Lexical Inferencing Strategies of Turkish EFL Learners

İlknur İstifçi

Abstract


Reading is a process which contributes to success in learning a foreign language and good language learners are considered to be good readers (Bialystok, 1983). According to Paribakht and Wesche (1999), a good reader can guess the meanings of some unfamiliar words in a text, and there is a strong relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. Reading ability of second/foreign language learners has been widely investigated and it has been found that they understand more and make more guesses if they participate actively in the reading process by applying strategies. Hosenfeld (1981) proposed the term “reading strategies†that students must utilize in order to comprehend reading passages, and she noted 20 effective reading strategies “an efficient reader reads to identify meaning rather than words, takes chances in order to identify meaning, considers illustrations, evaluates guesses, uses a variety of types of context clues, and follows through with proposed solutions†(cited in Barnett, 1988:110).

Full Text:

PDF

References


Barnett, M. A. (1988). “Teaching Reading Strategies: How Methodology Affects Language Courseâ€. Foreign Language Annals, 21, No.2, pp.109-119.

Beebe, L. M. (1983). Risk-taking and the Language Learner. In Seliger, H. W. & M. H. Long (Eds.), Classroom Oriented Research in Second Language Acquisition. Rowley, Massachusetts:Newbury House.

Bialystok, E (1983). Inferencing: Testing the “Hypothesis-testing†Hypothesis. In Seliger, H. W. & M. H. Long (Eds.), Classroom Oriented Research in Second Language Acquisition. Rowley, Massachusetts: Newbury House.

Brown, D. (1994). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Haastrup, K. (1991). Lexical Inferencing Procedures or Talking about words: Receptive Procedures in Foreign Language Learning with Special Reference to English. Tubingen, Germany: Gunter Narr.

Huckin, T. & J. Bloch (1993). Strategies for inferring word meaning from context: A cognitive model: In T. Huckin, M. Haynes, & J. Coady (Eds.); Second language reading and vocabulary learning (pp.153-178). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Hulstijn, (1992). Retention of Inferred and Given Word Meanings: Experiments in Incidental Vocabulary Learning. In Arnaud, P. J. L. & H. Béjoint (Eds.), Vocabulary and Applied Linguistics. Great Britain: MacMillan.

Kern, R. G. (1989). “Second Language Reading Strategy Instruction: Its Effects on Comprehension and Word Inference Abilityâ€. The Modern Language Journal, V.73 (2), pp.135-149.

Kess, J. F. (1992). Psycholinguistics: Psychology, linguistics and the Study of Natural Language. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Lawson, M. J. & D. Hogben (1996). “The Vocabulary Learning Strategies of Foreign-Language Studentsâ€. Language Learning, V. 46 (1), pp. 101-135.

Nassaji, H. (2006). The Relationship Between Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge and L2 Learners’ Lexical Inferencing Strategy Use and Success. The Modern Language Journal, 90, pp. 387-401.

O’Malley, J. M. (1987). The Effects of Training in the Use of Learning Strategies on Acquiring English as a Second Language. In Wenden, A. & J. Rubin (Eds.), Learner Strategies in Language Learning. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Oxford, R. (1990). Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know. Massachusetts: Heinle & Heinle.

Oxford, R. (1993).“Research on Second Language Learning Strategies“. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 13, pp. 175-187.

Paribakht, T. S. & M. Wesche (1999). “Reading and “Incidental†L2 Vocabulary Acquisition: An Introspective Study of Lexical Inferencingâ€. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 21, pp. 195-224.

Richards, J. C. (1991). The Context of Language Teaching. Cambridge:CUP.

Richards, J. C., J. Platt and H. Weber (1985). Dictionary of Applied Linguistics. Essex: Longman.

_______ (1987). Learner Strategies: Theoretical Assumptions, Research History and Typology. In Wenden, A. & J. Rubin (Eds.), Learner Strategies in Language Learning. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Walters, J. (2006). “Methods of Teaching Inferring Meaning from Contextâ€. Regional Language Centre Journal, 37 (2), pp. 176-190.

Wenden, A. L. (1987). Conceptual Background and Utility. In Wenden, A. & J. Rubin (Eds.), Learner Strategies in Language Learning. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies
ISSN 1305-578X (Online)
Copyright © 2005-2022 by Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies