The use of context clues to enhance learners' ability to guess vocabulary meaning from context

The purpose of the study is to examine the effectiveness of context clues on learners? ability to guess vocabulary meaning from context. Twenty subjects were randomly selected from the population of 42 students. The four types of context clues-definition, restatement, comparison-contrast and cause ? effect relationship-were introduced and practiced in 12 periods of classroom instruction. The results of the study revealed that context clues could help learners to guess vocabulary meaning to a certain extents. The definition and the restatement types better enhance the students? guessing ability than the other two.