VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************

PHẠM THỊ HOA AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USEFULNESS OF THE TECHNIQUES FOR
GUESSING THE MEANING OF NEW WORDS THROUGH CONTEXT FOR
THE 11
TH
FORM STUDENTS AT PHUC THANH HIGH SCHOOL
NGHIÊN CỨU LỢI ÍCH CỦA THỦ THUẬT ĐOÁN NGHĨA TỪ MỚI DỰA VÀO
NGỮ CẢNH CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 11 TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT PHÚC THÀNH M.A MINOR THESIS
(SUMMARY OF THE THESIS) Field: English Methodology
Code: 60.14.10


M.A MINOR THESIS
(SUMMARY OF THE THESIS) Field: English Methodology
Code: 60.14.10
Supervisor: Trần Hiền Lan, M.A
HA NOI – 2011 iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Declaration i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
Table of contents iv
List of figures and tables vii
Part I: Introduction 1
1. Rationale 1
2. Aims and Objectives of the study 2
3. Research Questions 2
4. Method of the study 2
5. Scope of the study 3

2.7. Procedures 20
2.8 Instruments for Data Collection 22
2.8.1. Pretest and Posttest 22
2.8.2. Questionnaires 23
CHAPTER THREE: DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 25
3. DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 25
3.1. Introduction 25
3.2. Reports of the results collected by means of Pretest and Posttest 25
3.2.1. Comparison of Pretest and Posttest Performance 25
3.2.2. Comparison of Both Groups' Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension Gains
after the Experiment 28
3.3. Reports of the results collected by means of questionnaires 29
3.3.1. The results of the pre-experiment questionnaires 29
3.3.1.1 The results of the pre-experiment questionnaire for students 29
3.3.1.2 The results of the pre-experiment questionnaire for teachers 33
3.3.2. The results of the post-experiment questionnaire 36
4. DISCUSSIONS 39
4.1. Introduction 39
4.2. Discussion of Research Questions 39
4.2.1. Discussion of Both Groups' Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension Gains
after the Experiment 39
4.2.2. Discussion of the Experimental Students' Opinions of the Guessing
Techniques 40 vi
Part III: CONCLUSIONS 42
1. Conclusions 42
2. Limitations of the study 43
3. Recommendations for the Application of the Guessing Techniques 43

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figure 1: The differences between the mean scores on the paired pretests and the paired
posttests
Figure 2: Difference in gain values obtained by both groups after the experiment
Figure 3: The experimental students' attitudes towards the guessing techniques
Table 1: Background information about the subjects of the study
Table 2: The results of the pretest and posttest of the two groups
Table 3: The classifications of pretest and posttest scores of the two groups
Table 4: Descriptive statistics for the pretest and posttest of the experimental and control
groups
Table 5: Mean gains of the experimental and control groups after the experiment
Table 6: Experimental participants' feedback and evaluative attitudes towards the guessing
techniques

1
PART I: INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale

Reading, as a basic and vital skill, has always received a great deal of attention in
English teaching programs for foreign learners, especially at upper secondary education
level in Vietnam. For example, reading is the first skill in each unit in the textbook English
11 proves its important role. This is understandable as reading is considered not only an
essential means to gain knowledge but also a means by which further study takes place.
However, from my professional experience, I realize that most of grade 11 students in
my school confront many problems while learning reading. They often find it difficult to

the students' techniques for guessing the meaning of new words through context.
To achieve this aim, the study sets out to obtain the following specific objectives:
- To discover whether or not the techniques for guessing the meaning of unknown words
through context make students' vocabulary acquisition and their reading comprehension
skill improve.
- To examine the experimental students' attitudes towards the application of guessing
techniques to their reading process, and then to make some recommendations for further
study.
3. Research Questions
To achieve the aims and objectives of the study, an attempt is made to seek the answers
to the following research questions:
(1) Do techniques for guessing the meaning of unknown words through context make the
11
th
form students' vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension skill improve as
measured by their scores in the pre-test and post-test?
(2) What are the students' attitudes towards the application of guessing techniques to their
reading process after experimental period?
4. Method of the study
The main research method employed in this thesis to find out the answers to the
proposed research questions is a quasi-experimental research, with the uses of two
instruments: survey questionnaires (including the pre-experiment questionnaires and the
post-experiment questionnaire) and pre-test and post-test.
 The pre-experiment questionnaire for students was carried out to find out the students'
perceptions and attitudes towards reading comprehension, as well as to identify what the
students might commonly do to deal with unknown words and what techniques they used
to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words during their reading process. The pre-experiment
questionnaire for teachers was not only used to investigate the teachers' perceptions and
attitudes towards reading comprehension but it also aimed at examining what activity the


7. Design of the study
The study comprises three main parts. Part I, the introduction, presents an overview of the
study, including the rationale for the study, aims and objectives, research questions,
research method, scope, significance and design of the study. Part II, the development,
consists of three chapters. Chapter one presents some general theories relating to guessing 4
techniques including an overview of a context- based approach, a summary of some
research on contextual guesswork, guessing or inferring technique, types of context clues,
and factors that affect contextual guessing. Chapter two deals with the methodology, which
provides the context of the study, the rationale for using quasi-experiment, the variables,
the background information about the subjects of the study, the materials, the procedures
as well as the data collection instruments. Chapter three analyzes the data collected, reports
and discusses the results of the research. It gives details of the significant findings from
data collection, i.e., the presentation of the two groups' pretest and posttest scores, reports
of the results collected by means of questionnaires. Part III, the conclusion of the study,
recapitulates the findings of the research. This part also points out some limitations of the
study, several recommendations for the application of the guessing techniques as well as
some suggestions for further study.


emphasis on linear, bottom-up processing. In response, different definitions of context
have been proposed that comprise language knowledge but emphasize the role of high-
level knowledge sources and personal experiences. However, it is useful, especially
regarding the guessing technique and second language readers to note the commonly used
general distinction between local context provided by intrasentential and sentential
information and global context provided by intersentential to discourse level information
and world knowledge.
Bialystok's (1983; cited in Barnett, 1989) proposes that context exists in relation and 6
proportion to the reader's implicit knowledge, other knowledge ( knowledge of other
languages and world knowledge), and context which provide clues to. From this
perspective, context is not an absolute presence in a text, but is instead created by the
reader and is thus affected by the reader's linguistic and world knowledge.
1.2.1.2 Context-based approach to vocabulary acquisition
All of us know that words are the basic units of a text; therefore, to be able to
understand the whole text, it is necessary for us to understand words in it. As Thomas
Scovel (cited in Yeli Shi, 2005:35) puts it, the comprehension of words is a very complex
psycholinguistic process, which involves a dynamic, growing and active process of
searching for relevant relationships in spreading activation networks. In different contexts,
a word may have different meanings; thus, simply learning the definition of a word in
isolation will not help learners to fully understand its meaning. Hence, the ability to
determine the word meaning from context is considered one of the most essential aspects
of successful reading.
Nagy (1997:76) distinguishes three types of knowledge that readers possess to
contribute to contextual inferring, which include linguistic knowledge, world knowledge
and strategic knowledge. He claims that much of the information provided by context lies
in the linguistic structure of the context, and its use can depend on the reader's knowledge
of the structure. Linguistic knowledge consists of syntactic knowledge, vocabulary

twenty five words. These researchers estimated that about 85% of the unfamiliar words can
be derived if learners worked together to pool their relevant knowledge and skills.
1.2.3 Guessing or inferring technique
Guessing is 'figuring out' a meaning for a word from context cues. Another similar term
to guess is 'infer' which will be used interchangeably in this study. Other terms were also
used in related literature, such as 'construct', 'deduce', 'derive', or 'predict'. Guessing from
context most commonly refers to inferring the meaning of a word from surrounding words
in a written text.
Following are some definitions and ideas of guessing techniques defined by some
researchers:
"Inferring means making use of syntactic, logical and cultural clues to discover the
meaning of unknown elements" ( Grellet, F., 1981:14).
"Inferring involves creating a schema for the unknown word(s), based on world
knowledge and previous experience, both of the world and texts. In other words, inferring
means drawing conclusions as to word meaning by following certain rational steps in the 8
face of the evidence available." (McCarthy, M., 1990:125).
Gairns and Redman (1986:83) use the term "contextual guesswork" for the strategy of
making use of context in which word appears to derive an idea of its meaning, or in some
cases to guess from the word itself. For example
I overworked last night.
In this example, the unfamiliar word consists of a part which is already familiar and the
learner might have met the same prefix "over-" in other words e.g., "overeat". This
knowledge enables the learner to work out the meaning of "overworked"
In support of the idea of inferring word meanings from context, Clarke & Nation (1980)
suggest that learners should take the following steps to infer or guess the meanings from
the context.


details" and "word structure". Sternberg and Powell (1983, p. 890) have summed up eight
basic types of context cues utilized by high school students in first language learning: "
temporal', "spatial", " physical properties", "functional properties", "word or affect",
"causal", "class membership" and "equivalence". ZHAI Xiang-jun, et al (1997, pp. 65 &
83-84) introduces another seven distinctive types: " definition', "restatement", "general
knowledge", "related information", "example", "comparison" and "contrast".
These are some context clues that Nation (1983) suggests learners can learn to watch for.
1.2.4.1. Structural clues
Structural clues are employed to determine the type or grammatical category of the new
word. Nation has introduced some kinds of structural clues as follows:
* Morphology
Prefixes, roots and suffixes all contribute to each word's meaning and many English words
are formed using prefixes and suffixes. Readers can use their knowledge of root words and
affixes to figure out the unknown word.
* Synonyms and Antonyms
Quite often, a writer will restate this thought in different words in order to make his
meaning clear or sometimes a word or phrase is clarified by the presentation of the
opposite meaning somewhere close to its use. Words that signal synonym: be, also known
as, sometimes called, or and words that signal antonym include but, however, unlike, yet.
For example:
'Jim wanted to go to haberdashery but Tim wanted to shop at the boutique.' In this
example, the signal word 'but' tells the reader that an opposite thought is going to be stated.
* Hypernyms and hyponyms
Readers can see that the relationship between an unfamiliar word and a familiar one is that
of a general concept accompanied by a specific example (a hypernym) or a specific 10
example accompanied by a general concept (a hyponym).
For instance: Animal is "hypernym" of "cat", "camel", "elephant"; “Chair” and “table”
11
1.2.4.2. Inference clues
Sometimes a word or phrase is not immediately clarified within the same sentence; the
reader must look for clues within, before, and after the sentence in which the word appears.
Relationships, which are not directly apparent, are inferred or implied. Inference clues
which require a higher level of analytical skill and practice than the types mentioned above
comprise the following:
*Example
The meanings of the unknown words can be inferred from examples, often by using
physical clues such as, i.e., e.g., for instance, for example. The sample sentence follows:
Perceiving, learning, and thinking are examples of cognitive processes. The reader can
realize that 'cognitive processes' means ' perceiving, learning, and thinking'
* Summary
By using the sum of the information in a sentence or paragraph, students can understand an
unfamiliar word. Here is the example:
Many products are sold to stop perspiration. This wetness comes from our body whenever
we are too warm, work very hard, or are afraid, and it usually doesn’t smell very good.
The reader can understand that the word 'perspiration' means 'the wetness comes from our
body'.
* Comparison and contrast
Readers can infer the word meaning by recalling similar situations or experiences and by
showing differences. Comparisons are usually preceded by such signposts as like, as, in
the same way, similar to while contrasts can usually be detected by words of negative
meaning such as although, on the contrary, on the other hand. For example:
The ancient mammoth, like other elephants, is huge. The word 'like' in the sentence helps
the reader realize that 'the ancient mammoth' is a type of elephant.
* Causes and result
Learners can often guess a word because it causes a result, or it is the result caused by

correspondence between the referential meaning of the foreign word and that of the word
in the reader's mother tongue, the extent to which the word-form and the meaning bear
with each other, and the frequency of the equivalent word in the reader's mother tongue".
1.2.6 Summary
In this chapter, all the concerning theoretical background to acquiring vocabulary
through reading has been presented such as a brief overview of context-approach to
vocabulary acquisition, major issues relating to deducing the word meaning from context, a 13
summary of the previous studies on contextual guesswork, and the presentation of several
factors that affect contextual guessing.
In general, the use of contextual clues has been considered one of the best ways to
enhance learners' existing vocabulary and reading skills. In order to be able to infer the
meaning of unknown words from context effectively, learners of English need to have a
good knowledge of context clues and spend time and energy on guessing activities.
villages and ten percent live in rural villages. Many of them are not aware of the
importance of English; their English is limited. Most of the students major in Maths,
Physics and Chemistry and these students just see English as a compulsory subject and
learn just what is taught in the classroom. Only some of them major in English and find it
an interesting subject to study. Most of them have an average of 3 periods per week. The
teaching materials involve textbooks prescribed by Ministry of Education and Training and
other supplementary materials selected by the classroom teachers. In order to improve the 15
current situation of English learning in general, English reading skill in particular, which
has been assumed to be far from being successful or effective for years, this experiment
was carried out with the group of students who are not majoring in English.
In terms of time, the study was implemented in the second semester of the 2010-2011
academic year, which began on February 7
th
, 2011 and ended on April 29
th
, 2011. The
experiment lasted 12 weeks; due to the time limitation, the researcher only chose 6 units
(from Unit 11 to Unit 16) to do the experiment for this study.
2.3 The Rationale of Using Quasi-Experiment
Of the three designs within the scope of experimental method including true-
experimental, quasi-experimental and pre-experimental designs which are different from
one another in terms of the degree to which they impose control over the variables being
studied and the degree of randomness that enters into the design (Salkind, 2006; 218), the
quasi-experimental design was chosen for the study for the following reasons. Firstly, the
subjects of the study have already been assigned prior to the study. In this study, the two
classes 11A1 and 11A2 were assigned to the researcher as well as another teacher by the
person who was in charge of arranging the teaching schedule for the teaching staff. In

experimental design is used in this study to determine how the techniques for guessing the
meaning of new words through context (the independent variable) cause the changes in
students' proficiency of vocabulary and reading comprehension (the dependent variable).
 Independent variable: Guessing techniques as a word-attack skill versus word
lists and dictionary use during reading sessions.
 Dependent variable: Students' proficiency of vocabulary and reading
comprehension.
The values of the dependent variable were measured from the scores that the students
gained in a test designed and administered to the students in both control and experimental
groups. In order to measure students' improvement of the vocabulary and reading
comprehension proficiency from developing the techniques for guessing the meaning of
unknown words through context, the pretest and posttest were used as a valid and reliable
means for the study. The test scores of both control and experimental groups were
carefully computed and compared before and after the experiment by a t-test.
2.5. Participants
2.5.1. The students
Of the 80 students attending the program, the subjects of the study were 50 students
selected from 2 classes as a subset of the population by means of cluster sampling. They
were both male and female students aged sixteen or seventeen and had been learning
English at least five or six years. These groups were equally distributed in terms of number 17
and gender: 25 students each and seventeen out of 25 were boys in each group. Moreover,
the groups which students belonged to were arranged in accordance with their level of
English based on the results of their placement test and their results of the previous year
(this subject at grade 10), which made it possible to select two groups of equal level of
English. The reason for this choice will be explained as follows:
In making an experimental research, to make sure that differences in the results of the
study are due to differences in the two different treatments, rather than to other factors,

teacher, some changes in the teaching were made for the experimental group according to
the characteristics of the techniques for guessing the meaning of new words through
context. The control group still received the conventional teaching with the same teaching
model used by the other teachers of English at school so far. Before each reading session,
the students in this group were given a word list; a dictionary was allowed to use freely
during their reading process. They read the text and answered the accompanying
comprehension questions. Meanwhile, the students in the experimental group were trained
to apply the guessing techniques to deal with unfamiliar vocabulary during reading
sessions and did a series of vocabulary guessing exercises based on the underlined words
from these main readings before answering the accompanying comprehension questions. A 18
dictionary was only used for checking the guessing. The reading texts that both groups
took were of fixed selections from the textbook Tieng Anh 11, which was designed for the
11th form students as a whole.
2.5.2 The teachers
The two instructors were the researcher herself and another teacher at Phuc Thanh High
School. They both had been teaching English at Phuc Thanh High School for 10 years, so
they had a good knowledge of the students. Before the experiment period, the students
were arranged to meet and discuss the methods, contents, outcomes and time allocation for
the experiment.
2.6. Materials
2.6.1. Textbook
* The materials used for the participants taking part in this study include the textbook
Tieng Anh 11, which was used as the main source of material and the handouts designed
and selected by the researcher. English 11 was developed based on the new national
curriculum and the methodologies the book is claimed to follow are the "learner-centered
approach and the communicative approach with task-based teaching being the central
teaching method". There are 16 teaching units and 6 review units in the book. Each

*Restatement
Example: Entry qualifications to weekend courses are generous, that is, generally no
qualifications are necessary, apart from an ability to pay the fees, which may be quite
high. (Unit 6, Tieng Anh 11)
*Definitions (Explanation)
Example: - Another alternative source of energy is geothermal heat, which comes from
deep inside the earth. (Unit 11, Tieng Anh 11)
* Reference words
Examples: - However, human beings have a great influence on the rest of the world. They
are changing the environment by building cities and villages where forest once stood.
(Unit 10, Tieng Anh 11)
2. Inference clues
* Example.
Example: Each nation has many people who voluntarily take care of others. For example,
many high school and college students in the United States often spend many hours as
volunteers in hospitals, orphanages or homes for the aged. (Unit 4, Tieng Anh 11)
* Comparison and contrast
Example: Everyone has a number of acquaintances, but no one has many friends, for