Helping your child with inference and deduction Reading Between the Lines Helping your child with inference and deduction

Inference Inference: is an interpretation that goes beyond the literal information given. Deduction: is an understanding based on the evidence given in the text. e.g. the police find a body with a knife sticking out of it. They can deduce that the person has probably been murdered. They could infer that someone didn’t like that person.

Why are Inference and Deduction Important? They make reading more pleasurable! As adults we naturally make inferences and deductions each time we read a book. We want to read on! We do not become frustrated or reluctant to read because we can decode the text, but really have no sense of the story going on ‘between the lines’

Reading Detectives

CLUES

EVIDENCE

At home You could put a collection of picture clues or objects in a bag. Ask your children who they think the objects or pictures belong to. Encourage them to explain their thought processes to you. Get a large picture from a magazine or newspaper. Ask your child to write down words that they would associate with it, justifying each word to you. The illustrations in the Oxford Reading Tree books are a good discussion tool.

Illustrations Picture books are suitable for children of all ages and can really help to develop inference and deduction skills. Encourage your child to answer questions about illustrations. The illustrations in the Oxford Reading Tree books are a good discussion tool.

1 What is this person doing? Why? Why does this man look cross? What do you think he is saying? Does this person like sweeping the snow? What makes you think that?

Photos Using the photographs on the next 2 slides ask the children a range of questions where they will have to use inference and deduction for the answers. Eg Why do you think the man is in the wood? Is he by himself? How do you think he is feeling? What could the man be looking at?

Using text to infer and deduce In order to be able to infer and deduce from a text children need to be able to decode confidently. The text should not be too hard for them otherwise they will focus all their energies on trying to get a literal meaning and will miss the subtle clues given.

At home You could give your children statements about a text and ask them to find evidence in the text to support each statement.

Questioning Asking questions about the text your child is reading encourages them to think more deeply about it. Eventually they begin to ask themselves questions about what they have read.

Example questions What words give you that impression? Why? How do you feel about………? Why? Can you explain why………….? At the end of the story the main character is feeling ……. Does this surprise you? What does this tell you about what ……….was thinking? Do you think this is true/untrue? Why do you think this? What do you think the ………. is thinking? If it were you what would you be thinking? Predict what you think is going to happen next. Why do you think this? Using all the evidence available, can you tell me what you feel about….? Who would you like to meet most in the story? Why? What is your opinion? What evidence do you have to support your view?

Modelling When you listen to your child read aloud make comments about your thought processes: eg …And her anger would be terrifying ‘Oh I wonder what mum does when she’s angry that would be so terrifying.’ ‘Well it would have to be something quite bad for him to be terrified.’ ‘You don’t think she hits him do you?’