Integrating Morphology and Contextual Information in Lexical Inferencing Uniquely Predicts Reading Comprehension

• In Event: Confronting Complexity: Vocabulary Learning in Diverse Contexts

Abstract

The study investigated the lexical inferencing strategies and their relations with reading comprehension in a sample of 104 fourth-grade students in China. Students inferred the meanings of 36 unfamiliar words in three conditions: word in isolation, contextual information only, and both. Results revealed that, students were more likely to obtain the correct meaning of words when both morphological and contextual information were available. Students with higher reading skills were better at integrating multiple information, whereas lower-proficiency students tended to overly rely on morphological information. More importantly, the integration strategy significantly predicted reading comprehension after controlling for vocabulary knowledge. The findings underscore the importance of integration strategy in lexical inferencing and reading comprehension and have implications for vocabulary and reading instruction.

Authors

• Huan Zhang, University of Houston

• Jie Zhang, University of Houston

• Li Hong, Beijing Normal University

• Chunxiang Han, Beijing Normal University