This study aimed to analyze the contextual meanings found in three narrative texts, Timun Mas, Titanic, and The Two Elves, from the 10th-grade English textbook SIAP Merdeka Belajar Bahasa Inggris. Based on Mansoer Pateda’s (2010) theory of contextual meaning, the study identified and interpreted eleven types of contextual meaning: personal context, situational context, purposive context, formal or informal context, mood context, context of time, context of place, object context, completeness of context, linguistic context, and language context. A descriptive qualitative method was employed, with data gathered from selected narrative texts in the textbook. The analysis involved stages of data reduction, data display, and drawing conclusions. The findings revealed that all three texts contained multiple types of contextual meaning, with situational and mood context being the most frequently identified across the texts. Each text presented distinct contextual characteristics: Timun Mas emphasized object context, Titanic balanced mood, personal, and situational contexts, while The Two Elves featured strong situational and personal contexts. The results show that understanding contextual meaning is essential for interpreting narratives beyond the literal level, as meaning is influenced by characters’ identities, emotional states, intentions, cultural background, and narrative settings. This research contributes to the semantic study of English learning materials and highlights the value of context-based interpretation in narrative comprehension.
Keywords: semantics, contextual meaning, narrative texts, English textbook