Using Context Clues

The most effective and recommended approach for enhancing vocabulary knowledge is through the use of context clues. When students learn to utilize context clues while reading, they foster independence in their thinking and learning, allowing them to internalize and take ownership of new vocabulary. Strategies that enable students to connect new words with their prior knowledge are likely to lead to substantial vocabulary growth. This is not a skill students come to us with; it must be explicitly modeled and taught, ensuring they can effectively process new information as they read. (Block & Mangieri, 2006)

The following are strategies that can be used to model and teach students to interpret context clues during their independent reading.

References:

Block, C. C., & Mangieri, J. N. (2006). The Vocabulary-Enriched Classroom: Practices for Improving the Reading Performance of All Students in Grades 3 and Up. New York: Scholastic Inc.

Short Paragraph Practice

Give students a paragraph with a challenging word. Cover the challenging word with a piece of paper and have students guess what word could fit into the blank by reading the sentence containing the challenging words and the surrounding sentences. Show students the first letter of the challenging word and see if they can guess it. After revealing the word, discuss the context clues used to figure out the meaning of the word. Remind students that this is a skill that will make them stronger readers.

Cloze Procedure

The cloze procedure is similar to the short paragraph practice but has multiple blanks with a word bank. There should be clues to provide context for each new vocabulary word. The text should be meaningful to the understanding of the vocabulary within the content being taught.

In the example, the context from the first blank comes from the word meticulous. The second term can be derived by looking at the additional information following the blank as context: in their methods to ensure accurate results. The context for the third blank comes from the understanding of the word hypothesis. The fourth vocabulary word's context comes from information preceding and following the blank. In addition, it is the only verb in the list.

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