nghiên cứu hành động về việc nâng cao khả năng đọc hiểu của học sinh thông qua việc giảng dạy chiến lược đoán nghĩa của từ vựng tại trường trung học phổ thông chuyên, đại học sư phạm hà nội

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES



NGUYỄN HÀ SÂM

AN ACTION RESEARCH ON IMPROVING 10
th
GRADE STUDENTS’
READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH THE TEACHING OF
LEXICAL INFERENCE STRATEGY
AT HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIFTED STUDENTS,
HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

(NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG VỀ VIỆC NÂNG CAO KHẢ NĂNG
ĐỌC HIỂU CỦA HỌC SINH THÔNG QUA VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY
CHIẾN LƯỢC ĐOÁN NGHĨA CỦA TỪ VỰNG
TẠI TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG CHUYÊN,
ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM HÀ NỘI)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 6014.0111

Hanoi, 2014


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES



NGUYỄN HÀ SÂM

AN ACTION RESEARCH ON IMPROVING 10
th
GRADE STUDENTS’
READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH THE TEACHING OF
LEXICAL INFERENCE STRATEGY
AT HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIFTED STUDENTS,
HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

(NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG VỀ VIỆC NÂNG CAO KHẢ NĂNG
ĐỌC HIỂU CỦA HỌC SINH THÔNG QUA VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY
CHIẾN LƯỢC ĐOÁN NGHĨA CỦA TỪ VỰNG
TẠI TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG CHUYÊN,
ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM HÀ NỘI)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 6014.0111
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Võ Đại Quang

Hanoi, 2014
i



DECLARATION

I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled “An Action Research on
Improving 10
th
Grade Students’ Reading Comprehension through the Teaching of
Lexical Inference Strategy at High School for Gifted Students, Hanoi National
University of Education” is the result of my own work in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English Teaching Methodology at
Faculty of Post - Graduate Studies, Hanoi University of Languages and International
Studies, Vietnam National University. The research has not been submitted to any other
university or institution wholly and partially.


Hanoi, 2014

Nguyen Ha Sam

ii



ACKNOWLEDGEMENT


This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from a number
of people.

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Assoc. Prof. Dr.
Vo Dai Quang, my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me through
the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have
inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher.

A special word of thanks goes to my students, without whom it would never have been
possible for me to have this thesis accomplished.

Last by not least, I am greatly indebted to my family for the sacrifice they have devoted
to the fulfillment of this academic work.

iii



ABSTRACT
This study was intended to investigate the impact of lexical inference strategy on
10
th
grade students‟ reading comprehension ability. More specifically, the researcher
strived to (1) examine whether students‟ lexical knowledge had any correlation to their
reading ability, (2) whether the teaching of lexical inferencing had a positive effect to
enhance tenth grade students‟ reading comprehension, (3) investigate the students‟
attitudes towards the instruction, and (4) propose some recommendations for instructing
this strategy to other teachers.
To achieve those abovementioned aims, an action research was conducted with
the participation of 46 tenth grade students from a class at High School for Gifted
Students, Hanoi National University of Education. The teaching program aimed at
instructing the students with lexical inferencing to help them enhance their reading
comprehension ability. The study included: (1) pretest and a questionnaire (2) the
instruction of lexical inferencing, (3) posttest and a questionnaire, (4) teacher‟s notes and
students‟ learning logs. Later, (5) interviews were included to support the findings.
The main findings of the research were as follows: (1) Lexical competence served

as good prediction of reading ability in a foreign language. The higher scores students got
in vocabulary tests, the higher scores they received in reading comprehension tests. (2)
Overall, the instruction of this vocabulary-learning strategy improved their reading
comprehension. (3) Most of the students held positive attitudes towards the instruction of
lexical inferencing. (4) The students had a habit of guessing words from context using local
clues or information from around the target word.




iv


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, TABLES AND FIGURES
Figure 1: Action Research Model 18

Table 1: Classification of Reading Strategies 7
Table 2: Background Information of the Subjects 17
Table 3: Procedures of the Study 26
Table 4: Results of Question 1 in the Questionnaire After the Pretest 28
Table 5: Results of Question 2 in the Questionnaire After the Pretest 28
Table 6: Results of Question 3 in the Questionnaire After the Pretest 28
Table 7: Results of Question 4 in the Questionnaire After the Pretest 29
Table 8: Results of Question 5 in the Questionnaire After the Pretest 29
Table 9: Correlation between the Two Tests Before Lexical Inferencing Instruction 30
Table 10: Correlation between the Two Tests After Lexical Inferencing Instruction 30
Table 11: Percentage of the Students’ Correct Answers in the Pretest and Posttest 31
Table 12: Results of Question 1 in the Questionnaire After the Posttest 33
Table 13: Results of Question 2 in the Questionnaire After the Posttest 33
Table 14: Results of Question 3 in the Questionnaire After the Posttest 33

Table 15: Results of Question 4 in the Questionnaire After the Posttest 34
Table 16: Results of Question 5 in the Questionnaire After the Posttest 34
Abbreviations
T: Teacher
S1: Subject 1 in the interview
S2: Subject 2 in the interview
S3: Subject 3 in the interview
HNUE: Hanoi National University of Education
L2: second language


v

TABLE OF CONTENT

DECLARATION……………………………………………………………………… i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT………………………………………………………… ii
ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………… iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, TABLES AND FIGURES………………………………iv
TABLE OF CONTENT…………………………………………………………… … V
PART A: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1. Rationale for the Study 1
1.2. Aims of the Research 2
1.3. Objectives of the Research 2
1.4. Research Questions 3
1.5. Scope of the Research 3
1.6. Significance of the Research 3
1.7. Structural Organization of the Thesis 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5
Chapter 1: Literature Review 5

1.1. Theoretical Background 5
1.1.1. Definition of Reading Comprehension 5
1.1.2. Reading Comprehension Strategies 6
1.1.2. Lexical Inference Strategy 9
1.1.2.1. Definition of Lexical Inference Strategy 9
1.1.2.2. Value of Lexical Inference Strategy 11
1.1.2.3. Factors that Affect Lexical Inferencing 11
1.2. Review of Previous Studies Related to the Research Area of the Thesis 12
1.3. Summary 15
Chapter 2: Research Methodology 16
2.1. Research Setting 16
2.2. Subjects 16
2.3. Research Types 17
2.4. Research Approaches 17
2.5. Data Collection Instruments 19
2.5.1. Pretest and Posttest 19
2.5.1.1. Vocabulary Multiple-Choice Tests 20
2.5.1.2. Reading Comprehension Tests 20
2.5.2. Questionnaires 20
2.5.3. Interviews 21
2.5.4. Teacher‟s Notes and Students‟ Learning Logs 22
2.6. Intervention: Instruction of Lexical Inferencing in Class 22
vi

2.6.1. Reading Materials 22
2.6.2. Steps of the Instruction in Lexical Inferencing 23
2.7. Data Collection Procedures 25
2.8. Data Analysis 26
2.9. Summary 27
Chapter 3: Findings and Discussions 28

3.1. Preliminary Investigation 28
3.1.1. Findings 28
3.1.2. Discussion 29
3.2. Evaluation 30
3.2.1. Research Question 1 30
3.2.2. Research Question 2 31
3.2.2.1. Results from Pretest and Posttest 31
3.2.2.2. Discussion 31
3.2.3. Research Question 3 32
3.2.3.1. Results from Questionnaire After the Posttest 33
3.2.3.2. Discussion 34
3.2.3.3. Results of the Interview 35
3.2.3.4. Discussion 37
3.3. Summary 37
PART C: CONCLUSION 39
3.1. Recapitulation 39
3.2. Conclusions 39
3.3. Limitations of the Research 40
3.4. Suggestions for Future Research 41
REFERENCES 43
APPENDICES……………………………………………………………………………I







1

PART A: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale for the Study
In the last few decades, second/foreign language vocabulary acquisition has been an
increasingly interesting topic of discussion for researches, teachers, curriculum
designers, theorists and others involved in second language learning. All consider
vocabulary as being a very important element in language, especially in reading skills.
When mentioning the relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension,
Nation (1990) claimed that vocabulary knowledge is one of the best predictors of
reading ability and the ability to acquire new information from the text. As a result, it
can be said that the threshold for reading comprehension is, to a large extent, lexical.
Lexical problems will, therefore, hinder successful comprehension.
In fact, second/foreign language readers often cite lack of adequate vocabulary as
one of the most common obstacles to text comprehension. Kim‟s (1995) study also
shows that learners‟ lack of vocabulary knowledge or their being unfamiliar with words
is a major problem affecting readers‟ reading comprehension. Many readers have
claimed that they would like to read more, but when they encounter unknown lexis they
lose their interest. From observations, the researcher also realize that Vietnamese
learners of English, in general, and grade 10 students at High School for Gifted
Students (HNUE), in particular, after several years of learning English, turn out to be
word-by-word readers. They tend to read very slowly to understand the meaning of
every single word. Students feel insecure when they read without the aids of glossing or
dictionaries. When they encounter a new word in the reading context, they simply do
not show any effort to guess its meaning. The reason is that they always rely on the
glossing of Vietnamese translation of unfamiliar words in reading texts, or resort to
using dictionaries immediately. Yet, this habit was proved to be a bad habit and affect
students‟ reading comprehension (Dechant, 1991). The results are limited vocabulary
knowledge and inadequate reading ability.
One possible explanation for the abovementioned problem can be found in Miller
and Perkins‟ study (1989), in which the researchers indicated that in most reading
classrooms, students have received inadequate instructions on reading skills and

2

strategies. Teachers normally stress on the production of reading comprehension rather
than the reading process. Therefore, a better way of teaching and learning reading
skills, as many researchers have suggested, is to equip students with the strategy of
guessing word meaning from context and to help them become independent readers.
Particularly, 10
th
grade students may have not been taught any reading strategy before.
They have acquired a range of vocabulary and grammar after five to seven years of
learning English. Now it is urged that they be taught learning strategies to become
better and more efficient learners.
With a view to gaining some insight into reading strategies and reading strategy
instruction, I chose to study how to improve students‟ reading comprehension through
the teaching of lexical inference strategy. The rationale for my focus is that lexical
inference strategy plays a critical role in successful reading (Sullivan, 1978). Although
the importance of lexical inferencing has been highlighted in a number of empirical
studies, much remains to be learned about it.
1.2. Aims of the Research
The study aimed at improving reading comprehension ability of 10
th
grade students at
High School for Gifted Students (HNUE) through lexical inference strategy instruction,
and giving recommendations on how to teach students to use lexical inference strategies
effectively to enhance their reading abilities.
1.3. Objectives of the Research
The specific objectives of the research were as follows:
 Examine whether there is a correlation between lexical knowledge and reading
comprehension.
 Apply the teaching of lexical inference strategy to improve reading

comprehension ability of 10
th
grade students at High School for Gifted Students.
 Explore the students‟ attitudes towards lexical inference strategy instruction.
 Give recommendations to other teachers of English on how to teach the students
to use lexical inference strategy effectively to improve their comprehension in
reading classes.
3

1.4. Research Questions
In this investigation, the following research questions were addressed:
1. Is there a correlation between students’ lexical knowledge and their reading
comprehension ability?
2. To what extent does the teaching of lexical inference strategy have impact on the
students’ reading comprehension?
3. What are the students’ attitudes towards the lexical inference strategy
instruction?
1.5. Scope of the Research
This study only focused on the teaching of lexical inference strategy to grade 10
students at High School for Gifted Students, so the teaching of other reading strategies
or to other subjects would be beyond scope.
1.6. Significance of the Research
This study focused on investigating the effect of the vocabulary learning strategy -
lexical inferencing - on students at High School for Gifted Students, especially on tenth
graders. For students in the tenth grade, exposure to a large amount of reading and
learning new words in reading can develop good habits in terms of English learning as
they begin high school. Thus, as mentioned above, if the instruction of lexical
inferencing leads to good results, it can be put to use in wider scale. In addition, this
thesis study also investigated students‟ attitudes towards the instruction, so that teachers
could have a better idea about how to help students learn English.

1.7. Structural Organization of the Thesis
The thesis is organized as follows:
Part A - Introduction – provides an overview of the study.
Part B - Development - consists of three chapters:
In Chapter One – Literature Review, a review of relevant literature on this issue is
presented.
4

In Chapter Two – Research Methodology, a description of research methods is
discussed in detail, including a description of selection of the participants, data
collection instruments and data collection procedures.
In Chapter Three – Findings and Discussions, the results of the study are presented.
In Part C - Conclusion, the researcher provides a summary on main points raised in
the study, the major conclusion drawn from conducting this study, and a discussion of
the study‟s limitations, and suggestions for further research.

5

PART B: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1: Literature Review
1.1. Theoretical Background
1.1.1. Definition of Reading Comprehension
Reading is an important subject in language learning no matter what language the
learner is trying to learn. Understanding what one reads is a very crucial skill for a
learner to acquire. If a person cannot comprehend what they read, they also cannot learn
information on his or her own or enjoy reading. Goodman (1982) regards reading as “a
psycholinguistics process by which the reader, a language user, reconstructs, as best as
he can, a message encoded by a writer as a graphic display”.
Grellet (1981) defined reading comprehension: “Understanding a written text means
extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible”. In other words,
finding information efficiently from the text can help the reader understand what the
text is about. Further, Grellet (1981) also explained two main reasons for reading: one
is for pleasure and the other is for acquiring information (in order to discover something
or in order to do something with the information obtained). As for how to sharpen
learners‟ reading comprehension, inferencing is considered one of major reading
techniques. Grellet (1981) explained that “inferring means making use of syntactic,
logical and cultural clues to discover the meaning of unknown elements”. In other
words, reading is a constant process of guessing.
What Grellet (1981) mentions about reading does not aim at any particular reader
background (i.e. whether readers are first language learners or not) nor any specific
level. But, when speaking of second language learning through reading, Barnett (1989)
stressed that the reading models mostly widely used for readers are bottom-up, top-
down, and interactive. Barnett (1989) explained that the bottom-up model is essentially
text-driven. In other words, it focuses on learners‟ decoding ability during reading. It

seems that the reader tries to reconstruct the writer‟s meaning by recognizing letters and
words. The top-down model is viewed as reader-driven. It emphasizes both using
learners‟ prior knowledge and constructing meaning from written text by predicting,
6

sampling, confirming, and correcting in reading comprehension. It seems that learners
with more or less reading proficiency have the ability to make predictions, and their
general knowledge becomes more important for their reading comprehension. As for
the interactive model, it stresses reader ability to switch between the top-down and
bottom-up models during reading comprehension. The reading strategy of this model is
more flexible and can be employed according to learner competence.
When the three reading models are applied to second language reading, some
problems still exist. For example, foreign language readers are not usually fully
proficient about the phonological system when reading. Further, for foreign readers, the
differences and distance in terms of culture, and the distance inherent in any target
language text can also make reading comprehension more difficult. Nevertheless,
Barnett (1989) still claimed that the three reading models have their own advantages in
terms of developing learners‟ reading ability. In addition, the goal of each reading
model is to make foreign language readers succeed in reading target texts. Since
reading is a “psychological guessing game” (Goodman, 1982), by guessing through
reading, readers can “reduce their dependence on the print and phonics of the texts”
(Barnett, 1989). However, what can readers do when they encounter unknown words?
How can readers go through reading without any interruption? As mentioned
previously, the most useful strategy for coping with vocabulary is guessing words from
context or lexical inferencing (Nation, 1990; Nassaji, 2003). Therefore, there indeed
exists a strong relationship between coping with vocabulary and fluent reading.
1.1.2. Reading Comprehension Strategies
Researchers point out that effective readers spontaneously use reading strategies in
the reading process, and the use of appropriate reading strategies may improve reading
comprehension (Oxford, 1990).

Reading strategies can be understood as “the special thoughts or behaviours that
individual use to help them to comprehend, learn and retain new information from the
reading text” (O‟Malley & Chamot, 1990).
7

According to O‟Malley & Chamot (1990), there are three major categories of
reading strategies, namely, cognitive, meta-cognitive and social/affective. Cognitive
strategies help readers to construct meaning from the text whereas meta-cognitive
strategies are utilized to regulate or monitor cognitive strategies; and social/affective
strategies represent a broad grouping that involves either interaction with another
person. Following is the possible classification of reading strategies:
Meta-cognitive
Cognitive
Social
Planning
Monitoring
Evaluating
Top-down
Bottom-up

Advance
organizers
Self-
monitoring
Self-
evaluation
Elaboration
Grouping
Cooperation
Directed

attention


Transfer
Deduction
Question for
classification
Functional
planning


Inferencing
Recombination
Self-talk
Selective
attention


Summarizing
Translation

Self-
management



Key word
method

Table 1: Classification of Reading Strategies (O’Malley & Chamot, 1990)

1.1.3. Lexical Development through Reading
Most new second/foreign word learning is thought to occur through reading
(Paribakht &Wesche, 1999). At the same time, improvement in reading comprehension
requires ongoing vocabulary development. The way they deal with unknown words that
learners are engaged in when they encounter an unknown word influences how they
interpret the reading (Fraser, 1999). Paribakht and Wesche (1999) reported four lexical
strategies in their research how learners dealt with unknown words in reading texts:
(1) Ignoring words: Learners reported ignoring unknown words when the words were
not key words for the text.
(2) Retrieving: Learners read the unknown word repeatedly with an attempt to retrieve
it from phonetic or graphic cues.
(3) Appealing for assistance: This strategy involved directly asking the interviewer for
assistance or verifying the meaning of the target word in a dictionary.
8

(4) Inferencing: When learners actively tried to identify the meanings of unknown
words, the strategy they used was inferencing, which accounted for almost 80% of the
strategy used in Paribakht and Wesche‟s research (1999)
When an instructor aims at developing learners‟ vocabulary through reading, it is
necessary to consider the possible ways of treating the unknown words in texts. The
teacher needs to decide the purpose of the lesson. If the purpose of the lesson is to
develop reading skills, then the teacher should not spend too much time on vocabulary
instruction. However, if the purpose of the lesson is to develop learners‟ vocabulary,
then the teacher needs to spend some time on particular vocabulary and on vocabulary
learning strategies. The strategies of guessing from context, using word parts, and
dictionary work require a lot of time, but once these strategies are mastered, they more
than repay the time invested in them (Nation, 1990). Nation (1990) summarized the
possibilities for the instructors to deal with unknown words while teaching reading.
1. Ignoring unknown words: It is often recommended that learners should be
encouraged not to look up every unknown word that they meet in a reading text.

Freebody and Anderson (1983) found that readers skipped unfamiliar words and even
parts of sentences containing them if they did not seem to be necessary to follow the
theme of the text or to do the task they were set. Putting a time limit on such reading
will also make ignoring some unknown words an advantage (British Council Teachers,
1980).
2. Giving the meaning quickly: In some situations, translation will be the most
effective way. Usually the teacher will give the meaning that works in the context. If
the word has useful parts, quick analysis of the word will not take much time and will
have useful effects.
3. Pre-teaching vocabulary: One way of stopping vocabulary work from interrupting
reading is to pre-teach vocabulary in the text. This can be a useful procedure but there
are several difficulties associated with it (Nation & Coady, 1988). First, the research
has not shown the gains in comprehension as a result of pre-teaching vocabulary.
Second, pre-teaching takes away the opportunity for learners to use their guessing skill.
9

Third, vocabulary teaching will be more meaningful for learners after they have met it
in the text because then they have some experience to attach the teaching to.
4. Glossing: One way of dealing unknown words in a text is to provide a short
definition somewhere near the text. Glossing helps reading by means of providing the
meanings of words that are not easily guessed by using contextual clues. Learners
should be encouraged to use glosses as a way of confirming guessing from context.
They should not look up the meaning of a word without first having a guess at its
meaning. For this reason, glosses are best situated at the end of the text or in the back of
the book.
5. Referring to a dictionary: Dictionaries are used primarily to check meaning. The
next most frequent uses are to check spelling and pronunciation (Bejoint, 1981;
MacFarquhar & Richard, 1983). In guessing words from context, reference to a
dictionary is one of the steps used to check if a guess is correct. Research on dictionary
use and comprehension has shown that allowing learners to use dictionary while

reading does not measurably increase their comprehension (Bensoussan, 1983).
Moreover, there are considerable obstacles to overcome before learners at all levels are
able to make efficient use of a dictionary (Nation, 1990).
6. Guessing from context: This is undoubtedly the most important vocabulary learning
strategy. Its aim is for learners to be able to make a well-formed guess at the meaning
of an unknown word in context without interrupting the reading too much. The effect of
guessing from the context is the main point of this study and is further described in
detail in the next content.
1.1.2. Lexical Inference Strategy
1.1.2.1. Definition of Lexical Inference Strategy
Inferencing is defined as the cognitive process a reader goes through to obtain the
implicit meaning of a written text (Chikalanga, 1993). It is considered to be a
compensation strategy essential for first language as well as second language reading
comprehension (Bialystok, 1979). Furthermore, it is recognized as an essential
component of the process of reading comprehension, which postulates that reading
involves an interaction between textual information and prior knowledge of the reader.
10

Lexical inferencing involves making informed guesses of word meanings in light of
all available linguistic cues in combination with the learner‟s general knowledge of the
world (Haastrupt, 1987). If used in an effective way, it can serve for purposes of
immediate comprehension in a listening, interaction, or reading context, and under
favorable conditions, it may lead to retention of the word form as well as semantic and
other lexical information (Patribakht & Wesche, 1999).
Clarke and Nation (1980) proposed a strategy of guessing words from context and
this strategy is considered very simple for learners to use when they encounter
unknown words in context. The strategy can be divided into five steps. The five steps
do not need performing in order, and they are as follows.
Step 1: Look at the unknown word and decide its part of speech. For example, is
the word a noun, a verb, or adjective?

Step 2: Look at the clause or sentence containing the unknown word. In this
step, learners can ask themselves some questions such as “Who does what to whom?”
or “What does what?”. Learners can find clues in the immediate grammar. In other
words, learners use local clues to guess the meaning of unknown word. For example,
“Typhoon Nari destroyed the city.” Here “destroyed” is an unknown word and learners
can guess that the typhoon did something to the city. With the help of the surrounding
clue, learners can guess that the word may have a negative meaning.
Step 3: Look at the relationship between the clause and sentence containing the
unknown word and other sentences or paragraphs. It means that l earners can use global
clues to guess the word meaning. Pay attention to transitional words such as “but”,
“because”, or “in other words”. Therefore, it is important to find if sentence pattern
belongs to the one such as cause and effect, condition, contrast, clarification, or
exemplification.
Step 4: Use the knowledge learners have gained from Steps 1-3 to guess the
meaning of the word. It means that learners combine the knowledge they gained by
following the first three steps and then make a guess of the word meaning.
Step 5: Check the guess is correct.
a. Check the speech of the word learners guess and the unknown word.
11

b. Replace the unknown word with the guess.
c. Use prefixes and roots as a guide.
d. Consult the dictionary.
The procedure proposed by Clarke and Nation (1980) is based on language clues
and does not focus on background content knowledge (Nation, 2001). The reason for
this is that linguistic clues can be found in every text, but background knowledge
cannot. Background knowledge is strongly related to both the textual aspects and the
learners themselves (Nation, 2001). Further, by using this procedure to guess words
from context, learners can pay more attention to vocabulary learning than focusing on
background knowledge.

1.1.2.2. Value of Lexical Inference Strategy
Clarke and Nation (1980) studied learners who used strategy of guessing the
meanings of words from context and claimed that there are some advantages to this
strategy. Firstly, it allows the learners to learn vocabulary without the aid of the teacher
and learners‟ vocabulary can be expanded through extensive reading. Secondly, owing
to several encounters with one word in context, learners can increase their command of
the word and its various uses. Thirdly, with the strategy of lexical inferencing, learners
can continue their reading without stopping to consult a dictionary, which allows them
to develop independent thinking regarding which unguessable words need to be looked
up in a dictionary. Fourthly, learners are encouraged to summarize the information of
the guessed word they get in context before consulting a dictionary. Afterwards, they
can have more impressions and a better understanding of the guessed word. Finally, by
using the strategy of lexical inferencing, learners can practice seeking information and
making predictions of the word in context, which can in turn develop their reading skill.
1.1.2.3. Factors that Affect Lexical Inferencing
Paribakht (2005) divided the factors affecting lexical inferencing into two broad
categories: contextual factors and learner-related factors. According to Paribakht
(2005), contextual factors are referred to as “the number of occurrences of the unknown
words, the importance of the unknown words to text comprehension, the density of
12

unknown words in the text, text length, comprehension tasks and word characteristics
and the existence of clear contextual clues”. It seems that the design of the text and the
use of vocabulary both play a crucial role in the success of lexical inferencing. On the
other hand, learner-related factors include “learners‟ backgrounds; previous learning
experience; size of receptive vocabulary knowledge; procedural knowledge; attention to
details in context, including ability and inclination to use context effectively;
preconceptions about the meaning of the word; and the usefulness of previously known
information in cue utilization”. From the description of these learner-related factors, it
is obvious that what affects the success of lexical inferencing is strongly connected to

learners‟ knowledge of words and texts.
As mentioned previously, lexical inferencing is a very important way of incidental
vocabulary learning. However, to achieve successful guessing, in addition to contextual
and learner-related factors proposed by Paribakht (2005), some more detailed factors
should also be discussed. Schmitt (2000) proposed seven factors that affect inferencing
success. These factors are described as follows.
1. The context must be rich enough to offer adequate clues to guess a word‟s meaning.
2. Readers are better able to use local clues in proximity to an unknown word than more
global clues that are located further away.
3. Learners may mistake an unknown word for one they already know with a similar
orthographic (written form) or phonological form (spoken form).
4. Cognates can help guessing from context if they are used prudently.
5. Background knowledge about the topic and the culture being discussed aids
inferencing.
7. Learners need to be skilled in guessing.
8. Guessing a word from context does not mean that it will be remembered.
1.2. Review of Previous Studies Related to the Research Area of the Thesis
Nagy et al. (1985) attempted to determine whether students could really acquire
unfamiliar word knowledge while reading authentic texts. In their study, eighth-grade
students of average or above average reading ability read either an expository or a
narrative text of about 1,000 words in length. After reading, those students received two
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vocabulary assessment tasks on 15 target words selected from each text. An individual
interview and multiple-choice test were also conducted. After the experiment, the
results showed that learning from context did take place and vocabulary gain was small
but statistically reliable. Further, the amount of learning from the narrative was the
same as that from the exposition. Thus, it seems that word learning from context is not
confined to any specific genre. This study shows that here is a close relationship
between vocabulary learning and reading. After the proof of the existence of

vocabulary growth through learning from context, the efficiency of using lexical
inferencing should be further investigated.
Nassaji (2003) claimed that “lexical inferencing has been found to be the mostly
widely used by L2 learners”. Based on the perspective, Nassaji‟s (2003) study aimed at
investigating the use of strategies and knowledge sources in L2 lexical inferencing.
Twenty-one ESL learners participated in the study. The data were collected from
introspective and retrospective think-aloud protocols of those participants. The learners
were asked to infer new word meanings from context. In a total of 199 inferential
responses, 51 (25.6%) were successfully inferred, 37 (18.6%) were partially successful,
and 111 (55.8%) were unsuccessful. Initially, it seems that lexical inferencing was not
successful. However, when Nassaji observed the processes behind those learners‟
lexical inferences, he found that one of the major problems leading to incorrect
inferences was that the learners often mistook the target words for another one they are
familiar with, and that they were easily confused by similar-looking words. From
Nassaji‟s study, it seems that although lexical inferencing is the strategy most widely
used by L2 learners, most learners could not use the strategy successfully. Despite the
findings of Nassaji‟s (2003) study, he still did not deny the worth of the existence of
lexical inferencing. Instead, Nassaji put strong emphasis on the importance of learners
being skillfully trained to use the strategy of lexical inferencing, in order to infer
words successfully.
Lo‟s study (2004) aimed at investigating the effect of lexical inferencing on junior
high school students‟ vocabulary learning and reading comprehension, including the
observation of the types of knowledge sources and contextual cues the students used.
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The participants were 68 junior high school student – 34 students respectively were in
the experimental group and in the control one. The study procedure included the
pretest, the treatment – lexical inferencing instruction that lasted for four months, and
the posttest. The results showed that there was a significant correlation between
students‟ vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. It meant that the increase

in vocabulary knowledge contributed to better reading comprehension. Besides, the
participants of the experimental group who were instructed in lexical inferencing
performed better in vocabulary and reading comprehension tests than those of the
control one. That is, the instruction of the strategy – lexical inferencing had a positive
effect. Finally, the participants of the experimental group could make use of more types
of knowledge sources and contextual cues in the process of inferencing than those of
the control one. From the findings of Lo‟s study (2004), it is suggested that teachers
should help students to practice the inference strategy.
Hsu (2004) focused on an investigation of how to enhance incidental vocabulary
acquisition through guessing words from context. The participants in her study
consisted of four classes with a combined total of 186 junior college students in
Taiwan. The aim of the study was to instruct the students in lexical inferencing to
observe if the strategy could help them enhance incidental vocabulary acquisition
through reading. The participants were divided into two groups, an experimental group
and a control group, and later each group was further divided into three different levels
based on English proficiency. Afterwards, the experimental group received the
instruction in lexical inferencing as proposed by Clarke and Nation (1980), while the
control group received none. The results of the study are as follows. First, the
instruction of learning vocabulary strategies helped students to enhance their
vocabulary acquisition through reading. The incidental vocabulary gains increase in
them experimental group was significantly superior to that in the control group. This
implies that the students in the experimental group made a lot of incidental
improvement in vocabulary acquisition after they received the instruction. Second, the
researcher al so found those students' vocabulary gains did not absolutely correlate to
their reading comprehension level. Finally, based on the collected data of the
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questionnaire, most of the students in the experimental group had a positive attitude
toward the strategy of lexical inferencing. Therefore, Hsu (2004) suggested that the
strategy of lexical inferencing be implemented in students‟ daily class.

From the above empirical studies supporting vocabulary gains using lexical
inferencing, several conclusions can be reached. First, although there are some factors
that affect successfully guessing from context, the substantial positive effect cannot be
denied. Second, it seems that most learners tend to guess word meanings when they
encounter unfamiliar words through reading. As a result, instruction in efficiently using
the strategy of lexical inferencing is strongly recommended.
1.3. Summary
Real vocabulary learning comes through use, but teachers can also help the process
by drawing attention to particular words, and by teaching strategies for learning
vocabulary. Meeting the words in a variety of contexts and using them to express new
ideas provide the most important opportunities for vocabulary learning. There are
strategies to cope with new vocabularies, like guessing the meaning, analyzing word
parts, consulting the dictionary and mnemonic techniques. All these strategies make
learners independent of the teacher while reading and learning vocabulary. In
particular, the most important lexical strategy is guessing from context. It is worth
spending time on this strategy. It is the most powerful way of dealing with unknown
words (Nation, 1990). In recent years, researchers have paid a great deal of attention to
vocabulary learning and have focused on lexical inferencing processes of learners. They
have investigated knowledge sources learners use to make inferences, factors that affect
inferencing, and the effect of inferencing on reading and vocabulary learning. Based on
the literature reviewed in this chapter, this research integrated lexical inferencing
instruction into students‟ English learning to see the effects of lexical inferencing on
students‟ vocabulary learning and reading comprehension, and thus equip students with
the ability to infer word meanings independently while reading.
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Chapter 2: Research Methodology
2.1. Research Setting
The study was conducted at High School for Gifted Students (HNUE). There are 33
classes with the total number of more than 1,000 students. The classes are categorized

into different majors: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Informatics,
Literature, English, and two other non-majored classes: A1 and A2. As the students
come from different parts in Vietnam, many of them come from the countryside, so in
general, the English proficiency of the students is not very high. Reading is a difficult
skill for them, mostly due to their lack of vocabulary. In addition, they tend to be word-
by-word readers, and frequently tried to translate the reading text into Vietnamese.
The teaching staff is composed of 12 teachers of English, all of whom graduated
from University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University,
Hanoi. Their ages vary from 23 to 40. The researcher is also a teacher of English at this
high school. She is 25 years old and has about nearly 3 years of teaching experience.
The textbooks used at this school are Tieng Anh 10, Tieng Anh 11, and Tieng Anh 12
– standard syllabus for non English majored classes, and advanced one for English
specialized classes. However, from the researcher‟s observations and from the students‟
reflection, the reading texts in this series of textbook are not rich enough in context to
motivate students to practice reading strategies.
2.2. Subjects
The subjects of this thesis study were composed of 46 students from class 10A1 at
High School for Gifted Students (HNUE), which the researcher is in charge of.
According to the result of Oxford Placement Test given by the researcher at the very
beginning of the school year, most of the students in this class are at pre-intermediate
level. The table below summarizes the background information of the participants
including the gender, age, and their English reading proficiency assessed by the teacher.


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Total
number of
participants
Gender

Age
English proficiency
Female
Male
Pre -
intermediate
Low –
intermediate
Mid-
intermediate
46
34
12
15
35
8
3
Table 2: Background Information of the Subjects
There were three reasons behind the choice of these tenth grade students. Firstly, this
is the only class of grade 10 that the teacher is in charge of. Secondly, all the students had
received formal English instruction for four years at secondary school and they were
supposed to have a basic knowledge of English words and sentences - enough to read
simple texts. Lastly, the students were expected to learn more English by reading longer
and more complicated texts to achieve a good academic performance in English after
they entered high school. As a result, in the main study, if the lexical inferencing
instruction worked, other students could be trained to use the instruction as soon as they
entered high school. In this way, they could enhance their vocabulary and reading ability
throughout their three years of high school.
2.3. Research Types
The ultimate goal of this study is to explore the effects of lexical inference strategy

instructions on
students‟ reading comprehension ability. To achieve the research
goal, the study
combined both quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data were
collected based on the results of the questionnaires, pretest and posttest. Further,
qualitative data were gathered using interviews, teacher‟s notes and students‟ learning
logs. In this way, the study could get more complete results.
2.4. Research Approaches
This study was carried out using action research approach. Action research is first and
foremost situational, being concerned with the identification and solution of problems
in a specific context. The aim of action research is to improve the current state of affairs
within the educational context in which the research is being carried out. To put it
another word, action research is a “small-scale intervention in the functioning of the