Inference

Primary

Elementary

Middle School

Inferring with Wordless Picture Books

Inferring with Poetry

Inferring with Amigo Brothers

Inferring with Objects

Inferring with The Jolly Postman

by Janet & Allan Ahlberg

Inferring with

Harris Burdick

Using wordless picture books, ask students to tell their own story based on what they see in the pictures.

INFER what Rikki-Tikki’s behavior might be like from the information below.

“He was a mongoose, rather like a little cat in his fur and his tail, but quite like a weasel in his head and his habits.”

Inferring with characterization

In a scaffolded reading activity, students can use Piri Thomas's short story, Amigo Brothers, to practice inferring.

Using the mysterious Harris Burdick pictures, students can infer what they believe is happening. Then, students can practice their research skills by visiting credible websites to research the meaning behind the pictures

Using quotes from Shakespeare's famous play, students can infer character traits.

As a pre-reading activity, show students

pictures of their local post office. Ask students questions about the building, the people, etc.

Then, read The Jolly Postman together.

Using objects, young children can infer and predict what a story may be about. For "Rumble in the Jungle," a teacher may bring in stuffed jungle animals and ask questions which require inferencing.

Based on the expression of the boy’s face and that of his parents, INFER what the boy might be thinking or feeling.

"Good Night, Good Night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,

that I shall say goodnight till it be morrow!"

-Juliet

Using direct quotes from The Great Gatsby, students can make predictions about characters as a before reading activity.

Inferring with

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_rezXybW-fTo/SjL7rX-NteI/AAAAAAAAAPo/QJYgPKL-SMk/s400/rikki+tikki+tavi+1.jpg

“I looked outdoors for a minute and it’s very romantic outdoors. There’s a bird on the lawn that I think must be a nightingale come over on the Cunard or White Star Line. He’s singing away—It’s romantic, isn’t?”

-Daisy Buchanan

Using Rudyard Kipling's Rikki Tikki Tavi, students can practice inferring as a pre-reading strategy.

Using poetry, students can practice their inferencing skills

before applying it to a full length text.

High

School

Instructional Activities

Increasing Comprehension

Other Student Texts for Inferring

& Engaging Learners

In order for students to perform a variety of tasks, both inside and outside of the classroom, they must possess the ability to effectively make inferences, or “read between the lines.” Inferring is a critical step in the process of comprehension and in understanding an author’s purpose and overall impact (Kipsal, 2008). Furthermore, “Comprehension emerges as the results of inference and strategic processes that support the construction of a coherent mental model for a text” (Magliano, Millis, Levinstein, & Boonthum, 2011). In order to determine the relationship between inferencing skills, language skills, and listening comprehension among 4-6 year-olds, a longitudinal study was conducted of one-hundred students. Results indicate, through picture book viewing, that students’ ability to infer plays a significant role their vocabulary knowledge, sentence memory, and, subsequently, their narrative listening comprehension (Lepola, Lynch, Laakkonen, Silven, & Niemi, 2012).

Primary/Elementary Grades

Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting

Tight Times by Barbara Shook Hazen and Trina Schart Hyman

Winter Fox by Catherine Stock

Middle/High School

Thank You Ma'am by Langston Hughes

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Ninny by Anton Chekov

According to Gasa (2010), "The ability to infer is enabled by the ability to see the full significance of select words and statements and what their combinations might logically suggest. It involves the deep knowledge and instant recognition of backgrounds, contexts, and relationships that typify certain situations and episodes." Therefore, the ability to effectively infer creates meaning within different contexts for both struggling and non struggling readers, thus encouraging student engagement. For example, humor, comedy, and irony are all dependent upon a reader's or audience's ability to make connections between unstated, but understood, relationships. Students feel satisfaction when they recognize the missing connection in order to give meaning to a joke or ironic situation. This is a feeling of personal achievement that extends beyond the four walls of the classroom as students begin to recognize that inferring is a critical, and natural, aspect of the thought process. Once they understand inference, they will begin to understand the role it plays in their daily lives.

Teacher Resources for Inferring

Background

Daniels, H. & Steinke, N. (2011). Texts and Lessons for Content-

Area Reading. Heinemann.

McGregor, T. (2007). Comprehension Connections: Bridges to

Strategic Reading. Heinemann.

Robb, L. (2010). Teaching Reading in Middle School: A Strategic

Approach to Teaching Reading that Improves Comprehension and Reading. Scholastic.

Inference

Successful readers demonstrate the ability to effectively decode words and read with fluency. However, and perhaps more importantly, they are able to comprehend the texts that they read. Teachers are faced with the challenge, therefore, to determine which specific instructional practices will foster critical thinking and increase students' comprehension by explicitly teaching them effective reading strategies (Gambrell & Morrow, 2011, p. 251).

Jennifer Bjork

Traci Michaud

Inference plays a critical role in comprehension. According to Thomas & Thorne (2012), "To infer is to draw a conclusion — to conclude or surmise from presenting evidence. An inference is the conclusion drawn from a set of facts or circumstances. If a person infers that something has happened, he does not see, hear, feel, smell, or taste the actual event. But from what he knows, it makes sense to think that it has happened."

References

Busy Teacher's Cafe. (n.d.). Comprehension Strategies. Retrieved October 8, 2012.

http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/literacy/comprehension_strategies.html#inferring

EDGCI 526

Comprehension Strategy

Gosa, R. (2010). Increasing reading comprehension through comedy, inference, and irony. Retrieved

from http://www.raygosabooks.com/pdf/IncReading.pdf

Increasing Reading Comprehension Through Comedy, Inference, and Irony is a component of the

Bridging the chasm Literacy Program

Authors IMPLY, but readers INFER

Kipsal, A. (2008). Effective teaching of inference skills for reading. National Foundation for

Educational Research. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/recordDetails.jsp?ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED501868&searchtype=keyword&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&_pageLabel=RecordDetails&accno=ED501868&_nfls=false&source=ae

Lepola, J., Lynch, J., Laakkonen, E., Silven, M., & Niemi, P. (2012). The role of inference making and

other language skills in the development of narrative listening comprehension in 4-6-year-old children. Reading Research Quarterly, 47. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/recordDetails.jsp?ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ972141&searchtype=keyword&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&_pageLabel=RecordDetails&accno=EJ972141&_nfls=false&source=ae

Inference, the reader's interpretation based on background knowledge and experience, should not be confused with implications, which is something that the author makes.

Magliano, J.P., Millis, K.K., Levinstein, I., & Boonthum, C. (2011). Assessing comprehension during

reading with the reading strategy assessment tool (RSAT). Metacognition and Learning, 6. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/recordDetails.jsp?ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ933559&searchtype=keyword&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&_pageLabel=RecordDetails&accno=EJ933559&_nfls=false&source=ae

Morrow, L.M., & Gambrell, L.B. (2001). Best practices in literacy instruction. New York, New York:

The Guilford Press.

Thomas, A. & Thorne, G. (2012). Higher order thinking. Reading Rockets. Retrieved

from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/34651/