Examination of inference skills in terms of reading habit, gender, grade level, and socioeconomic variables

Inference skills constitute one of the fundamental components of reading comprehension. Therefore, it is reported that students with good inference skill levels are more successful in comprehending what they read, hence their increased academic achievement in other areas as well. Given this, development of the children suffering from reading comprehension difficulties should be designed with a focus on inference skills. At this point, it is important to determine the variables which may make an impact on inference skills. The present study aims to describe the inference skill levels of 5th and 7th graders and investigate the inference skills of students based on gender, grade level, reading habits and socioeconomic variables. Four public schools were selected based on the socioeconomic levels of the students in Büyükçekmece district of Istanbul during the academic year 2016-2017, and the data on reading habit, age, education status of parents, reading frequency and other variables were collected from the selected 5th and 7th graders (n=670). Then, the inference skills test was administered to the students. The results produced significant differences in favor of girls based on the variable of gender, those who read two or more books a month based on frequency of reading books, 7th graders based on grade level, the schools with medium and high level of socioeconomic status based on school type, and parents with higher education statuses based on education status of parents. In addition, the students had higher inference levels if they had a bookshelf at home, if they had books suitable for their age at home, if their mothers read them book occasionally or generally, or if their parents "bought books." No significant difference was found between the father's frequency of book reading and the inference skill level. In terms of the profession of parents, the students whose parents were blue-collar workers had lower inference skills compared to those with parents who were farmers or other professionals. Keywords: reading comprehension, inference, inference types, socioeconomic variables, reading habit