Meaning Of Unfamiliar Words Research Articles

Students Attitudes and Perceptions Toward Using Google Translate at Ghor Institute of Higher Education

The easiest and most accessible way for learners to meet their translation needs is by using Google Translate. Machine translation is now an integral part of learning a foreign language, particularly Google Translate (GT), which has influenced EFL learning as an online dictionary. It is used to translate from the source language to the target language. It is widely used by Afghan second-language learners today for translating between English and Farsi languages. The purpose of the present study was to explore students’ attitudes and perceptions toward using Google Translate in EFL classes at the Ghor Institute of Higher Education. The data for this study were collected using a five-point Likert questionnaire and interviews with 145 English-major university students at the English Department and were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. After analyzing the data, the results indicated that almost all of the participants reported using GT. The three most frequent uses of GT were to look up the meanings of unfamiliar words and to translate sentences from English to Farsi and vice versa, while translating paragraphs and articles (discourse level) was the least frequent. The results also showed that a majority of the population frequently used GT in their classes, and less than half said they used it sometimes, but the rest stated they used it always and rarely, with a very small percentage admitting they never utilized it. All in all, most of the students expressed a high level of positive attitudes toward using GT as a language learning tool in EFL classrooms. It is expected that GT will be better utilized in the future after knowing students’ perceptions and attitudes toward using it; that is, it may assist lecturers and educational practitioners in making informed decisions about its utilization in the classroom.

Understanding how gamification of English morphological analysis in a blended learning environment influences students’ engagement and reading comprehension

Morphological analysis is a form of problem solving to work out the meanings of unfamiliar words by applying knowledge of morphemes. It has emerged recently as an important predictor of reading comprehension. However, while gamification can potentially be used to teach this skill, few studies have examined its use. To address this, a computer-based gamified approach was developed specifically to improve English morphological analysis. It was integrated into teacher instruction and formed blended learning. In the gamification design, progression/achievement-oriented game design elements (e.g., points, badges, levels and progress bar) were adopted, as were non-digital and social game design elements. A mixed methods approach was used to evaluate the effectiveness of this blended gamified programme on improving students’ learning engagement and reading comprehension when compared to a conventional face-to-face, non-gamified method of teaching. The target was a group of Chinese students learning English as a foreign language (EFL). Two classes, comprising a total of 104 seventh graders, were assigned randomly to either the gamified or the non-gamified programme and received 10 sessions of training (55 min per session). The results of a one-way ANCOVA showed that students in the blended gamified programme performed significantly better on English reading comprehension than the face-to-face, non-gamified group. Furthermore, the blended gamified group showed significantly higher behavioural and cognitive engagement than the non-gamified group, although no significant difference was observed in emotional engagement. Interviews with the students shed light on the factors that improved their learning and engagement in the gamified class. This research expands the current understanding of gamification design and suggests some care should be taken in using social game design elements.

Context Effect and its Strategies to Clarify the Meaning of Unfamiliar Words

This paper examines the effect of context (verbal context or text of situation) to clarify the meaning of an unfamiliar words, by induction the Prophet’s traditions, which include unfamiliar words in the study's corps. Moreover, the article explains the context strategies to reach its effect. The context has varied aspects to clarify the meaning: it is either preference one meaning over another, or preference a formula over another, or clarification general meaning of a word (The semantic field), or clarification an exact meaning by various strategies: the selection restrictions, the simile, and the antonymy. The paper concludes that the context has a limited effect to clarify the meanings of unfamiliar words, especially if it is incomplete, when many of its elements of situation are absent, due to narration. Rather, the context may be a cause of ambiguity when it gives some expressions ambiguous meanings and takes off their known lexical meanings. Keywords: Unfamiliar words, Context, Semantics, Significance of context.

Student interpreters’ strategies in dealing with unfamiliar words in sight translation

This research investigated student interpreters’ strategies in dealing with unfamiliar words in the source texts during English-to-Mandarin (B-to-A) sight translation. The study examined and compared different strategies adopted by 10 first-year beginner student interpreters who had not yet attained NAATI Professional Interpreter accreditation and 10 advanced student interpreters who, after studying for a year and a half, had achieved a credential as NAATI Professional Interpreter in Australia. The data collection involved an English vocabulary test, three English-to-Mandarin sight translation tasks and retrospective interviews. Results showed that both groups of student interpreters tended to omit the unfamiliar English words. The advanced student interpreters made more strategic omissions of unfamiliar words in the source texts than the beginner student interpreters, whose work showed more passive involuntary omissions of unfamiliar English words than that of the advanced student interpreters. Both groups also made attempts to infer the meaning of unfamiliar words. The predominant types of inference strategies were based on participants’ experience, reading-based contextual knowledge and collocation knowledge. As there has been little research on sight translation, this small-scale empirical study attempts to bridge this gap and inspire other researchers to further explore this area by carrying out larger-scale projects.

Word-formation motivation as a means of lexicalizing derivative words in the classroom in Russian as a foreign language

The article examines the place of the word-formation component of the communicative competence of foreign students in the process of their learning Russian as a foreign language. The word-formation component, along with other linguistic components, participates in the formation of the communicative competence of foreign students, however, the problem of Russian word formation remains insufficiently developed in the linguodidactic plan. The author expresses his opinion that the increase in the vocabulary of foreign students should be accompanied by the systematization of lexical units, taking into account their derivational connections and relations. Therefore, when lexicalization, one should use not the selection of synonyms or the descriptive method, which leads to the mechanical memorization of the meaning, but by means of correlation with the same root words, to activate in the minds of foreign students the living connections of the lexical units of the Russian language. This applies not only to derivatives of words associated with generating relations of full direct motivation, but also to those derivatives where these connections are not explicitly expressed. Such an interpretation through a productive word not only makes the meaning of the new lexeme understandable, facilitates its memorization, but also creates a single picture of lexical and word-formation relationships within the language, forms a systemic understanding of the language among students. The skills of correlating a derivative word with its derivative, obtained in the study of Russian as a foreign language, make it possible to understand the meanings of unfamiliar words. The speed of memorizing the meanings of derived words in this case directly depends on the understanding of the word-formation structure of the word. This technique will greatly facilitate the development of the vocabulary and will contribute to the formation of a holistic view of the language as a system among foreign students.

A Study of Vocabulary Learning Strategies and their Effect on Vocabulary Development

Language learners use Vocabulary Learning Strategies to learn new words or to consolidate the meaning of words they have already learnt. This paper presents findings of a study conducted to examine the vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) used by English as a second language (ESL) learners when learning English at tertiary level, in Sri Lanka. The aim of the study was to gain a better understanding of VLS used by ESL learners with the view of adopting better vocabulary teaching methods in the classroom. The study made use of a questionnaire, a vocabulary learning activity and a delayed post-test to obtain data. Schmitt’s (1997) taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies was utilized in categorizing the data collected. The research brought to light the common strategies used by learners when learning the meaning of unfamiliar words in the target language and the strategies used by them when recalling the meaning of already learnt words. The results show that when students fall back on their mother tongue to learn and retain the meaning of target language vocabulary it impedes the vocabulary learning process, the development of reading skills and target language proficiency.

Morphological analysis skill and academic vocabulary knowledge are malleable through intervention and may contribute to reading comprehension for multilingual adolescents

BackgroundMorphological analysis skill is the ability to problem‐solve meanings of unfamiliar words by applying knowledge of morphological constituents. For vocabulary words from the academic layer of English, the major, meaning‐carrying morphological contituents are Latin roots (nov meaning ‘new’ in innovative). The degree to which morphological analysis skill using Latin roots is susceptible to intervention and whether improvements relate to reading comprehension remains unclear.MethodsWe investigated the effects of a morphology intervention designed to promote academic vocabulary learning, morphological analysis and reading comprehension with 140 adolescent, multilingual learners in US schools (intervention n = 70; comparison n = 70). We estimated direct effects of the intervention on morphological analysis and academic vocabulary knowledge and examined whether they mediate intervention effects on reading comprehension. Academic vocabulary was measured as both definitional and multidimensional knowledge.ResultsWe found significant, direct effects of the intervention on morphological analysis skill and academic vocabulary knowledge. Additionally, we found a significant indirect effect on reading comprehension via academic vocabulary and a marginally significant indirect effect via morphological analysis skill. Notably, the indirect effect of academic vocabulary was evident only for multidimensional, not definitional knowledge.ConclusionsFindings extend current understanding about how morphology intervention promotes vocabulary and reading comprehension improvement for multilingual learners.(word count = 207)

Innovative strategies and tactics in teaching and learning the vocabulary of modern english

Today, it has become mandatory for the academicians to rethink their teaching strategies with the changing times. Since there has been a constant change in the teaching methods and techniques all over the world in every subject, vocabulary teaching methods and techniques need desirable and radical changes in a view of the demanding job market in the globalized world. If we want to use language effectively, we must have good stock of vocabulary. We cannot use the language, if we don't know the words of that language. English language has vast vocabulary. This allows the learner to develop an understanding of the word's connotations as well as its denotation. Also, discussion provides the learner with feedback about how well the learner understands the word. After pre-teaching vocabulary words, the learner should read the text. This “word clue” or keyword might be a part of the definition, an illustrative example or an image that the reader connects to the word to make it easier to remember the meaning when reading it in context. The idea behind the keyword method is to create an easy cognitive link to the word's meaning that the reader can access efficiently during a reading experience. Texts are full of “clues” about the meanings of words. Other words in a sentence or paragraph, captions, illustrations and titles provide readers with information about the text that they can use to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words. Vocabulary footnotes (definitions provided at the bottom of the page) can be added for particularly challenging words so that the reader can easily “look up” the word while still reading the text. One cannot learn a language without learning vocabulary. Therefore, the study of vocabulary has occupied the central place in teaching learning activities.

Phonological decoding enhances orthographic facilitation of vocabulary learning in first graders

An experiment examined orthographic facilitation of vocabulary learning, that is, whether showing students spellings of novel words during learning helps them remember the words when spellings are no longer present. The purpose was to determine whether having students decode the spellings of vocabulary words improves word learning over passive exposure to spellings, and whether both treatments boost word memory compared to no spelling exposure. Low SES, urban first graders (N = 55) were randomly assigned to one of two word learning conditions: a decoding condition (printed words sounded out and blended) or an exposure without decoding condition (print present but no attention drawn to it). Students were taught the pronunciations and meanings of unfamiliar words over several test trials with feedback, one set with spellings present during learning but not when recall was tested, and one set with no spellings present. Results revealed that students remembered words better when spellings were seen than not seen during learning and on delayed posttests. Students who decoded spellings learned pronunciations and meanings better during the learning trials compared to students who only viewed spellings, but the advantage of decoding declined one and 7 days later. The favored explanation is that exposure to spellings activated grapho-phonemic connections to better secure spellings to pronunciations in memory, especially when students’ had decoded them. This was supported by a posttest showing that spellings were written more accurately when students had seen them than when they had not, with decoding producing better recall than exposure. Results suggest that teachers should incorporate spellings into their vocabulary instruction, and they should direct students to decode them to enhance learning.

COMPREHENSION DIFFICULTIES OF AUTHENTIC READING IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (FLT) IN KAZAKHSTANI CONTEXT

This article will concentrate on questions of methodology, namely comprehension difficulties of authentic texts. Over the past three years we had the benefit of continuing discussions with the staff and students of the Foreign Language Teacher Training Faculty at Almaty and most of what is worthwhile in this article derives directly or indirectly from them. This article is an attempt to explore certain difficulties in authentic reading that seems to us to arise from adopting a communicative approach to the teaching reading. It is the purpose of this article to reveal the reasons and causes that make reading hard and analyze the nature of errors. We must accept the commitment to propose a preparation and exploited exercises and the practical consequences of applying them as a teaching aim. The methods of the research include literature review, analysis of research cards, questioners, survey. In the study difficulties are classified into six groups according to their linguistic, semantic, syntactic, conceptual, extra linguistic features. They can be summarized as follows: a general lack of awareness about the principles of affixation, the use of expressions in a figurative sense, poor realization of metaphorical meanings of familiar words and phrases. The main aim of this article is to suggest basic rules and guidelines on avoiding errors in foreign language reading. The task before the teacher, then, is to help students change their reading habits by teaching them efficient reading strategies. An effective way to do this is through guided reading. For example, word-attack skills. These skills enable the reader to work out the meaning of unfamiliar words and phrases without looking them up in the dictionary. Here are two useful word attack skills: using context clues, and using structural information. Using context clues, includes using the meanings of other words such as synonyms and antonyms in the same sentence or paragraph, or the meaning of the sentence or paragraph as a whole, to deduce the possible meaning of unfamiliar words and phrases. Using structural information, this refers to word formation. An analysis of the stems and affixes of words can help our students get the meaning of many unfamiliar words. The meaning of the whole word can be worked out by analyzing its component parts. Reading in meaningful units, students should be able to read in meaningful units instead of isolated words. A useful way to train students to read in meaningful units is to break up a sentence into sense groups and have students focus their eyes on the middle of each sense group arranged in separate lines and try to see words on each side of the middle line. The transition of knowledge-based paradigm to competent based paradigm changed the aims and method of teaching reading. In competence-based approach which nowadays presents an innovative process in FL Education and corresponds to the general conception of educational standards found in many countries. Comprehension of authentic reading suggests the presence of certain competences, as readiness and abilities to fulfill tasks. In this connection the meaning is not in the text, it is in the mind of the reader. Meaning is created depending on the background knowledge, experience of the reader and schemata. It goes without saying that reading comprehension largely depends on the technique of reading. However FL reading comprehension as a complex psycho –physiological process of cognitive activity should be regarded in the framework of Intercultural Communicative competence as the final goal of FLE outlined by many scholars (Canale and Swain, Savingon, S.S.Kunanbaeva) which involves different interpretations of the phenomenon and its structural components.

Exploring lexical inferencing as a vocabulary acquisition strategy through computerized dynamic assessment and static assessment

ABSTRACTLexical inferencing has not led to substantial vocabulary gains. In previous studies, the learners were not obliged by design to notice the unfamiliar words and static approaches to assessment were adopted. In this quasi-experimental study, we adopted dynamic assessment (DA) approach and took measures to ensure noticing of the new words. Through purposive sampling, 80 intermediate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students were selected as participants. They were randomly assigned to computerized dynamic assessment (CDA) and static assessment (SA) groups. Participants read five texts, one per week, and inferred the meaning of highlighted unfamiliar words. In CDA group, through a software program, struggling learners received graduated mediational hints for each target word which helped them to infer the meaning of unfamiliar words. No mediational assistance was provided to the participants of SA group. Acquisition and retention post-tests were administered to both groups one day and four weeks after reading each text, respectively. Results showed that vocabulary gains in CDA group were significantly higher than those in the control group. The findings suggest that the noticing of unfamiliar words and the adoption of DA approach could enhance vocabulary gains from lexical inferencing.

English

Due to the critical role that perceptual learning styles as indicators of individual differences play in L2 learners' activities and thus their academic achievement, the present investigation was aimed to study the role of L2 learners' perceptual styles in lexical inferencing and also the strategies used for lexical inferences in the Iranian context of English language learning. To this end, 134 participants majoring in different engineering fields took part in the study. They received strategy training on how to infer the meanings of unfamiliar words. They then answered a perceptual styles preferences questionnaire and were tested on the selected texts for lexical inferencing. They were asked to extract the meaning of unfamiliar words and simultaneously identify the relevant strategy employed for lexical inferencing by marking it on the strategy questionnaire. The analysis identified the biggest number of participants as being kinesthetic despite the fact that classes were mainly held through audio-visual activities. The findings also showed a meaningful difference between group categories of styles preferences and their lexical inferencing ability (F=4.57, p<.05). As for the modifying effect of perceptual styles on the strategies used by various groups of learners, 'visual learners' were found to have the highest correlation with ‘syntactic knowledge analysis’ (r=.70, p=.01). The results of the study point to the importance of individual differences in the perception of and interaction with the learning environment. Keywords: perceptual learning styles; lexical inferencing; strategy training; strategy use; L2 DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2016-2201-14

Intervention Analysis and Listening Comprehension Strategy Instruction: Insights from Clinical Supervision

&lt;p&gt;The present study sought to investigate the effects of adapting the intervention provision framework put forward by John Heron, entitled Six-Category Intervention Analysis, into strategy instruction on listening comprehension performance of EFL learners. This model of intervention provision, having its genesis in clinical supervision, can regulate the verbal behavior and actual sentences used by teachers to intervene in language learning contexts. 175 Iranian intermediate level EFL learners participated in the study. The learners were divided into five 35-member groups including control; written mediation in which no oral intervention was provided; authoritative intervention in which the teacher suggested what had to be done, provided information, or confronted the students; facilitative, in which the teacher drew out ideas, solutions, or self-confidence; and synergetic authoritative-facilitative interventions. These groups received listening comprehension strategy instruction on three strategies of “guessing the meanings of unfamiliar words from the context”, “listening for gist”, and, “understanding cohesive devices”. Preliminary English Test was employed to assess the performance of language learners on their listening comprehension. Results indicated that the application of Six-Category Intervention Analysis while providing strategy instruction induced significant changes in the performance of the groups. In general, facilitative intervention and synergetic authoritative-facilitative intervention groups outperformed the control, written mediation, and authoritative intervention groups.&lt;/p&gt;

Strategies Used by Saudi EFL Students to Determine the Meaning of English Words

This study investigated the strategies which first-year Saudi university EFL students used to derive the meaning of unfamiliar words while reading English texts. Using cluster sampling method, participants chosen to be included in the study consisted of six male and six female classes (120 male and 120 female students) of the preparatory year deanship students at King Saud University, 2009-2010. Following the administration of a vocabulary test as the instrument, descriptive statistics and ANOVA tests were used to analyze the collected data. Results revealed that the students were weak in using the right strategies in guessing the meaning of unknown vocabulary. The use of a combination of two or more strategies was found to result in a better correct guessing rate, but few students tended to use this technique. The results support the importance of practical training in when and how to use various strategies: students need to be given regular practice in order to learn how to use them most effectively. Highlighting the main strategies which students use to correctly derive the meaning of words, the findings indicate EFL teachers should train their students in the use of a variety of strategies for guessing the meaning of unfamiliar words.

Grapho-morphological awareness in Spanish L2 reading: how do learners use this metalinguistic skill?

This paper contributes to the literature on the transferability of grapho-morphological awareness (GMA) for second language (L2) learners by analysing L2 learners’ knowledge of morphology in reading. GMA helps readers to identify grammatical categories, infer meanings of unfamiliar words, and access stored lexical information. Previous research indicates that L2 GMA is influenced by first language (L1) GMA. In this paper, L1 Spanish speakers (n = 30) and L1 English speakers learning Spanish as an L2 (n = 46) completed two timed lexical decision tasks in English (only English speakers) and Spanish, a reading task, a Cloze Task, and an oral interview (only English speakers). Results indicate that L2 learners show a native-like word recognition pattern, providing evidence for language-specific processing. Also, L2 learners could recognise and decompose words into morphemes and roots throughout the different tasks, which implies that they neither ignore morphology nor follow a whole-word reading approach. The results suggest that intermediate L2 learners with an L1 alphabetic writing system can develop a native-like GMA in an alphabetic L2, and that the relationship between proficiency and GMA is reciprocal.

Learning L2 German Vocabulary Through Reading: The Effect of Three Enhancement Techniques Compared

This study investigated three techniques designed to increase the chances that second language (L2) readers look up and learn unfamiliar words during and after reading an L2 text. Participants in the study, 137 college students in Belgium (L1 = Dutch, L2 = German), were randomly assigned to one of four conditions, forming combinations of two between‐subject factors: ± prereading test announcement and ± postreading vocabulary task. Comprehension questions were used to direct participants' attention to half of the 16 target words in this study, creating the within‐subject factor (word relevance). Participants accomplished the experimental tasks at computers. They could look up the meaning of unfamiliar words in an online dictionary. The dependent variables are the following: use of online dictionary during reading, performance on a word‐form recognition test, and performance on two word‐meaning recall tests (immediate and delayed). Test announcement and word relevance substantially prompted participants to use the online dictionary more. Only test announcement and vocabulary task (not word relevance) affected performance in the word recognition test positively. Both word relevance and postreading vocabulary task substantially affected word retention in the recall posttests. These findings, together with those of the studies reviewed, provide robust evidence that the low incidence of vocabulary acquisition through reading (“input only”) can be substantially boosted by techniques that make students look up the meaning of unknown words, process their form‐meaning relationship elaborately, and process them again after reading (“input plus”).

Individual differences in the integration of information from context and word parts in interpreting unknown kanji words

This study examines individual differences in the ability to integrate information from word parts and context in interpreting novel kanji compounds (i.e., words consisting of two or more Chinese characters). To account for different approaches that students take to infer the meanings of unfamiliar words, the study also investigates the relationship between students' beliefs about the effectiveness of using kanji and/or contextual clues and their abilities to use the clue(s). A total of 74 English-speaking college students learning Japanese inferred the meanings of unknown compounds consisting of familiar characters under three conditions (words in isolation, contextual clues only, and both). The effects of the two sources appeared additive when examined across all participants. Further analysis, however, indicated that nearly half the students did not combine the two sources and overrelied on either kanji or contextual clues. The inability to integrate information and overreliance on kanji clues modestly but statistically significantly correlated with belief in the efficacy of an integration strategy. The combined effect of multiple sources of information, therefore, must be interpreted in terms of individual differences.

Vocabulary - Dictionaries - Reading

The use of a dictionary to solve vocabulary problems during reading has lately become the centre of much interest. In 1998, CITO drew up new guidelines for the modern foreign languages taught at HAVO ('higher secondary general education') and VWO ('Pre-university education') which allowed the use of a dictionary during the final exams in reading comprehension. A next point of discussion is whether MAVO ('lower secondary general education') pupils should also be allowed to use a dictionary during final exams. The present study is an answer to this question and aims to find out if allowing the use of a dictionary during final exams in reading comprehension is indeed in the best interest of MAVO pupils. The literature section deals with vocabulary knowledge and dictionary use in relation to reading comprehension. In this section, the importance of a large vocabulary, the ability to use the context to guess the meanings of unfamiliar words and knowing how to use a dictionary most effectively are emphasised as being inextricably linked with each other and with reading comprehension. Furthermore, an experiment was conducted aimed at determining whether MAVO pupils would in any way benefit from using a dictionary during an English reading comprehension test. Results show that the use of a dictionary does not significandy affect reading comprehension scores and therefore does not result in improved reading comprehension. The reason for this the absence of this effect most likely lies in the absence of a large vocabulary, the inability to guess and the inexperience with dictionary use. Unless the teaching programme deals with these important prerequisites to reading comprehension, there is not much sense in allowing MAVO pupils to use the dictionary, since it does not lead to improved reading comprehension.

Using Electronic Books to Promote Vocabulary Development

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of selected vocabulary-building activities on the learning and retention of unfamiliar words when used in conjunction with the animation features found in an electronic books. Twenty-two children were randomly assigned to either a control group that viewed only animation cues to learn the meanings of unfamiliar words or to an experimental group that received supplemental vocabulary-building instruction in conjunction with the animated cues. Those children who received supplemental instruction in conjunction with the animated cues scored significantly higher on a six-item vocabulary posttest than children who only viewed the animated cues. The design and validation of supplemental activities used in conjunction with popular electronic books is discussed as is the need to examine the practicality, efficiency, and appeal of activities that supplement electronic books in school reading programs.

Effects of Computer-Assisted Vocabulary Training on Word Knowledge

AbstractWith the advent of the microcomputer, educators question whether computer software can incorporate vocabulary methodologies comparable with those traditionally used in the classroom and whether it can teach students the meanings of unfamiliar words. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a computer software program in teaching a common list of unfamiliar words to 11th-grade students. The software was evaluated by comparing the program’s instructional approach, which incorporates definitional and contextual word knowledge with approaches that use definitional or contextual information only. The results of the study demonstrated that students who used a modified mixed approach, that is, one that provides sentence context, definitional or synonym clues, and optional word choices, learned more words than did students who received definitional information only. The findings also suggest that viable methods can be developed to assess the effectiveness of a vocabulary software progr...