IMPROVING JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION USING INFERENCE MAKING SKILLS IN ANAMBRA STATE

Angela Eze

Abstract

Inference skill is critical to reading success and academic achievement in all the content area and across the curriculum. This is because inference making is fundamental in the effort to help students develop higher level skills or become critical thinkers. Students’ reading comprehension problems in Anambra state follow instructional methods emanated from students’ deficiencies in inference generation and background knowledge application abilities. This study investigated the effects of instruction in inference generation skills using 68 Junior Secondary School Students Three (JSSS 3). The students were exposed to a 40 minutes inference instruction training sessions twice a week for 4 weeks. The results of the training showed that the students could: use inference directly connected to information found in the text as a process of reasoning to draw logical conclusions regarding ‘hidden’ meaning or themes; apply all responses needed to be linked to the text with supporting evidences discussed in reference to the text and author’s intentions; use clues in the passage to determine on the appropriate word to fill the blank space, and apply what they know earlier to make inferences or guesses.

Keywords:     inference making, reading comprehension, improvement.