Influence of inferential skills on the reading comprehension ability of adult Thai (L1) and English (L2) students.
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Abstract
The ability to make inferences from linguistic information (spoken and written discourse)
is regarded as a significant factor in successful reading success. Although, this relationship has
been researched with English first language/monolingual cohorts (see Cain, Oakhill, Barnes, &
Bryant, 2001; Oakhill & Cain, 2012; Silva & Cain, 2015), there is a paucity of research on
inferential skills in other languages as well as in bilinguals or second language learning contexts.
Therefore, the present study focused on investigating inferential skills and reading
comprehension in two different languages (Thai and English) within the same group of adult
students at a college in Thailand. The primary objectives of this study, as reported in this thesis,
were to examine the reciprocal relationships of inferential skills within Thai and English, and to
investigate whether inferential skills can predict reading comprehension both within each
language and across languages (Thai-L1 and English-L2).
The study involved measures of inferential skills, reading comprehension, vocabulary
and listening comprehension in Thai and English, following appropriate adaptation, piloting and
revision. Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices test (short form) was also used to explore non
verbal reasoning, and a questionnaire was used to provide background details about the participants
and their views on reading comprehension strategies. Data collection was conducted at one
campus of a university in Thailand. All ten measures were administered to a group of 220 Thai
undergraduate students.
The results demonstrated a significant inter-relationship between inferential skills in Thai
(L1) and English (L2). Scores on the inferential tasks were also related to reading comprehension
within the same language. Furthermore, the findings from hierarchical regression analyses
indicated that the addition of inferential skill scores significantly increased the predictability of reading comprehension in the same language, after controlling for within-language vocabulary
levels (and listening comprehension in the case of Thai) and non-verbal reasoning. Analyses
across languages showed positive correlations between Thai inferential skills and English
reading comprehension, and between English inferential skills and Thai reading comprehension.
Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that the addition of English inferential skills scores
predicted extra variability in Thai reading comprehension, after controlling for English and Thai
language related skills and non-verbal reasoning measures, but the addition of Thai inferential
skills scores did not influence the level of prediction of English reading comprehension after
controlling for the same variables. The reading strategies questionnaire did not reveal a
significant relationship with either the Thai or the English reading comprehension scores.
However, relationships between self-reported reading comprehension strategies and inferential
skills scores were found, though the correlations were relatively small.
Overall, the findings are consistent with the ability to make inferences being an important
component of successful text comprehension–although there is little evidence of awareness
influencing performance among the current participants. The influence of inference making does
not seem to be explained by more general language skills (such as vocabulary and listening
comprehension), nor by more general (non-verbal) reasoning skills, and it has the potential to
occur across languages (from English to Thai in the present study), although within language
influences may be larger than between languages. These findings have both theoretical and
practical implications, which are discussed in this thesis.