Answer to Question #118040 in English for Mduduzi

Question

What is the different between inference, summarising and prediction? During which part of the reading process do you use each of them.

Answer 1

Inference is the act or process of reaching a conclusion about something from known facts or evidence. Readers who make inferences use the clues in the text along with their own experiences to help them figure out what is not directly said, making the text personal and memorable. When readers are taught how to make inferences, they improve their abilities to construct meaning.

Prediction is a statement about what will or might happen in the future. When readers predict, they use information in the text and their background knowledge to make smart guesses about what they may encounter in the text. Readers use this strategy to prepare to read and monitor their comprehension during a reading experience. During reading, good readers may make predictions about what is going to happen next, or what ideas or evidence the author will present to support an argument.

Summarizing is taking a lot of information and creating a condensed version that covers the main points. Summarizing involves the ability of readers to pull together, or synthesize information in a text so as to explain in their own words what the text is about. Summarizing is an important strategy because it can enable readers to recall text quickly. It also can make readers more aware of text organization, of what is important in a text and of how ideas are related.