The Effects of the Inference Process in Reading Texts in Arabic

Inference plays an important role in the learning process and it can lead to a rapid acquisition of a second language. When learning a non-native language i.e., a critical language like Arabic, the students depend on the teacher’s support most of the time to learn new concepts. The students focus on memorizing the new vocabulary and stress on learning all the grammatical rules. Hence, the students became mechanical and cannot produce the language easily. As a result, they are unable to predicate the meaning of words in the context by relying heavily on the teacher, in that they cannot link their prior knowledge or even identify the meaning of the words without the support of the teacher. This study explores how the teacher guides students learning during the inference process and what are the processes of learning that can direct student’s inference.

Authors:

• May George

Keywords:

• Inference
• Reading
• Arabic
• and Language Acquisition.

References:

[1] I. A. Al-Sughaiyer and I. A. Al-Kharashi. (2004).”Arabic morphological
analysis techniques: A comprehensive survey," Journal of the American
Society for Information Science and Technology, vol. 55, pp. 189-213.
[2] Cain, K. Oakhill, J. & Lemmon, K. (2004). Individual differences in the
inference of word meanings from context: the inference of reading
comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, and memory capacity. Journal
of American Psychological Association, 96, 671-681.
[3] Carton, A. (1966). The method of inference in foreign language study.
NY, Dissertation.
[4] Hammondou, J. (1991). Interrelationships among prior knowledge,
inference, and language proficiency in foreign language. The Modern
Language Journal, 75, 27-38
[5] Kern, R. (1989). Second language reading strategy instruction: its effects
on comprehension and word inference ability. The Modern Language
Journal, 73, 135- 149.
[6] Phillips, L. (1990). Inference strategies in reading comprehension. The
Study of Reading Technical Report No. 410. Champaign, IL: Univ. of
Illinois.