Vocabulary from Context Excerpt from New Directions by - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Vocabulary from Context

Excerpt from New Directions by

Peter S. Gardner (1996)Slide2

The “What” and “Why’s” of Using Context Clues

context the sentence and paragraph in which the word appears

using context clues allows the reader to make an educated guess

+++ can avoid interruption which can interfere with reading comprehension+++ helps the learner retain meaning from the reading because they are asking questions of themselves+++ requires making connections between sentences—inferring, an important skillSlide3

Example: The average age at which babies begin walking is about 12 months, while 11 months is the average age for

cruising

.

What does cruising mean?holding on while trying to walkSlide4

Four Types of Context Clues

Words with a similar meaning

Words used in contrast

Definitions, direct or indirectGeneral contextSlide5

Words with a Similar Meaning

Example: Tuesday is always the worst day—it’s the day the

drudgery

, boredom, and fatigue start all over again.” (from “Confessions of a Working Stiff”)What are the synonyms or related words near by? boredom and fatigueSlide6

Another Example

At the age of five, six, well past the time when most other children no longer easily notice the difference between sounds

uttered

at home and words spoken in public, I had a different experience.” (from Hunger of Memory)What is the nearby synonym? spokenSlide7

Phrases that Signal Similarity

Likewise

Similarly

By the same tokenIn the same waySlide8

Example

“

Birdwhistell

maintains that verbal communication represents less than 35% of the ‘social meaning’ of a situation, while more than 65% is expressed through nonnverbal communication. Similarly, Albert

Mehrabian

contends

that the total impact of a message is composed of a 7% verbal element, a 38% vocal element, and a 55% facial element.” (from “Cultural Differences in Nonverbal Communication”)

Are the underlined words synonyms, antonyms or? Do you know what either maintains or contends means?

says, arguesSlide9

Words Used in Contrast

Look for words (near by) opposite in meaning to the one you don’t know.

Example: The child comes to school curious about other people, particularly other children, and the school teaches him to be

indifferent.” (from “School is Bad for Children”)What is the antonym?

curiousSlide10

Look for:

not

Example:

Generalizing about groups of people makes many of us nervous. We like to think of ourselves as unique individuals, not representatives of stereotypes.” (from “Sex, Sighs, and Conversation)What does stereotypes mean?Slide11

Look Contrast Words and Phases

but

however

althoughon the other handon the contraryin contrastneverthelesswhereasdespite Slide12

Examples with Contrast Words

Barbara

Gutek

surveyed 1,200 men and women for a study on harassment. She asked her subjects whether they considered a sexual proposition flattering. About 67% of the men said they would, while only 17% of the women agreed. In contrast, 63% of women would be insulted by a proposition, compared with just 15% of men. (from “Striking a Nerve”)

What is the antonym of flattering?

insulted bySlide13

Look for Adverbs with a Negative Meaning

rarely

never

onlyExample: “The jejune assignments that teachers give rarely lead to inspired student essays.”What is the antonym of jejune? inspired

What does jejune mean?

boring Slide14

Look for Words with Negative Prefixes

un, in,

im

, il, ir, non, a, disExample: Sotopo thrust

out his hand to grasp Adrian by the hand, but the Dutch boy was frightened by the

un

expected movement and drew away.

What did

Sotopo

do with his hand?

He pushed it out quickly, unexpectedly

. Slide15

Look for Direct Definitions

Example: “Each of us speaks a distinctive form of English which is not identical in every particular with the form spoken by anyone else; linguists call this individual variety of language an

idiolect.”

(from “The English Language in the Dictionary”)The definition is right there!!Slide16

Commas, Parentheses or Dashes

Example: Commas “

Alzheimer’s disease

, a progressive form of degenerative brain disease of unknown cause,

affects an estimated 2 to 4 percent of people over 65.” (from

Human Sexuality

)

Example: Parentheses “The disposition towards

ethnocentrism

(centeredness on one’s own group)might well be the characteristic that most directly relates to intercultural communication.”

(from

Communication Between Cultures

)Slide17

Example: Dashes “Because the Incas preserved their mummies, it seems that they never felt the urge to represent their ancestors as gods in their art. Thus, the

huacas

—

the mummies or the stones representing them—were not dedicated to particular gods.” (from World Religions)Slide18

Indirect Definitions:

such as examples

Example: “While the

material aspects of African cultures—technology of iron-working, wood carving and weaving—died out or were greatly transformed, nonmaterial aspects survived.” (From Comprehensive Multicultural Education)How can we figure out what material aspects means?

technology of iron-working, wood

carving and weavingSlide19

Example: “Given

nucleation,

there are fewer role models from whom children can learn. There is less chance that a grandparent or elderly aunt, for instance, can tell stories about the important historical and mythical figures in a culture. Visits from relatives become a ‘special occasion,’ not a normal everyday part of socialization.” (from

Understanding Culture’s Influence on Behavior)How can we figure out what

nucleation

means?

What are the clues?

Grandparents aren’t around a lot.

Just living with parents/kids. Slide20

General Context

Use the meanings of familiar words in the paragraph to limit the number of possible meanings of the unknown word or idiom.

Example:

“I was always hungry—oh, so hungry! The scant meals I could afford only sharpened my appetite for real food.” (From “American and I,”)What does scant mean? How do you know?

very littleSlide21

General Context

Why then can’t they

cultivate

your fields and look after your goats while you make baskets for me? Not only this, they might gather for you the fibers and the colors in the bush and lend you a hand here and there in preparing the material you need for the baskets.” (from “Assembly Line”) What do

cultivate

and

lend you a hand mean?

get crops from the land

and

help