Teachers' knowledge of 4th and 5th grade elementary school about teaching inferences

Abstract

It is the school's task to educate readers capable of constructing meaning from what they read, using their prior knowledge of language and the world, which places inferences as one of the necessary skills for making sense. If reading comprehension instruction needs to be one in which the reader has their skills developed, it is relevant to talk about teaching inferences. Thus, the objective of this study is to analyze and describe the knowledge of 4th and 5th grade elementary school teachers about teaching inferences. 67 teachers who currently work or have worked in 4th and/or 5th grade in schools in Rio de Janeiro participated in this study. They answered an electronic form containing the following instruments: (1) Questionnaire of Inferential and Non-Inferential Questions; (2) Scale of Strategies for Teaching Inferences (EEEI); (3) Teachers' Profile Questionnaire. The data received a quantitative treatment and were analyzed according to the frequency distribution assigned to instruments (1) and (2). The results indicated that teachers have knowledge about global coherence inference questions, but it seems that there is a lack of understanding regarding local cohesion inference questions. The frequency data of the items that make up the EEEI indicate that the majority of teachers recognize the relevance (> 50%) of strategies that contribute to teaching inferences. However, an inadequacy was observed in teachers' knowledge when importance is attributed to strategies that hinder the development of inferences. Furthermore, for teachers, it seems more appropriate for teaching inferences to anticipate information about the text in order to formulate hypotheses, as well as to go back to the text to find the necessary information for constructing meaning (rereading).