The Importanceof Contextual Meaning in English Reading

ZHENG Na

(Hainan Foreign Language College of Professional Education,Wenchang Hainan 571321,China)

0 Introduction

As we know,reading is a kind of written and communicative activity which can not be comprehended though the use of non-verbal devices.Therefore,reading comprehension is more dependent on context,and students need to make use of every type of contextual knowledge in their reading.Malinowski pointed out that a word without linguistic context is just a meaningless segment and any language either spoken or written is meaningless but in context.In the Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching&Applied Linguistics,the definition of context is the following：that which occurs before and after a word,a phrase or even a longer UTTERANCE or a TEXT.In fact,reading material itself is a context,and the activity of comprehending a material also takes place in certain context.Thus,context plays a significant role in reading comprehension.

1 Context-based Approach to Reading

As we know,context is classified into linguistic context and nonlinguistic context.Linguistic context refers to the inner-linguistic factors which influence the meaning of language while non-linguistic context refers to the extra-linguistic factors which affect the practical use of language in the particular context.As both linguistic context and nonlinguistic contexts influence reading comprehension teaching from the following two perspectives respectively.

1．1 Applying Linguistic Context to Reading

1．1．1 Inferring the Meaning of New words

It is inevitable for students to encounter new words in reading materials even if they are good at English very well.So it is of great importance to teach students to infer meaning of new words from linguistic context.

(1)Synonym

A synonym is an expression that means the same as the new word that you need to know.Synonym include expressions such as or,and,that is,that means,i.e.,and in other words,etc.

For example：

Professor Liu remarked that the ideas were very clear,that is very concrete.

Obviously,clear is a synonym for concrete.

(2)Antonym

An antonym is an expression that means the opposite of another word.If readers see these words such as but,although,though,while,however,nevertheless,in contrast,on the other hand,etc.For example：

To be alive and not dead,innocent and not guilty,here we note that alive and dead are opposites.

When we see the next pair of words in a parallel construction,we can say that“innocent” is the opposite of“guilty”.

(3)Hyponymy

Sometimes a writer gives an example or examples in the context of a word.The examples may help us get the meaning of the new word.Expressions like such as,for instance,for example,take…for example,etc.

1．1．2 Predicting the Content of Reading

Prediction is an important skill in reading.Although we may not be able to predict every detail,we can often anticipate the general direction that the author is going.Prediction can be classified into two kinds：global and local.

(1)Global prediction

Global prediction deals with our question of the general topic of a text：” What is the text about?” The topic can be anticipated through the title or the headline of the text for it usually reflects the main idea of what the writer writes about.When writers chooses a title for his works,he always hopes it could show the main idea of what he writes about and it could attract the readers’attentions and arouse their interest in it.

(2)Local prediction

Local prediction deals with our constant questions “What will be next?”in the process of our reading.Linguistic context is much useful in making predictions for it contains many useful expressions and idioms.For example,cohesive phrases such as “first of all” in the first place”and “to begin with” supply us “secondly” in the second place” will follow.When we see” however”, “whereas”, “yet”,we know utterance will turn to another one.Those words are very important in contributing to our prediction.The first paragraph of an article or the first sentence of an article or the first sentence of a passage can also give you some hint about what will be written about in the following content.

1．2 Applying Non-linguistic Context to Reading

In addition to the linguistic factors,reading comprehension is also influenced by the non-linguistic ones.As for the reading material which appears in written form,the situation in which an event occurs should be explained clearly with words by the writer because the readers can’t experience it by themselves.Therefore，it is necessary to make students connect the meaning of a reading material with non-linguistic factors.

2 Introducing Related Cultural Background Knowledge before Reading

Cultural difference is a serious barrier of the mutual understanding between the Westerners and the Chinese people,so students should try to enlarge their world knowledge,especially the knowledge about the western cultures,customs,historical anecdotes and habits,etc.In this way,the cultural differences between the East and the West could be reduced and lessened.

For example：

Mr.Brown is a very white man.He was looking rather green the other day.He has been feeling blue lately.When Isaw him,he was in a brown study;I hope he will soon be in the pink again.(Hu Wenzhong,1997：323)

Without the involvement of cultural context,readers will be puzzled by the short paragraph,despite words and syntactic structures are relatively not complex.In the paragraph,those “colorful” words like white,green,blue,brown,and pink obviously do not mean just the color.Here white means faithful or reliable;green is usually used to indicate lacking in experience,training or knowledge,but here it means sickly;blue,spiritless;in a brown study,in a state of contemplation;and the last experience in the pink,in good health.

3 Conclusion

This thesis tentatively applies context in the teaching of English reading from two main aspects：context of linguistics and context of nonlinguistics.They help students make prediction,draw main ideas,infer implied meaning and the author’s tone or attitude,think independently about the topic involved in a certain text,and so on.The application of context suggests that reading should not be limited to the textbook and grammar points any more,and students should make great efforts to broaden students’eyesight by introducing all related knowledge into teaching,including both linguistic ones and non-linguistic ones,which can not only improve students’reading skills but also their English competency as a whole.

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