by Stephen Shea

Created on: October 26, 2007

If you stand in front of a classroom full of people who don't speak English and say, "stand up," they won't get it. If you gesture while saying it, they will. The context of your gesture gives the unfamiliar sound meaning.

One of the ways to tap into the brain's hard-wired ability to learn language, even as adults, is through vocabulary in context.

Think of this in terms of your everyday language. If you encounter a new word, you may get an impression of its meaning by the context. For example, if an author writes critically about a person and calls that person a "quisling," you may not understand the word, but you do understand it has a negative connotation. The next time you encounter that word, you will be better prepared to absorb its meaning.

This is a more effective way of learning new words than reading the dictionary cold.

Elementary school teachers know that students are best matched with texts in which they already know about 95% of the words. Students that know fewer are likely to struggle and give up. Those who know all of the words already are not learning to read new ones.

Something similar works for later language learners, as well as adults learning specialized vocabulary in their first language. We "bridge" gaps in our vocabulary, learning words that are useful in a particular context. The meaning, one that is important to the reader, anchors the word in memory. And the meaning is evident from context, if not in explicit detail, then at least in general outline.

For example, an antique car enthusiast may read about an unfamiliar mechanical feature, and by the use of the term, its context, gain an understanding of what it is. Knowing some mechanics and most of the other terms allows this reader to acquire the new word quickly.

In less technical aspects, this happens with language learners as well. When I was lost in an Italian city, I asked a friendly passerby in very basic Italian for directions to where I was going to meet someone. The man pointed and said to turn right "per il semforo."

Well, that didn't do me any good. I tried to think what a semforo might be, and kept walking for several blocks until the same man tapped me on the shoulder.

He pointed at the traffic light I had just passed. "Semforo," he said, and smiled.

Even though I haven't been to Italy in a decade, I still know the words I learned in context.

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