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Vocabulary Knowledge For Effective Reading

The document discusses strategies for dealing with unknown vocabulary words when reading. It recommends guessing the meaning of unknown words from context rather than interrupting reading to look words up. Guessing meaning helps comprehension and vocabulary development, and allows for more enjoyable reading. The document provides examples of guessing word meanings from example sentences and encourages practicing this skill through exercises identifying words from context clues.

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Dandy Hendro Kusumo
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353 views

Vocabulary Knowledge For Effective Reading

The document discusses strategies for dealing with unknown vocabulary words when reading. It recommends guessing the meaning of unknown words from context rather than interrupting reading to look words up. Guessing meaning helps comprehension and vocabulary development, and allows for more enjoyable reading. The document provides examples of guessing word meanings from example sentences and encourages practicing this skill through exercises identifying words from context clues.

Uploaded by

Dandy Hendro Kusumo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Vocabulary Knowledge

for Effective Reading


Guessing unknown vocabulary

What do you usually do when you come to a


word you do not know in your reading? Do
you:
a. Look it up in the dictionary?

b. Ask your teacher?

c. Ask another student or a friend?

d. Try to guess what it means?


If you answer a, b, or c, then you are not reading as
effectively and efficiently as you could be in fact,
best strategy for dealing with an unknown word is to
try to guess what it means. This strategy:
 Is fast because you don’t interrrupt your reading.
 Helps your comprehension because you stay focused
on the general sense of what you are reading.
 Helps vocabulary because you are more likely to
remember the words.
 Allows you to enjoy your reading more because you
don’t have to stop often.
Guessing meaning from context in
sentences
When you try to guess the meaning of an
unknown word, you use the text surrounding
the word-the context. One sentence may be
enough to give you the meaning, or you may
need to use a longer passage.
Example: Do you know what “misogynist”
means? If not, try to make a guess:
A mysogynist is _____________________
Now lead the sentences. Try again to guess what
misogynist means.
 She realized that her boss was a misogynist soon
after she started working for him.
(Misogynist is a man)
 It is difficult for a woman to work for a misogynist.
She is never sure of the reasons for his criticism.
(A misogynist criticizes women’s work).
 She knows that no woman would ever get a top-
level job in a company owned by misogynist.
(A misogynist has negative feelings about women).
EXERCISE
These exercise will help you develop the skill of
guessing vocabulary in context if you:
 Do not use a dictionary

 Do not talk about the vocabulary with other students


until you have tried to make a guess on your own and
everyone else has finished.
 Do not try to translate the unknown words into your
own language. Instead, you should try to describe
them or give words with similar meanings in English
EXERCISE 1

In each following items, there is a


word you may not know. Guess
the meaning of the word from the
context of the sentences. Then
compare your work with another
student.
Could I have a piece of bread?
I missed breakfast and I’m
simply ravenous. The poor
horse was ravenous and it ate
the leaves and bark off the
tress.
What does “ravenous” mean?
 We were all surprised to see how
fast Johnny was swimming. Then we
saw that he was wearing flippers.
 With my flippers on my feet, I felt
like a fish. I had never swum so fast
and so far!
What does “flippers” mean?
 George winked to me from across the
room. It was a signal not to say anything
about what we had seen.
 I’ve only known one cat that could wink
and that was Tinker. She really could close
just one of her eyes and she did it often.
What does “wink” mean?
 The poor child had sallow skin and
very thin, bony arms and legs.
 You could tell from his sallow
complexion that he had lived in an
unhealthy climate for many years.
What does “sallow” mean?
 After so much rain, the river flowded
over the dike and into the fields.
 People in this area began building
dikes many centuries ago. It was the
only way to keep the sea out of their
villages.
What does “dike” mean?
She was wearing such gaudy clothes
that it was easy to find her in crowd.
My mother always said that old ladies
shouldn’t wear bright colors. She
thought that they would look gaudy
and foolish.
What does “gaudy” mean?
 Susan and her husband led a rugged
life in the Alaskan mountains with
no electricity and no running water.
 The young man’s face was rugged,
but his smile was friendly and the
children soon forgot their fears.
What does “rugged” mean?
 What an imp he was! Little Tommy
was always getting into trouble, but
making us laugh about it.
 With her pointed little chin, bright
eyes and impish expression, we didn’t
know whether to believe the child.
What does “imp” mean?
 The study window had been left open
during the storm and my papers were
a soggy mess.
 We gathered up the soggy towels and
bathing suits and hung them all in the
sun to dry.
What does “soggy” mean?

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