Abstract:

Inference making is a core ability in text comprehension. Readers have to draw inferences about all the intended meanings of texts that are not explicitly stated. The relevance of inferences is vast – from solving anaphoric references, drawing causal conclusions, to understanding irony and reading between the lines. A number of studies have indicated that even short interventions may help students gain significant competence in inference making – with generalisation effects on standardised measures of text comprehension. This talk presents examples of such studies and discusses what causes the effects and their robustness. In particular, it compares effects for students who read in either their first or a second language.