Learning Words from Context which consists of two components. Those components are external and internal context. Sternberg and Powell’s components
of Learning Words from Context Theory are presented in table 2.1 in the following page.
From the table, it can be seen that the external context is categorized based on the kinds of semantics information which is available in the text around the
target words Read, 2000:54, while the internal context is categorized based on the morphological structure of the words such as prefix and suffix. Citing again
from Read that one of the components of Sternberg and Powell’s theory is that for each kind of context, there is a set of mediating variables which determines how
effective the reader is to take the advantage of the clues that are available Sternberg and Powell, 1983 cited in Read, 2000:54. The example of the first
mediating variable in external context is “the number of occurrence of the unknown word”. It means that the students will find the inference easier if the
words are frequently occurring in the text.
Table 2.1 Components of Learning Words from Context Theory Sternberg and Powell, 1983 cited in Read, 2000
External Context
Contextual cues Temporal cues
Whenhow often does X [the unknown word] occur? Spatial cues
Where can X be found? Value cues
How valuable or desirable is X? What do people feel about it?
Stative descriptive cues What are the physical features of X [size, shape, color,
etc]? Functional descriptive cues
What are the purposes of X? What is it used for? Causalenablement cues
What causes X or enables it to occur? Class membership cues
What class of things does X belongs to? Equivalence cues
What does X mean? What does it compare or contrast to?
Mediating variables The number of occurrence of the unknown word
The variability of contexts in which multiple occurrences of the unknown words appear The density of unknown words
The importance of unknown words to understanding the context in which it is embedded The perceived helpfulness of the surrounding context in understanding the meaning of the
unknown word The concreteness of the unknown words and the surrounding context
The usefulness of prior knowledge in cue utilization
Internal Context
Contextual cues Prefix cues
Stem cues Suffix cues
Interactive cues where two or three word parts convey information in combination Mediating Variables
The number of occurrences of the unknown words The density of unknown words
The importance of the unknown words to understanding of the context in which it is
embedded The usefulness of previously known information in cue utilization
The theories presented previously imply that learning from context is central to most everyday vocabulary learning. Thus, below are three principles in
teaching learning from context proposed by Sternberg 1987 that must be kept in mind in order to make the teaching effective. Those principles are:
1. Presentation of words in context is not enough.
2. Presentation of words in context, plus decontextualization knowledge and
skills is not enough either. 3.
It is critical in teaching vocabulary to teach students to teach themselves. Therefore, since most vocabulary is learned from context, what the teacher
needs most is not to teach vocabulary from context but to teach students to use context to teach themselves. In other words, teacher should teach his students to
be autonomous learners.
c. Teaching Materials
Teaching materials are the important things in teaching and learning process. The teaching materials used in this research are not those designed by the
researcher herself, rather the teaching materials are taken from course-books which have been in use or published by official publishers. Selecting the
appropriate course-books includes something called evaluation. Conducting a course-books evaluation Wallace, 1998: 184 requires some previous ideas about
the qualities, whether it is good or bad; appropriate or inappropriate, namely criteria for course-books evaluation. Wallace 1998: 185 proposes several
possible criteria on evaluating teaching materials. Wallace’s criteria of course- books evaluation are:
1 Cost
This refers to the content of the book that should match the cost. 2
Rationale Rationale refers to the relation between the stated reasoning of the book and
the actual text. 3
Context It refers to the intended readersusers of the book.
4 Level
Level refers to the target level of the readersusers of the book. 5
Relevance to needs This refers to the question whether the content of the book matches the
learners’ need. 6
Facility and practicality This refers to whether it is practical and easy to use or not.
7 Layout and organization
The good layout and organization support the practicality of the book. 8
Coverage This refers to the content of the book. It is whether the book covers the
learners’ need or the syllabus or not. 9
Range of tasksactivities It refers to the types of activities that can support the learning.
10 Learners support materials
Learners support materials refer to the extra back-up materials in the form of cassette, workbooks, authentic materials, posters, etc. to support and motivate
learners and answer key to support autonomous learning. 11
Interestmotivation This refers to the question whether the learners’ interestmotivation can be
enhanced by the materials. 12
Teacher support materials This last criterion refers to the good course-book that can give help to the
teacher. Since the learning materials will be taught to students of Senior High
School, the selection of the materials are also based on the curriculum of English lesson for Senior High School students. The standard competence and basic
competence of English lesson for grade XI students of Senior High School semester I can be examined in appendix 2.
Furthermore, adapting the materials can be conducted in some ways. As it is proposed by Wallace 1998: 190, it can be done in two ways. They are:
1 Implementing the materials without giving any changes but in different ways
of teaching. In this way, there is no change in the content of the materials; the materials are being taught as what they are. However, the way the materials are
taught to the students can be differ from those presented in the books.
2 Changing some parts of the materials. Adapting teaching materials in this way
includes implementing the materials which have been changed in some ways so that it will be closer to the needs.
d. Teaching and Learning Activities
Kemp 1977: 57 identifies that basically there are three methods of teaching and learning activities. Those are group presentation, individualized
learning, and teacher-student interaction. 1 Group Presentation
In this first method, the teacher or student who adopts group presentation as the choice of activity merely “tells, shows, demonstrates, dramatizes, or otherwise
presents subject content to a student group of any size” Kemp, 1977: 60. The teaching and learning activity can be carried out either inside or outside the
classroom, as well as the media employed can be vary from transparencies, recordings, slides, motion pictures, etc.
Kemp 1977 describes that including student participation in the teaching and learning activities is required for learning takes best place when students are
active. He defines three categories of student participation in group presentation method as presented in the following.
In a lecture or other such presentation, student participation can fall into three categories:
1. ACTIVE INTERACTION WITH THE INSTRUCTOR: asking and answering
questions; entering into discussion with the instructor and other students; and consulting with the instructor after the presentation
2. WORKING AT THE STUDENT’S SEAT: Taking notes, completing
worksheets on topics as the presentation proceeds filling in an outline of content, completing diagrams that accompany visual materials, writing replies
to questions, solving problems, and making application of content, and completing self-check exercises or quizzes
3. OTHER MENTAL PARTICIPATION: Thinking along with the instructor,
mentally verbalizing answers to rhetorical or direct questions and problems posed by the instructor and other students, and formulating questions to ask
Kemp, 1977: 61
2 Individualized Learning The theory that “learning must be accomplished by individuals for
themselves and that it takes place best when students work at their own rates, actively involved in performing specified tasks, and experience success” Kemp,
1977: 62 becomes the key of the emergence of individualized learning. Upon the individualized learning, it is recognized the significant characteristics of it. They
are self-responsibility, self-pacing, and successful learning. These three characteristics have one main underlying variable that is time Kemp, 1977: 64.
Self-responsibility, self-pacing, and successful learning are reachable if the students are given enough amount of time to perform individualized learning.
Kemp 1977 suggests 11 methods and resources for individualized learning. Those are:
a Student contracts
The students commit to the teacher to achieve the objective in exchange for rewards e.g. points.
b Textbookworksheets
The objectives are built up from worksheets of textbook content directing the study of text chapters and providing review questions.
