English Language Arts and Reading.3.3.B

The student is expected to

use context within and beyond a sentence to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words and multiple-meaning words;

vocabulary strand teks talk image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--vocabulary. The student uses newly acquired vocabulary expressively.

Since words often have more than one meaning, they can be used in different ways and in diverse contexts. Students are required to use the information surrounding an unfamiliar word to decide how it logically connects to the sentence, paragraph, or text being read.
Many words in the English language look and/or sound like other words but have completely different meanings. These multiple-meaning words require students to use the information around the word, either spoken or written, to determine how the word should be interpreted. Homonyms are examples of multiple-meaning words. Homonyms are words that have the same spelling and usually sound alike but have different meanings and require context to determine which usage is intended. For example, the word pitcher could refer to a position on a baseball team or a container for liquid. Homographs are words that are spelled the same as another word but sound different when spoken and have different meanings. Homographs are challenging in reading because readers do not hear the intended pronunciation and therefore must rely solely on the context to know which form of a word is being used. For example, the word wind can refer to a movement of the air or a road with twists and turns.
Authors often include hints, or clues, to help the reader understand unfamiliar words. These hints are found in words (e.g., synonyms, antonyms), affixes, phrases (e.g., definitions, examples), and sentence structure (conjunctions that signal relationships between ideas). Students use the words or sentences that precede or follow a specific word or sentence to help them create meaning. This student expectation focuses on how much of the text a student will know to use to find context. It is worth noting that while specific approaches are listed explicitly at later grade levels, the intention is not to exclude those approaches from being used in other grade levels as illustrative examples.

Research

1. Nelson, J. R., & Stage, S. A. (2007). Fostering the development of vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension though contextually-based multiple meaning vocabulary instruction. Education & Treatment of Children, 30(1), 1+. Retrieved from https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A161909202/PROF?u=tea&sid=PROF&xid=d444f833

Summary: The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of contextually-based multiple meaning (i.e., words with multiple meanings) vocabulary instruction on the vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension of students. Third and fifth grade students received either contextually-based multiple meaning vocabulary instruction embedded in the standard language arts instruction offered to all students over a three-month period or the standard language arts instruction alone (i.e., non-specific treatment). Students who received the contextually-based multiple meaning instruction generally showed significant gains in their vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension in comparison with students who did not. These effects were more pronounced in the case of third grade students. The results and limitations are discussed.

2. Nagy, W. E., Anderson, R. C., & Herman, P. A. (1987). Learning word meanings from context during normal reading. American Educational Research Journal, 24, 237–270. Accessed online at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/00028312024002237

Summary: This study investigated incidental learning of word meanings from context during normal reading. A total of 352 students in third, fifth, and seventh grades read either expository or narrative passages selected from grade-level textbooks and after six days were tested on their knowledge of difficult words from the passages. Small but reliable gains in knowledge of words from the passages read were found at all grade and ability levels.