Effect of Context Cues Strategy on Students' Vocabulary Development in Reading Comprehension among Secondary School Students in Kontagora Metropolis, Niger State, Nigeria

This study examined the effect of context cues strategy on vocabulary development in reading comprehension among Senior Secondary School Two (SS2) students in Kontagora Metropolis, Niger State, Nigeria. Employing a quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test control group design, 160 students from two public schools were purposively sampled (80 males in the experimental group receiving explicit context cues instruction and 80 females in the control group exposed to conventional methods) over six weeks. Data were collected using a validated 20-item Reading Comprehension Achievement Test (RCAT) and analyzed via descriptive statistics and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at a 0.05 significance level. Results revealed a statistically significant improvement in vocabulary development for the experimental group (pre-test mean = 1.88, post-test mean = 4.32, mean gain = 2.44, F(1,157) = 343.157, p < .001, η² = .686), indicating a large effect size and superior performance over the control group (pre-test mean = 2.19, post-test mean = 2.65, mean gain = 0.46). Grounded in Rumelhart's (1977) Interactive Reading Model, the findings underscore the strategy's efficacy in enhancing word acquisition and retention through semantic, syntactic, graphophonic, and pragmatic cues. Recommendations include integrating context cues into the national English curriculum and mandating teacher training to address vocabulary deficits in under-resourced northern Nigerian contexts. Keywords: Context cues strategy; vocabulary development; quasi-experimental design; reading intervention; secondary education; Nigerian ESL; instructional efficacy.