The role of knowledge availability in forming inferences with rural middle grade English learners

Barth, Amy E.; Daniel, Johny; Roberts, Gregory; Vaughn, Sharon; Barnes, Marcia A.; Ankrum, Ethan; Kincaid, Heather

Abstract

We investigated differences in knowledge-based inferencing between rural, middle grade monolingual English-speaking students and English learners. Students were introduced to facts about an imaginary planet Gan followed by a multi-episode story about Gan. Participants were tested on the accuracy of fact recall and inferences using this knowledge at three time points (i.e., immediate, one-week, and one-month follow-up). Results show that monolingual English-speaking students significantly outperformed English learners on the inference task. Both subgroups made elaborative inferences more accurately than coherence. Students' ability to recall knowledge base facts was the strongest predictor of their ability to accurately make inferences using this knowledge at each time point.

Citation

Barth, A. E., Daniel, J., Roberts, G., Vaughn, S., Barnes, M. A., Ankrum, E., & Kincaid, H. (2021). The role of knowledge availability in forming inferences with rural middle grade English learners. Learning and Individual Differences, 88, Article 102006. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2021.102006

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 7, 2021
• Online Publication Date: May 12, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021-05
• Deposit Date: Sep 2, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: May 12, 2022
• Journal: Learning and Individual Differences
• Print ISSN: 1041-6080
• Electronic ISSN: 1873-3425
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 88
• Article Number: 102006
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2021.102006
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1265703