本論文探索詞彙語意、閱讀理解和上下文線索的關係。本論文仿照陳碧珠2004年的論文，利用LSM (Lexical Semantic Matrix) 來輔助學生察覺和組織上下文對於動詞的線索。陳碧珠利用LSM當作教學的架構來幫助學生習得未知名詞。然而本論文探討的是動詞，因此原先的LSM被修改並且擴充成兩個。因為只有實驗組的學生在LSM的輔助下接受詞彙語意的教學，因此本論文旨在發現LSM的實施是否能夠幫助學生們於字彙推理，閱讀能力和上下文線索的使用。學生來自於大一英聽課的兩個班。結果顯示，LSM的使用對於學生的字詞語意組織有所幫助。而實驗組的總體表現，在總分、字彙推理分數和上下文線索使用頻率這三方面上比對照組來的好。不過對於閱讀方面，兩組的成績並無明顯的差異。

The present study explored the relations among lexical semantics, reading comprehension and contextual clues.  The study was modeled on that of Chen’s study, making use of Lexical Semantic Matrix, LSM, designed by Chen in her study, to guide the learners in detecting and organizing contextual clues to meanings of unknown verbs.  The LSM was used in Chen’s study as an instructional framework for guiding learners in inferring meanings of unknown nouns.  Since verbs rather than nouns are the focus of the present study, the LSM was modified and expanded.  Only the experimental group received the instruction on lexical semantics with the help of LSMs, so the present study aimed to find out whether the implementation of LSMs could enhance the students’ vocabulary inferencing ability, reading comprehension, and use of contextual clues.  The subjects were from two language drills classes in Tamkang University.  The results showed that the LSM seemed to improve the students’ lexical semantic network.  In addition, with regard to overall performance on the part of the experimental group, compared with the control group, the experimental group outperformed the control group in three aspects: the total scores, their vocabulary inferencing scores, and frequency of their use of contextual clues.  As for the performance on reading comprehension scores, no significant differences were found, which indicated that the experimental group did not perform better than the control group in this aspect.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 

1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………….1

1.1	Background……………………………………………………………………1
1.2	Research Problems…………………………………………………………….2
1.3	Purpose of the study…………………………………………………………...4
1.4	Research questions…………………………………………………………….5
1.5	Significance of the study………………………………………………………6
1.6	Definition of terms…………………………………………………………….6
1.7	Organization of the study……………………………………………………...7


2. LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………………………….9

2.1	Vocabulary Learning…………………………………………………………..9
2.2	Reading Comprehension in Language Learning.……………………………..15
2.2.1  Psycholinguistic View of Reading…………………………………....16
     2.2.2  Implications of Psycholinguistic View……………………………….17
     2.2.3  Interactive Approach………………………………………………….18
     2.2.4  Top-down and Bottom-up Processing………………………………...19
2.3  Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension………………………………..…....20
2.4  Contextual Clues in Reading Comprehension…………….…………………..23
2.5  Lexical Semantic Matrix in Chen’s Study…………………………………… 28
2.6  Summary………………………………………………………………………29

3. METHODOLOGY………………………………………………………………30

3.1	Subjects……………………………………………………………………… .30
3.2	Instruments…………………………………………………………………….31
3.2.1   Lexical Semantic Matrix…………………………………………… 32
3.2.2   The Function and Purpose of LSM………………………………….35
3.3  Procedures……………………………………………………………………..37
3.4  Data and Analysis……………………………………………………………...40

4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS………………………………………….........42

4.1	Correlations…………………………………………………………………...43
4.1.1   Correlations within the Experimental Group ……..........................44
       4.1.2   Correlations within the Control Group…………………………….45
4.2   Mean Comparison of the Pretest and the Posttest Results……………………47
4.3   T-tests on the Four Measures…………………………………………………50
4.4   Summary of Results…………………………………………………………..52
4.5   Discussion………………………………………………………………….....54
       4.5.1    Lexical Semantic Network in the study………………….............54
       4.5.2    Vocabulary Inference and Reading Comprehension……………..56
       4.5.3    Correlations among Four Aspects………………………………..59
       4.5.4    Contextual Clues in Vocabulary Inference.....................................61
4.6    Summary…………………………………………………………………….62

5. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………...64

5.1	Summary of the Study……………………………………………….............64
5.2	Pedagogical Implications……………………………………………………66
5.3	Limitations……………………………………………..……………………67
5.4	Suggestions for Future Research…………………………………………….68
5.5	Conclusion…………………………………………………………………...68
REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………...70
APPENDIX Ⅰ: Lexical Semantic Matrix (1) ……………………………………….79
APPENDIX Ⅱ: Lexical Semantic Matrix (2) ……………………………………….80
APPENDIX Ⅲ: Lexical Semantic Matrix of Chen’s Study………………………….81
APPENDIX Ⅳ: Syllabus of Reading Class for Language Drills Course……………82
APPENDIX Ⅴ: The Pretest and the Posttest………………………………………...83
APPENDIX Ⅵ: Correlations within the Experimental Group………………………89
APPENDIX Ⅶ: Correlations within Control Group…………………………………90

List of Tables
Table Page
Table 3.1 Lexical Semantic Matrix………………………………………………..32
Table 3.2 LSM of Verb Base Concepts……………………………………………35
Table 4.1 Correlations with the Experimental Group……………………………..45
Table 4.2 Correlations within Control Group……………………………………..46
Table 4.3 One-way ANOVA for the Pretest Scores of Both Groups……………...48
Table 4.4 One-way ANOVA for the Posttest Scores of Both Groups……………..49
Table 4.5 Results of T-test for the Experimental Group…………………………..51
Table 4.6 Results of T-test for the Control Group………………………………...52

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