A path to enhancing inferential abilities in primary school: first results

Abstract

Reading a text requires continuous processes of information re-elaboration, inferences production and metacognitive strategies. Placing the reading comprehension at the center of the formative path, means focusing on a series of  transversal competences, capable of guaranteeing the student the possibility of achieving full autonomy in an increasingly complex and challenging social context. Improving reading comprehension also means fighting dropout and reducing school failure. The comprehension success depends mainly on the ability to integrate textual information and, in this operation, inferences play a decisive role. Along this line of action is the present contribution which analyzes the teaching programme implementation, Inferential Skills 2020, born in the wake of the national programme Reciprocal Teaching-Reading Comprehension, developed by the society SApIE. In the specific case, the design itinerary provides for the creation of a path to enhancing inferential abilities through the problem situations to be solved in pairs. The quasi-experimental research, with control classes and experimental classes, involved 250 pupils attending the fifth grade, subjected to the same incoming and outgoing tests. The results obtained confirm the effectiveness of the stimulation training with effect size values ​​that can be translated into a time advantage ranging from 2 months to 7 months of progress in the skills tested.

Keywords: reading comprehension, enhancement path, inferential abilities, quasi-experimental research, effect size.