Lexical Inferencing Strategies by Learners of English as a Foreign Language

Thesis (M.A.) from the year 2013 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 91.1%, , course: Applied Linguistics, language: English, abstract: This study has sought to investigate the lexical inferencing strategies that Jordanian graduate and undergraduate learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) employ as they read to infer the meaning of unfamiliar words. It examines whether learners of various academic levels would use the same or different strategies. It evaluates how successfully they can employ these strategies to attain the proper meaning. To this end, a survey comprising of a lexical inferencing test and a questionnaire was used to collect data from 103 learners of English. learners were divided into three groups: beginner (first year) BA students, advanced (fourth year) BA students and MA students. The collected data from learners' responses were analyzed quantitatively, and categorized qualitatively according to Paribakht and Wesche's classification (1999) of linguistic knowledge source-based lexical inferencing strategies. Results show that learners' lexical inferencing ability was inadequate in general, particularly among beginner students at the BA level. The most frequently used strategy by all groups is the discourse-based strategy followed by establishing word associations then by grammar-based strategy. Results show differences between the study groups in terms of the successful employment of certain strategies, as well as the type and the frequency of the strategies used. Differences could be attributed to the variance in the acquired skills which build up as the academic level of learners advances. The study highlights the importance of teaching lexical inferencing strategies to students of EFL.