The Lexical Inferencing of English Learners

Unknown word is a major impediment in L2 reading comprehension. In order to investigate how Chinese EFL learners tackle unknown words in reading, this book explored the lexical inferencing of Chinese learners in terms of the intent, the clue use, the procedure, the processing type, the adaptability, and the success of lexical inferencing as well as the subsequent lexical knowledge acquisition. Chinese EFL learners at four stages of English learning participated in this study. Questionnaire, think-aloud introspection and a surprise test were employed in this study. Data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively to identify the type & amount of clue use, the event sequence of inferencing, the processing type & adaptability, the outcome of lexical inferencing, and the subsequent vocabulary knowledge acquisition in lexical inferencing.

Zhaochun Yin is a lecturer in School of International Education Zhengzhou University. He has pursued his PhD in Faculty of Education Hong Kong University. His research interest lies in secondary language acquisition, especially the vocabulary acquisition of EFL learners.