- English Language Arts and Reading
- Grade 4
- Developing and sustaining foundational language skills
use context within and beyond a sentence to determine the relevant meaning of unfamiliar words or multiple-meaning words;
Nagy, W. E., Anderson, R. C., & Herman, P. A. (1987). Learning word meanings from context during normal reading. American Educational Research Journal, 24, 237–270. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/00028312024002237
Summary: This study investigated incidental learning of word meanings from context during normal reading. A total of 352 students in third, fifth, and seventh grades read either expository or narrative passages selected from grade-level textbooks and were tested on their knowledge of difficult words from the passages. Small but reliable gains in knowledge of words from the passages read were found at all grade and ability levels.