Correct Response: A. Contextual analysis is an effective strategy for verifying the meaning of a word once it has been decoded. It is not effective as a stand-alone decoding strategy. Once a word has been decoded using word analysis strategies (e.g., phonics, syllabication, structural analysis), syntactic context clues (clues that reveal information about a word's grammatical function) and semantic context clues (clues provided by the meaning of the surrounding words in the sentence or passage) can help the reader determine the meaning of the word as it is being used in the passage. B is incorrect because dictionary definitions tend not to be helpful without the additional support of context to determine which of possibly several definitions is appropriate to the passage. C is incorrect because contextual analysis skills are enhanced by explicit instruction. D is incorrect because contextual analysis is a skill that can be used with any genre. Indeed, informational texts such as textbooks frequently use apposition and other contextual clues to help readers understand the meaning of new vocabulary.
