Journal of General Education and Humanities
Vol. 5 No. 5 (2026): October

Beyond the Dictionary: Enhancing Inferential Reading Comprehension through Digital Contextual Guessing Strategies via Google Sites

Nanang Tri Cahyono (Universitas Negeri Surabaya)
Ahmad Munir (Universitas Negeri Surabaya)
Muhaimin Abdullah (Universitas Negeri Surabaya)



Article Info

Publish Date
07 Oct 2026

Abstract

Reading comprehension in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) remains a significant challenge for Indonesian students, particularly at the inferential level. The background of this study highlights a national literacy crisis where students face a severe "vocabulary bottleneck" and heavily rely on digital translation tools, leading to a cognitive "short-circuit" that disrupts reading flow and deep text comprehension. To address this issue, the present study integrates Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) as a multimodal digital scaffold to evaluate the effect of the Contextual Vocabulary Guessing Strategy via Google Sites on inferential reading comprehension. This study used a quasi-experimental, non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design with 63 eleventh-grade students from SMAN 1 Kandat, selected for homogeneity in prior proficiency scores. The experimental group (n = 30) received an intervention focusing on four context clues (definition, contrast, example, and logic) embedded in interactive texts concerning Gen Z health issues, while the control group (n = 33) followed conventional teacher-led translation methods. Data were collected using a validated and reliable 20-item multiple-choice test mapped to Barrett's Taxonomy. The Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) results revealed a significant main effect of the instructional strategy (F(1, 60) = 10.34, p = 0.002, partial eta squared = 0.147) after controlling for prior reading ability. The findings indicate that the digital contextual guessing intervention significantly improved students' inferential reading comprehension compared with conventional instruction.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

gehu

Publisher

Subject

Humanities Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media Mathematics Other

Description

The Journal of General Education and Humanities (GEHU) is a peer-reviewed scholarly online journal. The GEHU is published quarterly in February, May, August, and November. The GEHU is a non-profit journal whose publication is free of charge. The articles should be original, unpublished, and not ...