This book challenges prevailing linguistic presumptions concerning contextual lexical meaning by examining whether pedagogic intervention targeted at raising Chinese EFL learners awareness of the pragmatic nature of contextual lexical meaning can enhance the learners contextual lexical inferencing competence (CLIC). CLIC is crucial to the development of a learners vocabulary, reading ability and autonomy in reading. Through an empirical study conducted among a group of adult Chinese students of English, the author shows that the power of CLIC instruction lies mainly in its effectiveness in enhancing learners self-confidence in making lexical inferences. This book will be of interest to researchers and students of applied linguistics, TESOL, language education, and for language professionals keen to extend their research experience.

Gaiyan Wang is Professor at Xian International Studies University, China, and Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the University of Hawaii at Mnoa, USA. Her research focuses on second language vocabulary acquisition, focusing on vocabulary acquisition in reading contexts and the cognitive mechanisms involved in lexical inferencing and incidental vocabulary acquisition.

Chapter 1: Introduction.- Part One: CLIC: The Concept and Cultivation.- Chapter 2: Introduction: What is CLIC?.- Chapter 3: CLIC-Related Concepts& A CLIC Conceptual Model.- Chapter 4: In Search of Theoretical Foundations for CLIC Instructional Methods.- Part Two: A Pedagogical Experiment on CLIC Cultivation.- Chapter 5: Empirical Research Methodology.- Chapter 6: Preparation of the Data.- Chapter 7: Effects of Pedagogical Intervention.- Part Three: Further Thoughts on CLIC Pedagogy.- Chapter 8: CLIC Pedagogy: Reflections.