Scientific Publications

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Abstract

The current study aims at investigating the role of context and its effects on identifying the correct meanings of polysemous words for First year EFL students at the department of English, Mohamed-Cherif Messaadia University, Souk-Ahras. To test the main hypothesis of this research that suggests that context or specifically co-text, which is the linguistic environment of a word, plays a significant role in perceiving the right meanings of polysemous words (words with multiple meanings), two instruments were used: an experiment which was conducted on a sample of 18 students chosen randomly from 150 first year students of English, and a questionnaire with the same sample. The gathered data illustrated that first year students of English face difficulties dealing with this kind of words. Yet, the context was of a great help in directing them to the appropriate interpretations of these words and thus to exploring the intended meanings. Based on the results, the hypotheses are confirmed. Hence, this study is a contribution to the field of teaching vocabulary and specifically polysemy as a very useful aspect of language.


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