An investigation into the usefulness of the techniques for guessing the meaning of new words through context for the 11th form students at Phuc Thanh High Schoo

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

HA NOI – 2011

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
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

6. Significance of the study 3
7. Design of the study 3
Part II: DEVELOPMENT 5
CHAPTER ONE: Literature Review 5
1.1. Introduction 5
1.2. Theoretical background to acquiring vocabulary through reading 5
1.2.1 An overview of a context- based approach 5
1.2.1.1 Definition of context 5
1.2.1.2 Context-based approach to vocabulary acquisition 6
1.2.2 Some previous studies on contextual guesswork 6
1.2.3 Guessing or inferring technique 7
1.2.4 Types of context clues 8
1.2.4.1. Structural clues 9
1.2.4.2. Inference clues 11
1.2.5 Factors that affect contextual guessing 12
1.2.6 Summary 12
CHAPTER TWO: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 14
2.1. Introduction 14


v
2.2 Context of the study 14
2.3 The Rationale of Using Quasi-Experiment 15
2.4 Variables 16
2.5. Participants 16
2.5.1. The students 16
2.5.2 The teachers 18
2.6. Materials 18
2.6.1. Textbook 18
2.6.2. Handouts 20

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

4. Suggestions for Further Study 44
REFERENCES 45
APPENDICES I
Appendix 1: The pre-experiment questionnaire for the students (Vietnamese version)
I
Appendix 2 : The pre-experiment questionnaire for the teachers III
Appendix 3. The pretest V
Appendix 4. The posttest X
Appendix 5: The post-experiment questionnaire for the experimental students
(Vietnamese version) XV



















vii

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

understand the reading texts in the textbook English 11; they encounter a lot of troubles in
dealing with unknown words which occur frequently in the reading texts. In fact, the main
reason for this is that they are used to reading the texts word by word, looking up every
unfamiliar word in the dictionary when reading and they never try to guess the meaning of
unfamiliar words from the texts. Consequently, although a great deal of time and energy is
devoted to teaching and learning reading, the result has been dissatisfactory. Many students
are unable to read effectively in English and they perform poorly in their reading
comprehension which is tested in almost all examinations. Therefore, this problem is well
worth being taken into consideration.
In spite of the evidence that the use of contextual clues can be one of the best ways to
improve students' reading skills. Also, the use of contextual clues can provide a means by
which students can quickly increase their existing vocabulary base and guessing or
deducing word meaning from context has proved to be an invaluable technique in the
learning of English vocabulary and the teaching of reading, it has not attracted much
attention in terms of classroom instruction. Some research on reading techniques has
mentioned this technique as a good one but little attempt has been made to integrate this
technique training into normal teaching. Even little has been made to investigate the
usefulness of developing students' techniques for guessing unknown words through context
on the improvement of their proficiency of vocabulary and reading comprehension. All
these have motivated the researcher to conduct this quasi-experimental research on the
topic given, namely an investigation into the usefulness of the techniques for guessing the
meaning of new words through context for 11th form students at Phuc Thanh High School.


2
2. Aims and Objectives of the study
Within a framework of a minor thesis, the study is aimed at improving the proficiency
of vocabulary and reading comprehension for the 11
th
form students through developing

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

3
teachers might frequently utilize to teach the meaning of new words and what techniques
they used to teach their students to know how to deduce the meaning of unfamiliar words
while reading.
 A design of pretest and posttest was employed as the main research method to measure
both groups' English vocabulary and reading comprehension proficiency before and after
the trial period.
 The post-experiment questionnaire was used as the supplementary instrument to elicit
the experimental students' comments and evaluative attitudes towards the techniques for guessing

the meaning of unknown words through context after the experimental period.
5. Scope of the study
The study is concerned with investigating the usefulness of developing the techniques
for guessing the meaning of unknown words through context for the 11
th
form students at
Phuc Thanh High School, Hai Duong province. Given the time constraint, the researcher
could just carry out an experiment upon a small sample of grade 11 students who were non
- randomly assigned to a control class and an experimental class, (25 students each). As the
study examined only grade 11 students at Phuc Thanh High School, few claims to
generalization over a wider set of situations can be made, as students with different English
proficiency or from a different background may yield different results, even where the text
is of the same level of difficulty.
6. Significance of the study
The present research was carried out with the hope that it would help reading teachers as
well as grade 11 students to be able to aware of the important role of the guessing
techniques in reading lessons. Moreover, the findings of the study hopefully could help the
11th form students in particular and high school students in general improve their reading
skills.

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.

5
PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT

chapter one: Literature Review
1.1. Introduction
Reading has been considered a difficult skill for many learners of English as a foreign
language. It is evident that English learners need a wide range of techniques to deal with
reading texts, among which techniques of dealing with unknown words in context are of
importance. This chapter is concerned with some of the important issues in theories of
acquiring vocabulary through reading, the relationship between vocabulary and context,
the guessing techniques, and various context clues.
1.2. Theoretical background to acquiring vocabulary through reading
1.2.1 An overview of a context- based approach
1.2.1.1 Definition of context
Context is "textual or discoursal place in which a particular word or structure can be
found' (Gu, 2003:2). It can be as short as a sentence or as long as several paragraphs, and it
will usually contain unknown words (Rapaport, 2003).
According to Gough (1984), defining context is not as easy as it may seem. At a basic
level, context can be seen as information which, in turn, reduces uncertainty. In reading,
context can be defined as information which decreases uncertainty about the element of a
text, their meaning, and the meaning of a text as a whole. Traditionally, context was seen
as a given, existing fully and completely in any properly written text and the key to using it
was linguistic knowledge. This view is claimed by today's cognitive theorists to place

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

knowledge, and word schema which is knowledge of what constitutes possible word
meanings in a language. Nagy emphasizes vocabulary knowledge, a key factor affecting
readers' ability to make use of context. According to him, to infer the meaning of any
unknown word in context, it is helpful to know the meaning of the words around it. World
knowledge contributes to effective use of context. The context that helps learners deduce
the word meaning must be construed to consist of the learners' knowledge of the world;
learning a word from context sometimes simply requires determining which of the several
already familiar concepts the word refers to. Strategic knowledge involves conscious
control over cognitive resources. Nagy points out that training students in use of context
has improved their ability to guess the meaning of unknown words.
1.2.2 Some previous studies on contextual guesswork


7
Contextual guesswork means making use of the context in which the word appears to
derive an idea of its meaning. Knowledge of the word information, e.g. prefixes and
suffixes, can help guide students to discover meaning. Teachers can help students with
specific guessing techniques, for example, the understanding of discourse markers and
identifying the function of the word in the sentence ( e.g. verb, adjective, noun, adverb).
So far, several studies have been conducted and some research has been undertaken on
the reading technique which involves guessing in both optimistic and pessimistic views.
Bensoussan and Laufer (1984) set a guessing task which learners responded to in writing.
The general finding from analyzing the result shows that learners make a lot of wrong
guesses which resulted from giving the wrong meaning of a word containing several
meanings, mistranslating an idiom, and confusing the target word with one that looks or
sounds similar.
Liu and Nation (1985), who studied learners' ability to guess the meaning of nonsense
word used to replace real words at regular intervals in written texts, found that success
depended on the relative density of unfamiliar words. Where there was one nonsense word
per ten words, they were more difficult to guess than when there was only one every

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.


The first step is to identify the part of speech of the new word. By examining the context
of the phrase or clause within which the word is placed, clues to its identity can be found.
Determiners, adjectives, adverbs and prepositions can all be used to establish the word's
linguistic role.
 The next step is to examine the role of the phrase, clause or sentence within which the
new word rests. How does it relate to the paragraph or the passage? What kinds of
conjunctions or adverbials are used?
 One of the last approaches that language learner can take is to see if the new word can
be broken down into constituent parts that already hold meaning. Prefixes, roots and
suffixes all contribute to each word's meaning. Clark and Nation feel that this technique
should be reserved for last since the context in which the word resides actually holds more
clues to its meaning than the word's components.

Finally, the learner can substitute a 'guessed" word for the new word and see if the
passage is any way altered. If not, then the substitution can serve as an acceptable
paraphrase and the reader can move on.
In the end, there is always the dictionary, which can now be used to verify a guessed
meaning rather than furnish a definition.
1.2.4 Types of context clues
"Context clues" are also called "contextual clues", "contextual cues", or "context cues"
by some other scholars (Dubin & Olshtain, 1993; Goodman, 1965; LI, 1988; SUN &


9
ZHOU, 2005). Whatever name they have, they are generally defined as ' the clearly stated
or implied words or phrases which help to comprehend unfamiliar words in context' (SUN
& ZHOU, 2005, p.49). Context clues vary a great deal, and thus can be classified into
different types according to different criteria.
ZHANG Wei-you (1997, pp. 157-159) has noted eight kinds of context clues:
"definition", "explanation', "example", "synonym", "antonym", "hyponym", "relevant

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”

are hyponyms of “furniture.”
* Restatement
The writer may provide further explanation to make the meaning clear or sometime a hard
word or phrase is said in a simple way. Words that signal statement: that is, in other words
Example: A birthday party is an observance, that is, a remembrance of someone's day of
birth. The use of 'that is' in the above example makes the meaning of the word 'observance'
clear. It means 'a remembrance of someone's day of birth'.
* Definitions
Sometimes the meaning of a word or phrase is explained immediately after its use. The
definition may be stated outright, or it may be merely implied. Often, it is included in a set
of parenthesis ( ), after a dash -, or after a comma ,. Note the following example:
The boys declared the long climb up the steep cliff a grueling experience-one that left them
utterly exhausted. The dash in the example indicates that 'grueling' means 'exhausting'.
* Reference words
The meaning of an unknown word or phrase may be clarified by identifying the referents
of pronouns. For example:
Designers are concerned with the direction of lines, the size of shapes, and the shading
of colors. They arrange these patterns in ways that are satisfying to viewers. Obviously,
readers can infer that the word 'They' in the second sentence refers to 'designers', not 'lines',
'shapes' or 'colors'.
* Punctuation
Readers can also use clue of punctuation and type style to infer meaning, such as quotation
marks (showing that the word has a special meaning), dashes, parentheses or brackets
(enclosing a definition), and italics (showing the word will be defined).
Example: Tom's father was a haberdasher (men's shop keeper) in the story. Readers easily
understand that 'haberdasher' in the example means 'men's shop keeper'
* Alternatives
The author may give an alternative of a new word to make the meaning known.
Example: Lunar New Year, or Tet, is Vietnam's main holiday. Learners can easily infer
that the phrase 'Lunar New Year', means 'Tet' in this example.

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

something described in the text. Words that signal cause and result include as a result of,
because, consequently, due to, for this reason, in order to, since, so, therefore, this led to,
thus, then, may be due to, on account of.
Although context clues can be classified into different categories based on distinctive


12
criteria from different angles, the above classifications are not contradictory. Instead, there
are always some overlaps among them. This shows that context clues are of a wide variety,
and that no one type is superior to the other by nature.
1.2.5 Factors that affect contextual guessing
Mondria and Wit-de Boer (1991) have provided a relatively complete list in the effects
of contextual richness on the guess ability and the retention of words in a foreign language.
They said that whether or not a word could be predicted was determined by "contextual
factors", "the reader/learner factors" and "word factors" together.
According to Mondria and Wit-de Boer (1991, p. 252), contextual factors mainly
consist of "the redundancy of the context, the occurrence of synonyms and antonyms or
words that are typically associated with the word concerned". From a general overview of
literature, many studies on contextual factors have focused on "contextual richness",
"context clues", and 'unknown-word density" (Beheydt, 1987; Chern, 1993; Goodman,
1965; LIU & Nation, 1985; LI, 1988; Hatch & Brown, 1995). The reader/learner factors
mainly include the guesser's knowledge and skills. Mondria and Wit-de Boer (1991, p.
253) pointed out that the following were useful and could not be ignored:
"knowledge of the words that occur in the context, the ability to analyze the word-form,
the ability to make use of the syntactic and semantic context, knowledge of the world, a
good knowledge of words in one's mother tongue, and a good knowledge of words in other
foreign languages".
Word factors, according to Mondria and Wit-de Boer (1991, p. 253), may involve some
categories such as "part of speech, the degree of concreteness or abstraction, the
transparency of the word structure, the likelihood of interference, the degree of

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.

14
CHAPTER TWO: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1. Introduction
As mentioned in Part I, the purpose of this study was to investigate the usefulness of
developing students' techniques for guessing the meaning of unknown words through
context on improvement of their proficiency of vocabulary and reading comprehension. To
achieve the aim of the study, a quasi-experiment was designed and implemented in two
grade 11 groups at Phuc Thanh High School. This chapter provides a detailed description
of the experiment carried out to get the results for the study, which is composed of the
information about the context of the study, the rationale of using quasi-experiment, the
variables, the participants, the materials, the procedures as well as the data collection
instruments.
2.2 Context of the study
The study was conducted in a natural learning environment of grade 11 students at Phuc
Thanh High School, which is a non-specialized school in Kinh Mon District, Hai Duong
Province. The school has 25 clean classrooms and a large school yard. Moreover, it has a
small library, two functional rooms with computers and projectors.
In terms of places, the experimental lessons were carried out in two large classrooms of
Phuc Thanh High School, where there are 21 classes with 842 students and an average of
40 students per class for the 2010-2011 academic year. Moreover, the school has five
teachers of English and 45 others who are teaching different subjects.
As for the students of the school, about ninety percent of them come from mountainous

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

addition, the two classes in the study were not removed from normal teaching and learning
context. This characteristic made up the external validity of the study which helps to
increase the validity of the later generalization of the result to the population. Involving the
generalization of the results, extraneous variables need controlling prior to the experiment
like the gender, the group size, the age, English proficiency. With regard to the group size,
some students were removed from the researcher's observation and study during the
experimental period. That is, despite receiving the same treatment either in control group
or experimental group, these students' scores were not counted in the research. To control
the gender, two male students in the control group and two female students in the
experimental group were removed to make the number of male and female students in the
former group equal to that of the latter one. Moreover, as this design is less intrusive and
disruptive than the true-experimental design, it is easier to gain access to the subject to the
population and thus more convenient to conduct such research (Selinger & Shohamy
(1989: 149). Consequently, it helps the researcher save a lot of time in grouping the
participants.


16
Since all the participants were Vietnamese of the same age and had lived in Vietnam
since they were born, they were thought to be of the same level of social and cultural
background. Furthermore, their English proficiency was the same according to their scores
in the placement test they had done.
In a word, as all above factors are examined, the quasi-experimental design becomes the
most practical and feasible for the researcher to conduct the present study.
2.4 Variables
As mentioned above, the aim of this study is to improve the proficiency of vocabulary
and reading comprehension for the 11
th
form students through developing students'
techniques for guessing the meaning of new words through context. In other words,

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,

"nothing except the planned treatment being studied is different for the two groups"
(Johnson, 1992; 177). To obtain this result, other conditions - such as the teacher,
curriculum, environment, materials - should be exactly the same in the two groups. The
following table shows main background information about the participants.
Table 1: Background information about the subjects of the study

Experimental
Controlled
Total number of participants
Male
17
17
34
Female
8
8
16
Total
25
25
50
Age
16-17
16-17
16-17

In this research, both groups regularly received 3 weekly English classes taught by the
researcher according to the school timetable. This was an advantage for the researcher to
take control over the students' learning process and eliminate other variables coming from
the teacher during the treatment. Though all the participants were taught by the same

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

teaching unit covers a topic and is structured in five sections: Reading, Speaking,
Listening, Writing, and Language Focus. Since the authors of the book expect to use the
reading text to supply language inputs and ideas for practice of other language skills,
reading texts are provided at first and foremost in each unit. Reading section is structured
according to the conventional stages of a reading lesson. It begins with one or two Before
you read activities, the aim of which is to introduce students to the topic, activate their
background knowledge of the topic, motivate them to read and elicit new vocabulary. A
short text followed by While you read activities is presented then, the aim of which is to
develop such reading skills and strategies as scanning, skimming and guessing meaning in
context. This section ends with one or two After you read activities to offer learners further
practice.
* Popular context clues used for guessing the meaning of unknown words in the new
textbook Tieng Anh 11


19
An investigation of about 10 reading passages in the new textbook Tieng Anh 11 by the
researcher shows that popular context clues which can be used to guess the meaning of
unknown words belong to these two following groups:
1. Structural clues
* Morphology
Example: - Such changeable and uncertain people are incapable of a lifelong friendship.
(Unit 1, Tieng Anh 11)
*Synonyms and antonyms:
Examples: - The competition was sponsored by the Students' Parents Society. Mrs Lien,
our English teacher, explained the competition's rules to the students. " To participate in
the contest, you have to work in groups of three." (Unit 6, Tieng Anh 11)
- It is time governments and international organizations did something to help them so that
the world population growth can start to decrease instead of continuing to increase. (Unit
7, Tieng Anh 11)

*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