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Reading Strategy: Making Inferences

Reading Strategy: Making Inferences. Readers need to find the meaning behind the words. What Are Inferences?. Inferences are often referred to as what you “read between the lines.” Inferences are what the author implies or suggests.

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Reading Strategy: Making Inferences

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  1. Reading Strategy:Making Inferences Readers need to find the meaning behind the words.

  2. What Are Inferences? • Inferences are often referred to as what you “read between the lines.” • Inferences are what the author implies or suggests. • The author wants you, the reader, to make the jump to the same conclusion the author has made. • When the author implies something, the reader has to infer.

  3. What Happens When You Read? • While you read, your inside voice: • Makes guesses • Finds connecting points • Asks questions • Makes predictions • Personalizes the reading • Uses background knowledge to interpret

  4. A Simple Inference • If the skies suddenly grow very cloudy and the wind begins to whip around your legs, how do you infer? • You have seen this weather pattern before. • You have background knowledge about storms. • You make connections between your background knowledge and the current weather pattern. • Based on these connections, you make a prediction.

  5. Let’s Use Background Knowledge Even couples with only mild difficulties in communicating can have important misunderstandings. Marjorie, for example, wanted Ken to invite her to a favorite cocktail lounge overlooking a bay to celebrate their anniversary. She archly asked him, “Ken, do you feel like going out for a drink tonight?” Ken, who was feeling tired, missed the hidden message contained in her question. He responded, “No, I’m too tired.” Marjorie was extremely disappointed. Only after feeling hurt and sorry for herself did she realize that she had not communicated to Ken her real desire – to celebrate their anniversary. When she later made clear her true wish, he readily agreed to celebrate. Beck, Love is Never Enough

  6. What Can You Infer? Which of the assumptions listed below can be inferred from the text? • Marjorie and Ken are probably married? • Marjorie and Ken have been married for a long time? • Ken does not enjoy going out for drinks with his wife? • If Marjorie had expressed her wish more clearly, Ken would have probably agreed? • All couples can have communication problems?

  7. You Used Your Background Knowledge • Married couples have anniversaries. • Couples married both a short time and a long time have anniversaries. • Married couples you know have had misunderstandings and hurt feelings.

  8. You Used Hints in the Text and Asked Yourself Questions • Ken “readily agreed” is a clue. You asked yourself, “Does this mean he didn’t understand at first?” • “No, I’m too tired,” is a clue. You made a connection to this statement and Marjorie’s hurt feelings. • “For example” is a clue that a story is coming. You could predict that the author was going to give a specific example, or story, to illustrate the point.

  9. Guiding Questions To Help With Inferences • The author gave me a gift in the title. What prediction popped into my head from it? How does it help me? • Now that I’ve almost finished this passage, can I confirm my predictions? • What message do I think the writer wants me to understand? How will this help me remember the reading? • What words helped me reach my conclusions? • How can I explain my inference to somebody else?

  10. Mr. Perfect The minister asked for anyone who knew a truly perfect person to stand up. After a long pause, a meek-looking fellow in the back stood. “Do you really know a perfect person?” he was asked. “Yes, Sir, I do,” answered the little man. “Would you please tell the congregation who this rare, perfect person is?” pursued the preacher. “Yes, Sir, my wife’s first husband.” Bonham, The Treasury of Clean Jokes

  11. Questions and Observations for “Mr. Perfect” • How did the title help you? • Did your prediction of who the perfect person was hold true? • What message is the author conveying? • How did your background knowledge help you interpret the message? • What do you think the little man’s wife does to him at home? • Why did the author decide to make the man “little”? • How can you explain your inferences to somebody else?

  12. What Statements Can be Logically Inferred? • The minister is surprised when the man stands up. • The minister is doubtful that the man really knows a perfect person. • The man believes that his wife’s first husband is perfect. • The wife believes that her first husband is perfect. • The man’s wife has been comparing him unfavorably with her first husband.

  13. So, When We Infer, We… • Make inferences based on sound reasoning. • Use background knowledge to make connections and personalize the reading. • Ask internal questions while reading. • Make predictions and confirm or discard them as we continue reading. • Try to recognize the author’s purpose and message. • Make inferences using what is “between our ears.”

  14. “Writers give clues, but readers have to amass the evidence and draw conclusions for themselves.“ Zimmerman and Hutchins, 2003, p. 106

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