

d. Factors Affecting Contextual Guessing