ABSTRACT
This research analyzes about context clues. This context is used to guess the unknown or unfamiliar word’s meaning in comprehending a text. Indeed, the use of context clues can help the readers in solving their problem, especially in comprehending in reading text. According to Robinson (1976:60), there are two kinds of context clues. They are syntactic clues and semantic clues. While Spears (2000: 98) states that there are four kinds of context clues. They are synonym, antonym, example, and situation clues. This research used both of those theories. It is used to complete each other.
Related to the phenomena above, this research aims to answer the following question; (1) what are the kinds of context clues found in reading section used in 2009 final examination (UAN) of senior high school, and (2) how the contexts clues are used in reading section in 2009 final examination (UAN) of senior high school.
This research is designed by using descriptive qualitative research. The data source of this research is Reading texts of “2009 final examination (UAN) of senior high school” because many students do not pass examination in that years because of their English score is bad. The data of this study are all sentences in the form of written text which is collected from six texts from eleven texts of Reading texts in 2009 Final Examination (UAN) of Senior High School.
The result of this research shows that in data finding found context clues reference to question and based on text. Reference to question there are five data found in Syntactic Clue and twelve data found in Semantic Clue form. Then, based on reading text, is found 2data in syntactic clue and15 data in semantic clue form. The use of context clues is very helpful for the readers to understand unknown word that they found in reading text because the readers can guess the meaning of unknown word by looking for the clues in the text. The readers not only can unlock the unfamiliar word but also they can get brief explanation of sentence by using context clues.
The researcher hopes that the results provide the useful information for other researchers. Through this research, the reader is expected to be able to identify the unfamiliar words meaning by using context clues in reading activities. The readers are also expected to be able to have capability in finding the kinds of context clues and be able to describe the way context clues use in Reading text.
