24 a word. When learners face this kind of situation, teacher can assist them to learn
the word from its context. It can be done by recognizing partial knowledge of a word. Dale O’Rouke 1971 gave an example that learners may know the word
octopus, which means an eight-legged sea creature, from Biology. They may also know the word octagon, which means an eight-sided figure, from Math. Then,
when learners meet the word octave, which means a series of eight notes in music, they have already recognized that the word octo has something to do with eight.
From the example above, it can be summarized that in determining the meaning of an unknown word or a new word, learners can guess the meaning of the word by
seeing its context clues.
b. Types of Context Clues
There are a number of different context clues that can help the students in inferring the meaning of an unknown word. They are internal and external context
clues and relationship between words.
1 Internal and External Context Clues
In order to be successful in applying contextual guessing strategy in vocabulary learning, the students should pay attention to the availability of
contextual information in the context. Read 2000 defined contextual information as contextual clues which help the students in guessing the meaning of unknown
words in texts. In accordance with the contextual information, Sternberg Powell 1985 cited in Read, 2000 proposed a theory of learning words from context
which consists of two components, specifically external context and internal
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25 context. Sternberg Powell’s components of a theory of learning words from
context can be seen in Figure 2.1
EXTERNAL CONTEXT Contextual cues
Temporal cues Whenhow oftenfor how long 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, colour,
odour, feel, 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 belong to? Equivalence cues
What does X mean? What does it compare or contrast to?
Mediating Variables
The number of occurrences 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 the 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 word 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 word
The density of unknown words The density of decomposable unknown words
The importance of the unknown word to understanding the context in which it is embedded The usefulness of previously known information in cue utilization
Figure 2.1 Components of a Theory of Learning Words from Context Sternberg Powell, 1983 cited in Read, 2000
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26
2 Relationship between Words
Lewis and Hill 2002 stated that the students were able to infer the meaning of an unknown word by analyzing the relationships between the
unknown words and other words. In consequence, by recognizing certain kinds of relationship, it would help the students to acquire the meaning of an unknown
word easier. Lewis Hill 2002: 101 explained kinds of relationship between words as follows.
a Synonyms
According to Lewis Hilll 2002, a synonym refers to “the similar denotative meaning.” In other words, it can be said that a synonym presents the
same concept of a word. E.g.: ‘enormous’ means the same as ‘very large’.
b Antonyms
Lewis and Hill 2002 stated that an antonym refers to the opposite meaning of a word. The easier example is ‘hot’ and ‘cold.’ However, sometimes,
the antonym of the word ‘hot’ does not always means ‘cold.’ The students have to be informed about the question of degree, for instances, ‘hot’-‘warm’-‘cool’-
‘cold.’ From that example, it is better to introduce the students by asking them to learn the extremes first and later the intermediate words.
c Complements
Lewis Hill 2002 defined a complement as two existing words in which when one appears, it automatically eliminates the other. Thus, the complement
can be used to describe that the meaning of a word depends directly on the
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27 meaning of other words; for example, the word ‘single’ is possible said as ‘not
married.’
d Converses
Lewis Hill 2002 defined a converse as “each of a pair of words implies the other.” The examples of converse are parentchild and
employeremployee.
e Hyponyms
Lewis Hill 2002 proposed that a hyponym can be described by this example; car, van, bus, and lorry are hyponym of vehicle. In learning vocabulary,
the meaning of words is difficult to be inferred without translating into L1. However, sometimes, it is very helpful when the hyponyms are to be told in this
way, for instances, a carnation is a kind of flower. The relationship between words was also revealed by Nation 1990, he
conveyed that the relationships can be signalled by a conjunction, like but, because, if, when, or by an adverb, such as however and as a result. Nation 1990:
162 also proposed that sometimes the relationships can be seen in the form of rhetorical relationship, such as cause and effect, contrast, inclusion, time,
exemplification, and summary. Moreover, the presence of punctuation can also be said as a clue in guessing, for instance, semi colons that often describe a list of
inclusion relationship or dashes that often reveal restatements. Furthermore, the availability of reference words, such as this, that, and such can also provide useful
information to arrive at the closer meaning of an unknown word.
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28
c. Procedure in Applying Contextual Guessing Strategy