Training Inference Making Skills Using a Situation Model Approach Improves Reading Comprehension

Lisanne T. Bos*, Bjorn B. De Koning, Stephanie I. Wassenburg, Menno van der Schoot

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

This study aimed to enhance third and fourth graders’ text comprehension at the situation model level. Therefore, we tested a reading strategy training developed to target inference making skills, which are widely considered to be pivotal to situation model construction. The training was grounded in contemporary literature on situation model-based inference making and addressed the source (text-based versus knowledge-based), type (necessary versus unnecessary for (re-)establishing coherence), and depth of an inference (making single lexical inferences versus combining multiple lexical inferences), as well as the type of searching strategy (forward versus backward). Results indicated that, compared to a control group (n = 51), children who followed the experimental training (n = 67) improved their inference making skills supportive to situation model construction. Importantly, our training also resulted in increased levels of general reading comprehension and motivation. In sum, this study showed that a ‘level of text representation’-approach can provide a useful framework to teach inference making skills to third and fourth graders.

Original languageEnglish
Article number116
JournalFrontiers in Psychology
Volume7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Feb 2016

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research was supported by a grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research/Council for Educational Research (NWO/PROO) awarded to MS (411-11-807). The authors would like to thank Marcella van Beusekom and Rianne den Ouden for their help with the data collection. We also thank CITO for providing us with information on the standardized reading comprehension tests and assisting in the assessment and scoring procedures.

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2016 Bos, De Koning, Wassenburg and van der Schoot.

Funding

This research was supported by a grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research/Council for Educational Research (NWO/PROO) awarded to MS (411-11-807). The authors would like to thank Marcella van Beusekom and Rianne den Ouden for their help with the data collection. We also thank CITO for providing us with information on the standardized reading comprehension tests and assisting in the assessment and scoring procedures.

Keywords

  • inference making
  • intervention studies
  • primary school children
  • reading comprehension
  • situation model

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