Guessing word meanings from context a useful technique in doing the GCSE examination for 12th form students at le loi high school

PART A: INTRODUCTION The rationale of the study Vocabulary is an essential component of language, which plays a decisive role in communication Wilkins, a famous British applied linguist, emphasized this with his saying "without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed" [1] Obviously, words not occur in isolation but within the context of sentence or a large discourse Also, a word used in different contexts may have different meanings; thus, simply learning the definitions of a word without examples of where and when the word occurs will not help learners to fully understand its meaning Additionally, vocabulary plays a prominent role in the GCSE examination, which is one of the biggest problems to the students In fact, students in general and Le Loi High School students in particular often have a habit of looking up word meanings in dictionaries without understanding how to use them Therefore, Le Loi High School students find it difficult to globally understand spoken or written discourse, most probably because they lack the ability to guess word meanings from context Many students tend to ignore unknown words, which is thought completely problematic to vocabulary learning Therefore, this problem is well worth taking into consideration, especially when taking the GCSE exam full of unknown new words Although it is evident that the use of contextual clues can be effective and necessary in learning and teaching English vocabulary as well as taking the exam and provide a means by which students can quickly increase their existing vocabulary base, it has not attracted much attention in terms of classroom instruction due to its time- consuming All these have motivated me to carry out an action research "Guessing word meanings from context- a useful technique in doing the GCSE examination for 12th form students at Le Loi high school " Aims and Objectives of the study The study is aimed at training the technique of guessing word meanings to so that students can understand word meanings as well as their form and then use them correctly On this basis, their abilities to apply this useful technique in doing the GCSE examination will be considerably improved Objects of the study Focusing on improving the students’ abilities in guessing word meanings from context when learning English, the study pays attention to the students preparing for the exam in general, and 12th grade students in particular Methods of the study With reference to its characteristics, this study can be categorized as an action research The following instruments are applied to collect data for this study: The pre-test and post-test were used to measure whether students could improve their application of the guessing technique in improving vocabulary Diary was also used to measure the development of the students during the time the study was being carried out PART B: DEVELOPMENT I Theoretical background of guessing technique in learning and teaching English vocabulary I Guessing or inferring strategy Guessing word meanings from context most commonly refers to inferring the meanings of a word from surrounding words in a written text It is an active and deliberate process to acquire a meaning for a word in a text Grellet (1981) defined guessing as “inferring means making use of syntactic, logical and cultural clues to discover the meaning of unknown elements” [2] Gairns and Redman (1986) use the term “contextual guesswork” for the strategy of making use of context in which the word appears to derive an idea of its meaning or in some cases from the word itself [3] The guessing strategy is quite sophisticated but it plays a very important part in vocabulary development Thus, it has been widely promoted as it has been seen to fit in more comfortably with the communicative approach than any other I.2 Guessing word meanings from context as a technique of vocabulary teaching and learning Guessing word meanings from context is one of many available vocabulary learning techniques This technique is regarded as “the most important of all sources of vocabulary learning” Teaching meanings of single words out of context does not yield good learning outcomes because of the polysemous nature of words Nagy (1997:76) argues that although second-language learners are less effective than native speakers at using context, they may have a greater need to use context The reason is that they encounter unfamiliar words quite more often than first language readers and are more expected to encounter unfamiliar meanings of words Obviously, second language learners are able and have more opportunities to learn words from context [4] Using context clues to understand the meaning of unfamiliar words helps the reader save time since the reader does not have to look the word up in the dictionary and that also gives the reader a good sense of how a word is actually used As Smith (1971) argued, instead of looking words up in a dictionary, the best way to identify an unfamiliar word in a text is to draw inferences from the rest of the text To understand the key words by using guessing meanings from context is a skill that leads the learners to read effectively and efficiently Guessing meaning of unfamiliar words in context is the most practical method to comprehend both written and oral communication [5] Given the important role of guessing word meanings from context technique, it is recommended that the teacher should assist students in learning to recognize clues to guessing word meaning from context This vocabulary learning skill is effective for learning low-frequency vocabulary I.3 Types of context clues used in guessing word meanings Clues help to infer meanings of new words from context It is impossible to infer the meanings of new words if the context does not offer enough clues Both teachers and students need to be aware of this Nation (1983) suggests some types of clues as follows: I.3.1 Structural clues Structural clues help to know the kind of meaning of the new words They are used to determine the type of grammatical category of new words They include: morphology, antonyms, synonyms, hyponyms, definitions, restatement, reference words, alternatives and punctuation Morphology: The students can derive word meanings by examining internal, morphological features, like prefixes, suffixes, and root words Reference words: Identifying the referents of pronouns may provide a clue to the meaning of an unfamiliar word Synonyms and antonyms: Often the reader can find the meaning of new items in the same sentence Hyponyms: Very often the reader can see that the relationship between an unfamiliar word and a familiar word is that of a general concept accompanied by a specific example (a hyponym) Definitions: Sometimes the writer defines the meaning of the word right in the text as “are/is known as”, “are /is described as”, “are/ is defined as” Alternatives: The writer may give an alternative of an unfamiliar word to make the meaning known Restatement: Often the writer gives enough explanation for the meaning to be clear such as: “in other words”, “that is” and “that is to say” Punctuation: Readers can also use clues of punctuation and type style to infer meaning, such as quotation marks (showing the word has a special meaning), dashes (showing apposition), parentheses or brackets (enclosing a definition), and italics (showing the word will be defined) I.3.2 Inference clues Those types of clues need a higher level of analytical skill and practice than structural clues The readers need to use rationale or reasoning skills in order to figure out the meanings of new words Inference clues include comparison and contrast, summary, cause and result, cohesion to understand the word meanings Summary: A summary clue sums up a situation or an idea with a word or a phrase Comparison and contrast: Writers can show similarity or difference Key words “but”, “instead of”, “even though”, “in contrast to”, “yet”, and “in spite of”, “like”, “in the same way”… are used by the author Cohesion: While reading a text, cohesion is maintained through a rich mesh of contextual clues The meaning of unknown words can be shown by other words in the same sentence or in adjacent sentences because they regularly co-occur with the unfamiliar words [6] In conclusion, to make effective guesses, learners need to be trained to look for clues in context, provided that those clues are sufficient to make inferences possible and productive I.4 Approach to teaching of guessing technique Although guessing from context is a complex and often difficult technique to carry out successfully, it may still contribute to vocabulary learning There are different approaches to teaching the technique of guessing from context, two of which are inductive and deductive approach According to Nation and Coady (1988), teachers can train students the guessing technique with a five-step inductive procedure: Determine the part of speech of unknown word; Look at the immediate context and simplify it if necessary; Look at the wider context This entails examining the clause with unknown word and its relationship to the surrounding clauses and sentences; Guess the meaning of unknown word; Check that the guess is correct [8] As can be seen in the mentioned approache, teacher's explanation and modeling of the technique is essential at the beginning stage, followed by student practice II The reality of training the guessing technique as well as applying the technique dealing with the GCSE examination In fact, students in general and Le Loi High School students in particular often have a habit of looking up word meanings in dictionaries without understanding how to use them Too much dictionary work can kill all interests in reading and even interfere with comprehension, because readers become more concerned with individual words and less aware of the context which gives them meaning Therefore, Le Loi High School students find it difficult to globally understand spoken or written discourse, most probably because they lack the ability to guess word meanings from context So they tend to forget the meanings of new words quickly and find it difficult handling those words in the real situation Many students tend to ignore unknown words, which is thought completely problematic to vocabulary learning Using the contexts in which words appear, that is, a sentence in which the words to be learned appears will help students derive the meaning of these unknown words Therefore, this problem is well worth taking into consideration Additionally, various types of exercises included in the GCSE examination involves in the guessing technique such as: reading comprehension, synonyms and antonyms or vocabulary and structure parts Students who are not good at guessing technique often have the habit of ignoring the new words, which results in ignoring the exercises and choose the options randomly without any consideration That bad habit doesn’t bring them the good result in the exam, which includes a large number of new words III Training the guessing technique from context for 12th grade students preparing for the GCSE examination During the time the study was carried out, I often gave some related activities for practicing guessing technique in learninng vocabulary that students had just learnt The new words were explained clearly in some ways so that students could guess the clues, understand the word meanings and they were able to use them effectively I also gave the procedure of training lessons in which students had chances practicing with the guessing technique in learning vocabulary III.1 Procedure of training the guessing technique in classroom As I refered in the theoritical background, I constructed students to follow the steps by Nation and Coady (1988) because it is not too difficult for students to understand and follow TRAINING LESSON Part 1: Theory ` Guide students how to guess the meanings of unknown words from context + Step 1: Look at the unknown word and find out what part of speech it is Is it a noun, a verb, an adjective, or an adverb? Example 1: She walks briskly to class so that she wouldn’t be late We can guess that “briskly” is an adverb because it is after the action verb “walk” + Step 2: Look at the clause or sentence containing the unknown word If the unknown word is a noun, what does this noun do, or what is done to it? And what adjectives describe it? What verb is it near? If it is a verb, what nouns does it go with? Is it modified by an adverb? If it is an adjective, what noun does it go with? If it is an adverb, what verb is it modifying? Example 2: We offered our condolence to the unhappy woman when her husband died The situation is her husband died and the key word is unhappy woman The question is what we should offer when someone feels unhappy because her husband died Naturally we will offer her sympathy So we can guess that condolence means sympathy + Step 3: Look at the relationship between the clause or sentence containing the unknown word and other sentences or paragraphs Sometimes this relationship will be signaled by conjunctions like “but, because, if, when”, or by adverbs like “however, as a result” The possible types of relationship include cause and effect, contrast, time, exemplification, explanation, condition, arrangement, classification, comparison and summary Example 3: My library at home is quite sparse; the central library, however, has a lot of books In the sentence, there is a contrast unit We can see that the author is contrasting two ideas “sparse” and “has a lot of books” Therefore, “sparse” has the opposite meaning to “has a lot of books”, “few books” can be acceptable + Step 4: Use the knowledge you have gained from steps to to guess the meanings of the word and check if your guess is correct (a) See that the part of speech of your guess is the same as the part of speech of the unknown word If it is not the same, then something is wrong with your guess (b) Break the unknown word into its prefix, root, and suffix, if possible If the meanings of the prefix and root correspond to your guess, it is good If not, look at your guess again, but not change anything if you feel reasonably certain about your guess (c) Replace the unknown word with your guess If the sentence makes sense, your guess is probably correct Part 2: Practice Identify the part of speech of the underlined words and guess the meanings of those words During the winter, having to take a cold shower makes me shiver all over He’s such a mournful person that just being around him makes me sad, too Many ships have vanished during hurricanes All crews have disappeared and have never been found Students! Students! Please stop chattering and listen to me Class has begun so you cannot enjoy talking Every atlas has its own legend The street is crowded with conveyances of all descriptions, such as buses, bicycles, cars and automobiles Iran is trying to restore many of its ancient buildings For example, Persepolis- Iran’s oldest building-is being partially rebuilt by a group of Italian experts The girl always prevaricated when she was caught in the act of cheating and didn’t want the truth to be known Although the rigors of the job were great for example, the long hours, the lifting of heavy loads, the very hot and then very cold temperatures outdoors George didn’t complain because the pay was good 10 Be careful with this knife its edge is so keen that you can shave with it KEY: Shake Sad Disappeared Talking Myth Transportation Rebuilt 8.Speak misleadingly Difficult condition 10 Sharp TRAINING LESSON Exercise 1: Determine the part of speech of the underlined words in the following sentences: Announcements of births, marriages and death appear in some newspapers The planet Mercury is visible to the naked eye but is not the easiest planet to spot The burglar alarm was activated by mistake Be careful with the stimulating effect of coffee He is late- he’s probably stuck in a traffic jam One of the main cause of the liberation of women was the development of birth-control methods Above the snow line, any mountain hollow is permanently occupied with snow The glass factories of Toledo, Ohio, boomed after Michael Owens invented a process that turned out bottles by the thousands Have you got any comments on the new agrarian laws 10 Those so-called friends of hers are a bad influence on her Key answers: 1 V Adj N Adj Adj N V V Adj 10 Adj Exercise 2: Read the short paragraph below, underline the nonsense words and try to guess the meanings of the words, basing on the context The big yellow school gleek pulled to a stop at the corner The driver opened the door and I climbed up the steps to get on board I walked down the narrow zupher looking for an empty seat Then I saw my friend Jack waving to me from the last row “Over here, Janet!” he yelled I nodded and made my way toward him I took my norjot filled with books and placed it under the seat Then I plopped down beside him and enjoyed the ride to blat SUGGESTED KEY: Gleek means “bus” The clue words: big yellow school, pulled to a stop, driver Zupher means “aisle” The clue words: walked, narrow, empty seat Norjot means “schoolbag” The clue words: filled with books, placed it under the seat Blat means “school” The clue words: the ride to Plop means “sit” The clue words: seat, beside him III.2 Applying the guessing technique in GCSE examination III.2.1 Multiple choice section This section mostly includes the questions referring to the word form To deal with that type of questions, it is not necessary that students translate and understand the whole sentence, but pay attention to the part of speech, identify then choose the suitable option for the missing part of speech Below are some model questions quoted from the sample GCSE tests Questions Explaination Answe r 10 Obviously, the data illustrated above have shown that the examined teaching strategy can lead to a growth in comprehension skills of students The data collection instruments used to gather information about the students involved, monitor the progress of the students, and assess the students, both prior to the intervention as well as after its conclusion, have been extremely useful in this research It can be said that using guessing technique is a realistic practice to enhance students’ vocabulary, a very vital part in the GCSE examination Based on the data discussed above, it is a satisfactory conclusion that practice with guessing technique over the the practice lessons assisted students with increasing their understanding of word meaning in context The students exposed to the guessing technique were able to guess the unknown word by looking at the context in the sentence, which enhance their understanding of the whole sentence and lead to the good result of the exam By using the guessing technique, the students were more confident when dealing with the exercises full of unknown words This strategy worked very well for the students that needed as the preparation for the GCSE examination 19 PART 3- CONCLUSION The results of the study clearly show that the implementation of this action research project and its results were fairly effective Guessing the word meanings from context is a precious skill and the students’ competence of guessing the meanings of unknown words from context was enhanced noticeably It seems that training in guessing word meanings from context helps improve vocabulary learning because it encourages learners to give deliberate thoughtful attention to vocabulary items They are trained to guess through clear steps Being able to guess word meanings in the reading text as well as in their daily life makes them more confident in their learning, it will result in making progress in their language learning, especially in the GCSE examination From the result of the study, there are some recommendations I wish the headmaster as well as the whole school would take into consideration: - The guessing technique is a time- consuming one, so it is necessary to have the extra class so that the students will have more chances to master with this precious skill - This study is carried out mainly within vocabulary in the reading section With other difficult skills, especially speaking and listening, practicing this technique in a crowed class of 45 students seems to be difficult It is necessary that all the equipments are available so that teachers can vary the types of context that are used in the lesson 20 Signature of Principle Thanh Hoa, May 10th, 2017 Hereby, I certify that this study is the result of my own experience and has not been submitted by any others Writer Lê Thị Thủy REFERENCES [1] Wilkins, David A (1972) Linguistics and Language Teaching London Edward Arnold [2] Grellet, F (1981) Developing Reading Skills Cambridge University Press [3] Gairns, R & Redman, S (1986) Working with words - a guide to teaching and learning vocabulary Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [4] Nagy, W (1997) On the role of context in first- and second-language vocabulary learning In Schmitt, N and McCarthy, M (1997) Vocabulary: Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [5] Smith, F (1971) Understanding Reading New York: Holt, Rinchart & Winston [6] Nation, L S P (1983) Teaching and learning vocabulary English Language Institute, Wellington: University of Wellington [7] Nation, R & Coady, J (1988) Vocabulary and Reading In R Carter & M McCarthy (Eds.) Vocabulary and Language Teaching Essex: Longman 21 APPENDIX A PRE-TEST Time allowed: 45 minutes Name: …………………………… Class:……… A A A A A Choose the best answer by circling A, B, C or D The ……… have suffered from a serious physical of mental disability educated B aged C handicapped D orphans Tay, Nung, Muong, etc….are ………… minorities main B national C ethnic D voluntary That …… boy often plays tricks on his friends well-behaved B honest C obedient D mischievous The competition was … by the Students’ parents society sponsored B finished C limited D ignored Without your ……, you cannot smell the fragrance of flowers eyes B nose C hands D ears Over 50 ……… were invited to Mr and Mrs Brown’s wedding anniversary A party witness B guests C customers D clients 22 A He is a ………… person because he is always friendly with everyone good- natured B honest C helpful D.quick-witted Another alternative source of energy is …………, which comes from deep A inside the earth geothermal heat B wind energy C water energy D fossil fuels All fossil fuels are ……… resources that cannot be replaced after use A renewable B non- renewable C available D unlimited A 10 A 11 A 12 A 13 A 14 A Its population has …… from 1.3 million to 1.8 million decreased B fell C dropped D increased Dinosaurs became ……… millions of years ago gone B disappear C extinguish D extinct Hunting for meat and burning forests for soils …… wildlife protect B conserve C destroy D survive People in China and Vietnam should …… the size of their family look after B limit C lengthen D maximize Petroleum, iron, silver, gold and other metals are natural …… environments B products C reserves D resources Streets are …… with colored lights and red banners on Tet holiday hanged B put up C decorated D painted Choose the best answer that best substitutes the underlined part in 15 A 16 A 17 A 18 each of the following sentences Solar energy is not only plentiful and infinite but also clean and safe boundless B unlimited C indefinite D inflexible Your failure is the consequence of not studying hard enough for the test cause B motive C result D status These old women found that mowing their lawns was not easy bending B cutting C blowing D growing The Prime Minister flew to the city and stimulated the spirit of the A 19 competitors helped B experienced C supported D encouraged Laws have been introduced to prohibit the killing of endangered A 20 animals advise B decrease C ban D encourage Agrarian people depend on the lunar calendar to prepare for their A crops gardeners B planters C farmers D highlanders 23 21 A 22 A 23 Those competitors always try their best to win the game audiences B participants C contestants D judges I keep stamps However, I would not call myself an avid stamp collector keen B active C major D complete The course can be as simple as bricklaying or as sophisticated as making A 24 your own stock market decisions external B intensive C advanced D complicated Scientists and engineers can work to find out ways to lessen the amount A of pollution provide B increase C reduce D enforce Read the passage and choose the best answer by circling A, B, C or D In the world today, particularly in the two most industrialized areas, North America and Europe, recycling is big news People are talking about it, practicing it, and discovering new ways to be sensitive to the environment Recycling means findings was to use products a second time The motto of the recycling movement is the 3Rs: “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” The first step is to reduce garbage In stores, a shopper has to buy products in blister packs, boxes, and expensive plastic wrappings A hamburger from a fast food restaurant comes in lots of packaging: usually paper, a box, and a bag All that packaging is wasted resources People should try to buy things that are wrapped simply, and to reuse cups and utensils Another way to reduce waste is to buy high- quality products When low quality appliances break, many customers throw them away and buy new ones - a loss of more resources and more energy For example: if a customer buys a high-quality appliance that can be easily repaired, the manufacturer receives an important message In the same way, if a customer chooses a product with less packaging, that customer sends an important message to the manufacturers In fact, customers can vote with their wallet To reduce garbage, the throwaway must stop 24 The second step is to reuse It is better to buy juices and soft drinks in returnable bottles After customers empty the bottles, they return them to the store The manufacturers of the drinks collect the bottles, wash them, and then fill them again The energy that is necessary to make new bottles is saved In some parts of the world, returning bottles for money is a common practice In those places, the garbage dumps have relatively little glass and plastic from throwaway bottles The third step is being environmentally sensitive is to recycle Spent motor oil can be cleaned and used again Aluminum cans are expensive to make It takes the same amount of energy to make one aluminum can as it does to run a color TV set for three hours When people collect and recycle aluminum (for new cans), they help save one of the world’s precious resources 25 A 26 Which is described as one of the most industrialized areas? Europe B Asia C Middle East D South America What does the word “sensitive” in the phrase “sensitive to the A 27 A B C D 28 A B C D environment” mean? cautious B logical C friendly D responding Why is it a waste if customers buy low-quality products? Because people will soon throw them away Because they have to be repaired many times Because customers change their ideas all the time Because they produce less energy What does it means when saying “Customers can vote with their wallets”? They can choose the cheapest products They can cast a lot to praise a producer They can ask people to choose products with less packaging They can tell the producers which products are good for environment by 29 A 30 A buying them The word “motto” is closest in meaning to …… meaning B slogan C banner D reference What are the two things mentioned as examples of recycling? Aluminum cans and plastic wrappings 25 B C D Hamburger wrappings and spent motor oil Aluminum cans and spent motor oil TV sets and aluminum cans 32 Which of the followings can be used as packaging? A paper and a bag B a box and a cup C cups and utensils D a box and cups 33 What does “ones” in paragraph refer to? A customers B products C resources D manufacturers 34 A Which of the following words can be replaced to “practice” in the passage? drill B exercise C deed D belief 35 The word “precious” is closest in meaning to ………… A natural B substantial C first D valuable IV Complete the following passage with suitable words members organizations established natural disasters suffered countries Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), which means “Doctors Without Borders”, was (36)…… in 1971 It is now one of the world’s largest independent (37)……… that provides emergency medical relief The aim of the organization is to help people who have (38)…… badly in wars or (39)……… such as earthquakes or floods MSF relies on volunteer 26 professionals but also works closely with local professionals; in most projects, there are seven local staff (40)……… to everyone foreigners APPENDIX B POST-TEST Time allowed: 45 minutes Name: …………………………… Class:……… 27 A A A Choose the best answer by circling A, B, C or D The … of the world has been increasing faster and faster population B organization C profession D police The university is … number one in the country for engineering ordered B classified C arranged D ranked In Viet Nam, Tet is the grandest and most important …… in the year occasion B season C tradition D vision Because of people’ s…… with the environment, many kinds of plants and A animals are becoming rare supply B survival C influence D interference The … is the air, water and land in or on which people, animals and A A A A A 10 plants live consequence B environment C planet D resource Oil, coal and natural gas are … fuels made from decayed material unleaded B smokeless C solid D fossil All fossil fuels are … resources that can not be replaced after use unlimited B renewable C available D non-renewable Those who concern are very worried about the …… of many species disappearance B establishment C supply D provision It is hoped that … will soon be eradicated in our country literature B intelligence C literacy D illiteracy A person who has been chosen to speak or vote for someone else on A behalf of a group is called a(n)…… contestant B competitor C examinee D representative Choose the best answer that best substitutes the underlined part in 11 A 12 A 13 A 14 each of the following sentences Thanh Ba Post office is equipped with advanced technology modern B outdated C fashionable D beautiful The post office has a spacious and pleasant front office cramped B large C narrow D safe Our hotel offers the best services with well-trained staff well-behaved B impolite C beautiful D qualified If you want to send a document and not want to lose its original A 15 A 16 shape, send it by fax machine first B changed C modern D good You can save money if you send a parcel which is under 15 kg letter B package C box D present Many organizations have been set up and funds have been raised A established B collapsed C.delayed D decreased 28 17 There are numbers of things I like to in my free time A leisure B precious C busy D idle 18 My uncle, who is an accomplished guitarist, taught me how to play A unimpaired B skilled C ill- educated D unqualified 19 The offspring of some animals can be very vulnerable and need special care to be able to grow A friends B parents C babies D eggs 20 Tropical forests have supplied us with many sorts of plants for food, medicine and industry A affected B influenced C changed D provided 21 Certain chemicals have been banned because of their damaging effect on the environment A destruction B interaction C impact D effort 22 Deforestation is destroying large areas of tropical rain forests A changing B raising C becoming D damaging 23 The area is roped off because the water is seriously polluted A contaminated B disappeared C purified D endangered 24 He got the stamps but threw away the envelopes A discarded B kept C gathered D collected 25 There are many other hobbies such as listening to music, reading and going camping 29 A sports B pursuits C courses D decisions Read the passage and choose the best answer by circling A, B, C or D Butterflies are among the most extensively studied insects, an estimated 90 percent of the world’ s species have scientific names As a consequence, they are, perhaps, the best group of insects for examining patterns of terrestrial biotic diversity and distribution Butterflies also have a favourable image with the general public Hence, they are an excellent group for communicating information on science and conservation issues such as diversity Perhaps the aspect of butterfly diversity that has received the most attention over the past century is the striking difference in species richness between tropical and temperate regions For example: in 1875 one biologist pointed out the diversity of butterflies in the Amazon when he mentioned that about 700 species were found within an hour’s walk, whereas the total number found on the British islands did not exceed 66, and the whole of Europe supported only 321 This early comparison of tropical and temperate butterfly richness has been well confirmed A general theory of diversity would have to predict not only this difference between temperate and tropical zones, but also patterns within each region, and how these patterns vary among different animals and plant groups However, for butterflies, variation of species among the Amazon basin, tropical Asia, and Africa are still mostly “personal communication” citations, even for vertebrates In other words, unlike comparison between temperate and tropical areas, these patterns are still in the documentation phase 30 In documenting geographical variation in butterfly diversity, some practical decisions are made Diversity, number of species and species richness are used synonymously; little is known about the evenness of butterfly distribution The New World butterflies make up the preponderance of examples because they are the most familiar species It is hoped that by focusing on them, the errors generated by imperfect and incomplete taxonomy will be minimized 26 A Which aspect of butterflies does the passage mainly discuss? Their names B Their adaptation to different habitats C Their variety D Their physical characteristics 27 The word “consequence” in the passage is closest in meaning to? A result B requirements C explanation D analysis 28 Butterflies are a good example for communicating information about conservation issues because they …… A have been given scientific names B are viewed positively by people C are simple in structure D are found mainly in temperate climates 29 The word “striking” in the passage is closest in meaning to? A confusing B physical C noticeable D successful 30 The word “exceed” in the passage is closest in meaning to? A allow B locate C come close to D go beyond 31 All of the followings are mentioned as being important parts of a general theory of diversity EXCEPT……… 31 A migration among temperate and tropical zones B variation of patterns of distribution of species among different animals and plants C differences between temperate and tropical zones D patterns of distribution of species in each region 32 The author mentions “tropical Asia” in the passage as an example of a location where… A a general theory of butterfly diversity has not yet been firmly established B butterflies are affected by human populations C documenting plant species is more difficult than documenting butterfly species D butterfly behavior varies with climate 33 Which of the following is NOT well understood by biologists? A Differences in species richness between temperate and tropical regions B European butterfly habitats C Comparisons of behavior patterns of butterflies and certain animal groups D Differences in species richness within a temperate or a tropical region 34 The idea “little is known about the evenness of butterfly distribution” is that… 32 A we know about butterfly evenness distribution to some extent B we don’t know anything about butterfly evenness distribution C we know much about butterfly evenness distribution D there are many other things that we don’t know about butterfly evenness distribution 35 The word “generated” in the passage is closest in meaning to? A requested B caused C assisted D estimated 33 ... with the communicative approach than any other I.2 Guessing word meanings from context as a technique of vocabulary teaching and learning Guessing word meanings from context is one of many available... the data illustrated above have shown that the examined teaching strategy can lead to a growth in comprehension skills of students The data collection instruments used to gather information about... can be said that using guessing technique is a realistic practice to enhance students vocabulary, a very vital part in the GCSE examination Based on the data discussed above, it is a satisfactory