Unit 1 Contextualizing Content

One of the areas that I am always stressing with students is the importance of using context clues while they are reading. Even in first language instruction people tend to rely on phonics or sounding out as a primary way to make sense of text. With young students we begin with picture cues to help them and then we move to semantics and syntax, when they are reading. Using context clues teaches the reader to use a variety of strategies: deduction, parts of speech, chunking and vocabulary activation to make sense of what they are reading. (Beare, 2020) these are all necessary strategies to improving reading skills. By encouraging the use of context clues students will become more fluent readers who enjoy reading texts better than if they are using a stop and start approach searching for text meaning through a translator or dictionary. I have included a link to the article which has some excellent suggestions for lessons.



Using context clues

Beare, Kenneth. (2020, February 11). Using Context for Reading Literacy in an ESL Class. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/reading-lesson-using-context-reading-literacy-1212011