Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
RELC Journal
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kaivanpanah, S.
Right arrow Articles by Alavi, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Deriving Unknown Word Meaning from Context

Is it Reliable?

Shiva Kaivanpanah

University of Tehran, shkaivan{at}ut.ac.ir

Mohammad Alavi

University of Tehran, smalavi{at}ut.ac.ir

Language teachers often encourage L2 readers to guess the meaning of unknown words in texts. This paper argues that before any statements about the value of guessing can be made, it is necessary to show how reliable learners' guesses are. To this end, the present study investigates how accurately EFL learners assess their understanding of unknown words, and whether language proficiency and gender influence their self-assessment. The study was carried out in three phases. In phase one, participants (N = 110) took a proficiency test and were asked to study a text in which 40 items were highlighted by the researcher on the basis of words that were unfamiliar to them. They were required to assess their understanding of the meaning of unknown words on a four-point scale. In phase two, they provided a translation, synonym, antonym, or an explanation of the unknown words. In phase three, they received the same self-assessment sheet to reassess their understanding of unknown words. The results indicated that learners' assessments are not reliable. Moreover, it was found that proficiency in the L2 and gender influence learners' self-assessment.

Key Words: actual vocabulary knowledge • context • guessing • language proficiency • perceived vocabulary knowledge • self-assessment.

RELC Journal, Vol. 39, No. 1, 77-95 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0033688208091141
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?