摘要
本研究旨在探討台灣的英語學習者是否能從文章前後文猜測字義，亦欲瞭解報紙和雜誌是否對學生猜測字義的表現會有不同的影響，以及是否不同程度的英語學習者有不同的猜測字義能力。研究對象為台灣北部某教育大學內英語系大一和大二學生共69人。研究方法為模仿Kucera and Francis (1967)的出題方式模擬一份考題給學生施測，所有的考題單字選擇標準都依據學者採納的選字標準書。資料分析包括描述性統計、t檢定、皮爾森相關分析，以清楚表明英語文章前後文和猜測字義的表現之間的關係。研究結果如下：
1.小說、雜誌、和報紙的文章前後文能夠幫助英語學習者的字義推論。
2.雜誌和報紙皆能有效幫助英語學習者推論不懂的字義，但是相較於報紙，雜誌較能夠幫助學生成功推論字義。
3.英語學習者的英語單字能力高低和他們推論字義的能力有正向相關。
總結而言，本研究希望能夠更進一步解釋小說、雜誌、報紙的文章前後文和
英語學習者推論字義之間的關係，也期望能讓英語教師和相關的研究學者洞悉文章的前後文對學生推論不懂的字義之影響為何，藉此使英語教學的課程規劃更完善。
關鍵字：文章前後文、推論字義

Abstract
The research efforts to explore the influences of contextual clues for English learners’ word inference in Taiwan, the differences of newspapers and magazines for students’ word guessing, and the relationship between students’ English vocabulary proficiency and their ability to infer unknown words. Subjects of this study are 74 freshmen and sophomores of English majors in an education university in northern Taiwan. The instrument involved words-in-isolation tests and words-in-context tests which were based on Computational Analysis of Present-Day American English (Kucera and Francis, 1967). Through descriptive statistics, t-tests, Pearson’s correlation analysis, the major findings of contextual clues and students’ word inference are summarized as follows:
1.The contextual clues of novels, magazines, and newspapers help English learners to infer unknown words.
2.The contextual clues of magazines and newspapers aid students’ word guessing, but the effectiveness of magazines is greater than that of newspapers.
3.There was a positive correlation between English learners’ English vocabulary proficiency and their ability to infer unfamiliar words.
Key words: contextual clues, word inference

Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………...1
1.1 Background of the Study……………………………..1
1.2 Purpose of the Study …………………………………7
1.3 Research Questions………………….……..……...9
1.4 Significance of the Study……………..………...9
1.5 Definition of Terms in the Study……..………11
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW…………...…………..13
2.1 The Importance of Contextual Clues…………..13
2.2 Classification of Contextual Clues…………….18
2.3 Factors Which Influence Word Inference……..21
2.4 Influence of Context Clues on Students’ Word Inference.......................................31
2.5 The Differences of Using Context Clues between Advanced Readers and Lower-achieved Readers……………………45
2.6 Conclusion………………………………………………….50
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY………………………………………53
3.1 Setting………………………………………………………54
3.2 Subjects………………………….………………………..54
3.3 Instruments…………………….………………………….55
3.4 Procedure……………..….……………………………….57
3.5 Instruction of the Tests……...……………………59
3.6 Data Analysis……………………………………….…….60
3.7 Conclusion…………………………………………………..61
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS…………………………………………………………...63
4.1 Patterns of Contextual Clues for Students’ Word Inference……………...............................64
4.2 Differences of Magazines and Newspapers in Subjects’ Word Inference...................................68
4.3 The relationship Between Subjects’ Vocabulary Proficiency and Ability to Infer Word Meanings..73
4.4 Conclusion…………………………………………………..74
CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION……………………………………………………….77
5.1 Major Findings………………………………………...78
5.2 Pedagogical Implications…………………………...80
5.3 Limitations of the Study……………………………82
5.4 Suggestions…………………………………………………83
REFERENCES......…………………………………………….87
APPENDICES……………………………………………………..93
Appendix A. Words-in-isolation Test (Day 1)…..94
Appendix B. Words-in-context Test (Day 1)..…..96
Appendix C. Words-in-isolation Test (Day 2)……100
Appendix D. Words-in-context Test (Day 2).…….102
Appendix E. Novels, Magazines, and Newspapers Used in the Study……......................................107
List of Tables
Table 3.1 The Procedure of Words-n-isolation Tests and Words-in-context Tests.........................58
Table 4.1 Descriptive Statistics of the Words-in-isolation Tests and Words-in-context Tests…………………...61
Table 4.2 The Comparison of Words-in-isolation Test A and Words-in-context Test B (Day 1)………………………62
Table 4.3 The Comparison of Words-in-isolation Test C and Words-in-context Test D (Day 2)……………………….63
Table 4.4 The Comparison between Words-in-isolation Tests and Words-in-context Tests……………………………..64
Table 4.5 Descriptive Statistics of Magazines and Newspapers……………….....................……..66
Table 4.6 The Percentage of Students on Performance of Word Inference……….............................…..68
Table 4.7 The Percentage of Students on Performance of Word Inference…………...............................69
Table 4.8 Correlation between Vocabulary Proficiency and Performance of Word Inference………………………...70
List of Figures
Figure 4.1 The Developmental Curves of Mean Values in Novels, Magazines and Newspapers………...………….63
Figure 4.2 Mean Values of Magazines and Newspapers…66

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