English Language Arts and Reading.7.5.F

The student is expected to

make inferences and use evidence to support understanding;

comprehension TEKS talk image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Comprehension skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student uses metacognitive skills to both develop and deepen comprehension of increasingly complex texts.

Students should make reasonable connections within and beyond a text to draw conclusions about information or ideas not explicitly stated in the text. For example, students should recognize that when a character says, “I went to bed stressed and worried until the rising sun interrupted my thoughts,” the student should be able to infer that the character stayed awake all night.
Students should use information presented in a text to make reasonable, logical assumptions about the intended meaning. Evidence that corroborates understanding can be any relevant details, facts, or information that helps students understand what they are reading.

Research

1. Pottle, R. (2012). An inquiry into inferring. Retrieved from www.robertpottle.com

Summary: Pottle provides a complete overview of how inference is addressed in a text. The text includes a full scope and range of inferring along with definitions.  

2. Brodsky, L., Falk, A., & Beals, K. (2013). Helping students evaluate the strength of evidence in scientific arguments: Think about the inferential distance between evidence and claims. Science Scope, (36)9, 22–28. Retrieved from www.nsta.org

Summary: This article illustrates how inferences are determined by observing and using evidence. The article compliments the Pottle article by applying the definitions within a context. Figures and illustrations are included.