Inferring meaning strategy and reading comprehension

Abstract

The English language has become one of the most spoken languages all around the world. English teachers have to face the challenge of achieving significant learning and for doing so, it is essential to use some strategies that facilitate the learning process. When teaching reading, which is one of the four language skills, there is a great amount of strategies to apply depending on the aim of the reader. One of the most useful is Inferring Meaning Strategy. The aim of this research is to analyze the efficacy of this strategy when developing reading comprehension in 28 students from the 5th semester of PINE (Pedagogía de los Idiomas Nacionales y Extranjeros) at Universidad Técnica de Ambato. At first it was necessary to apply a diagnostic test in order to check students’ previous knowledge. For this, the second and fourth part from the reading section of the Preliminary English Test (PET) were used. Students had the opportunity of practicing the strategy for a month. During this period of time, they had to complete some comprehension activities related to readings. Finally, the experimental group took a post- test from PET in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the strategy. The results obtained were analyzed using the Student’s t-test. They evidenced that the Inferring Meaning Strategy contributes to the development and improvement of the reading comprehension