Teaching Inference – ‘Hidden’ Questions

Reading Comprehension Strategies – Teaching Inference – ‘Hidden Questions’ are those you can answer by using clues in the text combined with knowledge you already have.

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How to Teach Inference

Question Stems to aid Inferring Word Meanings

3H Reading Strategy - Hidden Question Stems

3H Reading Strategy – Hidden Question Stems

A reference sheet of question stems to aid in learning how to infer word meaning from contextual clues.

How to Use this Guide:

– when running a Guided Reading Session have these question stems next to you and formulate appropriate questions as you see a context
– hand these question stems to your group and ask them to generate questions for the other group members
– have other groups answer the questions.

Working Out Word Meaning from Clues in Text

– Have a guess at the meaning of ‘….. word…..’ Use the clues given in the text before this word & in the next one or two sentences.
– I wonder what this word could mean? (Take an ‘educated guess’)
 

What clues from the text support this inference?

– We can assume ‘….. word…..’ means (insert meaning ) because …
– We can conclude  ‘….. word…..’ means (insert meaning) because of what clues from the text?
– How do you know ‘… word…’ means (insert meaning)?
 In this sentence the word (insert word) most likely means…

a) … insert definition…
b) … insert definition…
c)  … insert definition…    because…
– What could the word (insert word) mean given (action) & (action) have happened.
– Show me the part of the text that leads you to infer this word means (insert meaning) .
– What clues in the text lead you to make this inference?
– (Insert word) has three meanings in the dictionary. Which is the most appropriate meaning here? Why?
– From the ‘contextual clues’ (hints in the text) what could (insert word) mean?
– Can you see any smaller words in the bigger word that might give you a hint. e.g.‘emotion’ in ‘emotive’.

 

Huge Hint!!! Read past the word to get more clues!!!

 – What clues in this paragraph point you to a possible meaning for this word?
– I feel there isn’t enough information here to predict the meaning of this word.

3H Reading Strategy - Hidden Question Stems

3H Reading Strategy – Hidden Question Stems

Would you agree? What is our next course of action?
– Is it crucial that we understand the meaning of this word? Why?
– Will I/we lose a significant amount of meaning from the text if I don’t know this word?– Substitute a similar word & see if the sentence makes sense i.e. use a synonym for the unknown word.
– What should I/you think about to infer the meaning of this word?
– What is happening in the text that might give me/us a  clue about the word’s meaning?
– What are people saying, doing, or feeling that might give us a clue about the meaning of the words?

– What context clues led you to your definition?
– Read this passage and underline all of the words that provide clues to the meaning of the word (insert word)
– Authors (people who write books) often put word definitions in brackets after a ‘tricky’ word. Write the words to go in the brackets after (insert word).