The Use Of Lexical Inference Strategy In Reading Comprehension By Chinese EFL Learners

The role of lexical inference strategy has received great attention due to the importance of vocabulary in reading comprehension. This study investigates the use of lexical inference strategy in reading comprehension by Chinese EFL learners. 100 junior students in Da Qing Petroleum Institute participated in this study. Data were collected through lexical inference strategy tests. The findings suggest that EFL learners use paraphrasing strategy, context clues, background knowledge clues as well as morphological clues in reading comprehension. Among the four strategies, context clue is the most frequently used strategy, morphological clue is the least used strategy. There is a great correlation between the use of lexical inference strategy and their reading comprehension scores. The findings lend support to the contribution of lexical inference strategy to better understanding in reading comprehension and call for explicit instruction of lexical inference strategy in English instruction.