Journal of English Language Teaching

The Effects of Contextual Cues on Vocabulary Learning

Dr. Arun Kumar Behera

Associate Professor, Dept of Languages & Literature, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (Deemed to be University), Whitefield Campus, Bengaluru-560067

Keywords: vocabulary learning, contextual cues, reading text, pretest, post-test, vocabulary instruction, college students

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Abstract

This study investigates the effects of contextual cues on vocabulary learning. The study involved 60 FYUG college students as participants (who were randomly assigned to two groups). These participants were given unseen texts from English literature. One of the groups, the experimental group, was given the text for reading (wherein hints with regard to the meaning of difficult words were suggested) while the other group, the control group, was given the text for reading (wherein no hint with regard to the meaning of difficult words was suggested). Both groups were given a pretest to measure their knowledge of words before conducting the experiment and a post-test to measure the learning after exposure. The results showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group in the post-test, indicating that hints related to the context had a positive effect on learning of words. The study suggests that providing contextual cues helps students learn and use vocabulary better.

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