IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibn/eltjnl/v6y2013i11p29.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Infer the Meaning of Unknown Words by Sheer Guess or by Clues? – An Exploration on the Clue Use in Chinese EFL Learner’s Lexical Inferencing

Author

Listed:
  • Zhaochun Yin

Abstract

Lexical inferencing is refered to as guessing the meaning of an unknown word using available linguistic and other clues. It is a primary lexical processing strategy to tackle unknown words while reading. This study aims to explore the clue use of Chinese EFL learners in inferring the meaning of unknown word in reading. Two types of introspective research methods have been used to achieve the research aim. 55 participants of four levels (tertiary final, tertiary middle, tertiary initial and senior secondary) were asked to read a sample text and infer the meaning of target words through thinking aloud. Additional information of their lexical inferencing was elicited through stimulated recalls. The results show that Chinese EFL learners use a variety of clues in their lexical inferencing. The findings also reveal some discrepancies of clue use across different levels learners in lexical inferencing.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhaochun Yin, 2013. "Infer the Meaning of Unknown Words by Sheer Guess or by Clues? – An Exploration on the Clue Use in Chinese EFL Learner’s Lexical Inferencing," English Language Teaching, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 6(11), pages 1-29, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibn:eltjnl:v:6:y:2013:i:11:p:29
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/elt/article/download/31105/18197
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/elt/article/view/31105
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ibn:eltjnl:v:6:y:2013:i:11:p:29. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Canadian Center of Science and Education (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.