Numerous studies have been done and much research has been gathered on  the reading strategy which involves guessing (Dycus,1997).  Findings indicate  that it is quite popular and adopted by numerous educators. Although it was
 initially presented as a means of teaching the meaning of unknown words from
 context to native  L1 learners, the "guessing strategy" has been  applied to  L2 learners as well.  This article analyzes the reading process and discusses various perspectives of when this particular strategy is effective, and to
 what degree.  Finally, it presents studies which indicate its effectiveness
 justify its use, and at the same time questions whether or not it should
 actually be used by adult L2 learners.
 
      This article review has two purposes:  (a)  to demonstrate that active
 teaching of vocabulary is crucial to effective reading comprehension and that
 it must correlate listening, speaking, and reading components;  and (b)  to
 suggest that although studies show that the strategy of guessing and word
 association may enhance and assist general comprehension in certain cases, it
 may hinder and obstruct learning in others.
 
      The theories which support guessing word meaning from context are based
 on studies which indicate that word association enhances vocabulary and words
 can be better recognized if they are taken in context than out of context
 (Coady and Nation,1988; Liu and Nation, 1985).  Supporters feel that
 traditional instructional methods of vocabulary teaching are time consuming
 and lengthy.  Some  believe that dictionary usage interrupts the flow of
 reading (Brown, 1972).  Others feel that  we can justify the use of the
 guessing strategy due to the tremendous amount of words in the English
 language that   actually need to be learned. The article includes evidence that there are,
 however,  interesting conclusions regarding vocabulary teaching (Barnett,1988;
 Laufer,1996) and its importance.

      Guessing is a very sophisticated strategy.  As ESL teachers, in many
 cases we deal with unsophisticated learners.  In the American educational
 system, each and every student is educated no matter how disadvantaged they
 are.  In this article, readers are classified only as "beginners",  "intermediate" and "advanced". The reality is that many of
 our L2 learners  come from backgrounds of no education, weak education, generally lacking
 intellectually. A professor who has never taught in a situation with this   type of students would be more likely to say that perhaps Goodman’s (1967)   famous model of
 "reading as a psycholinguistic guessing game" is a possibility.  The
 studies
 that were mentioned in this article seemed to be centered around elite groups
 of  well-educated, intelligent students with confidence and self-esteem.  A
 far more realistic presentation should have included the disadvantaged L2
 learners as well.

      Based on my experience, I have learned that a more selective and
 eclectic approach that suits the needs of the learner and the teacher is
 imperative from the very beginning.  You cannot assume that L2 learners have
 guessing strategy abilities or any amount of vocabulary storage.  We, as
 teachers, are responsible for helping and guiding our students to develop a
 vocabulary by correlating listening, speaking and reading.  They need the
 oral component, they do need to be taught vocabulary, and they must hear a
 great deal of            meaningful language.

      There are many methods teachers use to teach vocabulary or to encourage
 vocabulary self-learning by their students.  Through my experience I have
 observed that words learned intentionally through reading are better retained
 than words that are just stumbled upon and casually learned.  L2 learners
 need multiple readings of new material.  Teachers should first preview the
 text for troublesome words and say these words and their dictionary meanings
 into a tape.  By first identifying the unknown words and their meanings, the
 words become familiar and the teacher can then discuss the content of the
 text with the students and encourage oral repetition. Using a cassette tape
 for reinforcement is extremely effective since the students can take it home
 and as they listen to it the language comes alive again.  Dictionary use
 should be encouraged  and in no way should it be considered as a means of
 interrupting the flow or reading (Brown,1972).  The teacher must assist in
 finding the definitions since even the dictionary may need a guessing
 strategy. Sometimes inferential skill is needed to decide which meaning is
 correct, based on the understanding of the context, and for our L2 learners
 this is often impossible to do on their own. By seeing, hearing, and then
 reading this word’s definition, they increase their chances of remembering
 the word and gain a better understanding of what they are reading.  If the
 learner does not have teacher assistance in this manner, the average learner
 will ignore the unknown word, skip over it, miss the meaning of the sentence,
 the meaning of the paragraph, and in many cases, the meaning of the entire
 story.  A more highly motivated or intelligent learner will use the
 dictionary but will have difficulty when there are multiple meanings.  When
 the text has many new words, students quickly despair and are discouraged.
 When the vocabulary of the text is more familiar, students are more likely to
 continue with the reading task.  I strongly feel that mastery of vocabulary
 is crucial to language literacy.  Although it is time-consuming, it is well
 worth the effort..

                                             3
 
      Walter Lidman, former New Jersey Bilingual / ESL Teacher of the Year,
 has provided a meaningful dimension to my research. His extensive background
 and wealth of experience in the education of minority learners has certainly
 given me valuable insight.  According to W. Lidman (personal communication,
 September 22, 2000), after the vocabulary is read aloud and understood,
 actual reading of the text takes place. The teacher should always do the
 first reading.  Subsequently, students will want to read and should be
 encouraged to do so.  Reading lessons should be divided into manageable
 parts.  Beginners first learn to read. Confidence and experience together
 with teacher’s guidance helps L2 learners to read and comprehend.  The new
 words are  now understood and reinforced as meaningful questions about the
 story are discussed.  Lidman insists that a large vocabulary is not a
 prerequisite for L2 learners and fully supports views on active teaching of
 vocabulary.  Having worked under his tutelage, I tend to agree with him. When
 students are ready, they will begin to read.

      The article in question mentions that the successful use of the guessing
 strategy often depends on the extent of global knowledge.  I agree with
 theorists who support that in some cases,  L2 readers can predict the content
 of a text on the basis of a pre-existing schema.  When students read, these
 schema help the reader to decode and interpret the message beyond the printed
 words.  The intelligent, older, more proficient reader, is predicting,
 hypothesizing, and reorganizing his understanding of the message as it
 unfolds while reading.  I have observed this quality in my husband, an
 intelligent, educated, adult L2 learner.  In essence, he is subconsciously
 using the skills he mastered as he learned his native Greek language and is
 applying these skills to his ESL learning.  My question, however, is how
 affective is all this "guessing" even at this level?  I find the
 answers to
 this question vague as well as unclear.  Timothy Bell from Kuwait University,
 in his article "Extensive Reading: Why? And How?’’ (Internet TESL
 Journal),
 mentions Tsang’s study (1996)  where silent reading is encouraged.  I cannot
 see how an L2 learner can aquire vocabulary growth and genuine understanding
 of the text effectively through this silent, self-inflicted guessing method.
 Any type of silent reading presupposes student initiated guessing strategies.
  How do we know if they have guessed correctly?  Perhaps only a select, elite
 group of L2 learners will be successful at the guessing strategy.  I have
 found, through my husband’s experiences, that guessing word meaning often
 causes misunderstanding.

 L2 learners are inclined to increase their reading and speaking command of a
 language if there is a structured method such as vocabulary teaching and if
 the learning is meaningful to the learner.  Social class, individual
 situation, and attitude, must be considered when researching and
 experimenting with strategies. It is important to remember that all learners
 are individuals and have different needs.  Teaching should be geared towards
 these needs.