1. An Overview of Inferencing

To comprehend language, whether spoken or written, we rely on the information that we see, hear, and read. But often that is not enough. To fully understand what a speaker or an author wants us to know, we must fill in gaps by drawing on our background knowledge and piecing that together with bits of the information that they provide. This process of implicitly forming meaning is called inferencing.

Take a look at this comic strip from Wizard of Id by John Hart Studios:

You can see that without inferencing, you won’t get the joke! And it’s critical for reading comprehension in all kinds of texts. 

Inferencing is a skill that we can and we should teach explicitly.

There are three sources of information readers rely on to make inferences: the text, visuals, and background knowledge. 

You can teach students how to explicitly use these sources of information as you practice with different types of visuals and texts. 

As text becomes more complex, visuals appear less often. Then only two sources will be available to make inferences — the text and the students’ background knowledge. 

Without an ability to infer, students could miss out on a lot of the deep meaning — and entertainment value like humor! — within the material they read or listen to. If we all lacked the ability to infer, then books, conversations, and videos would need to be much longer and less interesting because more information would need to be specifically stated. Thankfully, texts and other materials don’t need to be weighed down with unnecessary details because inferencing is a skill most people master. Your students, too, can learn how to infer.

For a more nuanced look at the topic of teaching inferencing, take a look at this blog post by Tim Shanahan, Ph.D., on our sister site Reading Rockets: What Does It Take to Teach Inferencing? (opens in new window)