Kelly Gallagher (2004) says that "good readers infer when they read; that is, they see and consider things that are not literally on the printed page" (p. 80). When reading text, many students find that making inferences is difficult. In When Kids Can't Read (2003), Kylene Beers (2003) suggests specific types of inferences skilled readers make as they read. To help less skilled readers learn to make the same types of inferences, Beers suggests that teachers use short passages to show students how to do the following: 1.Recognize the antecedents for pronouns
2.Figure out the meaning of unknown words from context clues
3.Figure out the grammatical function of an unknown word
4.Understand intonation of characters' words
5.Identify characters' beliefs, personalities, and motivations
6.Understand characters' relationships to one another
7.Provide details about the setting
8.Provide explanations for events or ideas that are presented in the text
9.Offer details for events or their own explanations of the events
10.Understand the author's view of the world
11.Recognize the author's biases
12.Relate what is happening in the text to their own knowledge of the world
13.Offer conclusions from facts presented in the text
[From Beers, 2003, p. 65. Reprinted by permission.]