When Reading Plateaus (2): Talking After Reading to Make Inferences and Read Between the Lines

In our last post, we suggested that when Reading plateaus, it helps to change how your child reads rather than how much, and we shared five ways to read nonfiction. While that post focused on picking out the main points and evidence written in a nonfiction text, this one looks at talking with your child after reading a book, so that together you read both what the text says and what it leaves unsaid. It’s hard to tell how your child understood a text just by watching them read. When you ask and answer questions after reading, your child puts into words where they found the answer and what they based their thinking on.

When you ask about what’s in a book, the answer is sometimes written right there in the text, and sometimes your child has to connect clues in the text with what they already know. That’s because a text doesn’t spell everything out. Working out what a text doesn’t state directly, in other words reading between the lines, is called inference. Making inferences lets your child understand what the text leaves unsaid, such as how a character feels or how events are connected. The Common Core State Standards for grade 4 literature say children should be able to refer to details and examples in a text both when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences.[5] Whether the answer is in the text or not, the evidence has to come from the text.

The four approaches below come from reading research. The first three are questioning and discussion methods used in classroom reading instruction, and the fourth is a theory of how people understand what they read. We’ve turned these four into a few questions you can try. That means posing a question, asking where the evidence is, or letting your child be the one asking questions, and picturing scenes that aren’t in the text.

1. Explain the question first (QAR)

QAR (Question-Answer Relationships), developed by Taffy Raphael, sorts questions into four types based on where the answer is found.[1] These are questions whose answer is right there in one place in the text (Right There), questions that need information gathered from several places in the text (Think and Search), questions that need clues in the text combined with what your child already knows (Author and Me), and questions your child answers from their own experience, regardless of the text (On My Own).

The one to practice here is the third, the “Author and Me” question. Before you ask, tell your child, “The answer to this one isn’t written directly in the book. It’s a question where you put the book’s clues together with what you know.” That way your child knows where to look for the answer and can start thinking.

• “Why do you think the author gave the main character that expression in this scene?”

• “The author didn’t say it directly, but from this action, how do you think the main character feels?”

2. Ask where the evidence is (Text-Dependent Questions)

When your child offers an inference, it’s easy to stop at “right” or “wrong.” Reading researcher Timothy Shanahan stresses questions that can only be answered by reading the text, and says that getting the right answer isn’t enough; readers need to be able to find evidence in the text that supports their conclusion.[2]

• “What in the book makes you think that? Which page, which line?”

• “Can we find two sentences that back up that idea?”

As your child looks for evidence, they sometimes change their mind on their own. That’s good reading, too.

3. Switch roles: let your child ask the questions (Reciprocal Teaching)

Palincsar and Brown’s Reciprocal Teaching is a method for practicing summarizing, questioning, clarifying confusing parts, and predicting through a discussion that the teacher and students take turns leading. In a study of seventh graders who were struggling with comprehension, students improved more on comprehension measures than a comparison group, and the gains held up better over time.[3] It was designed for teachers and students in the classroom, but at home, parents and children can try it by switching roles.

• “This time you’re the teacher. Can you ask Mom (or Dad) a question about what the main character is secretly feeling?”

• “What do you think will happen in the next chapter? Shall we turn that into a question?”

When your child makes up questions, they take another look at what the text says.

4. Picture the scenes that aren’t in the text

According to Walter Kintsch’s C-I (Construction-Integration) model, understanding a text means combining what the text says with what the reader already knows to build a picture of the situation in the mind. The parts the text doesn’t state are filled in through inference.[4] At home, you can try this:

• Picture the skipped scene: “What do you think happened between this chapter and the next? Can you describe it like a scene from a movie?”

• Find the missing link: Connect events with arrows, like “had a fight with a friend → ? → slammed the door,” and use clues from the text to fill in the blank with what happened or how the character felt.

Putting it together: 15 minutes after reading

Set aside about 15 minutes after reading and try it in this order.

1. Ask one “Author and Me” question (QAR)

2. Describe a skipped scene out loud (C-I model)

3. Underline two sentences that support that thinking (Text-Dependent Questions)

4. Have your child make up one inference question for you (Reciprocal Teaching)

You don’t have to wait until your child finishes a whole book. A short session at the end of each chapter works too. You don’t need to do all four steps every time. Start with steps 1 and 3: one question and finding the evidence. Instead of quizzing, try having a conversation. Wait until your child shares what they think.

How MapMastery reads it

MapMastery analyzes MAP Growth and DIBELS reports. We don’t look only at the number in Reading. We connect the sub-area results on the report and point out which areas are solid and which are still growing. For the MAP Test, we also look at how the patterns in Reading connect to other subjects. That makes it clear which direction to support your child in, rather than what more to add. If your child’s Reading seems to have plateaued, have MapMastery analyze your child’s report.

Master your learning journey.
You grow. We map.

MapMastery’s analysis is not an official result of any assessment organization and is provided for educational purposes.

Sources
[1] Raphael, T. E., & Au, K. H., “QAR: Enhancing Comprehension and Test Taking Across Grades and Content Areas”, The Reading Teacher 59(3) (2005), Reading Rockets — https://www.readingrockets.org/resources/resource-library/qar-enhancing-comprehension-and-test-taking-across-grades-and-content
[2] Shanahan, T., “Letting the Text Take Center Stage”, American Educator (Fall 2013) — https://www.aft.org/ae/fall2013/shanahan
[3] Palincsar, A. S., & Brown, A. L., “Reciprocal Teaching of Comprehension-Fostering and Comprehension-Monitoring Activities”, Cognition and Instruction 1(2) (1984), Reading Rockets — https://www.readingrockets.org/resources/resource-library/reciprocal-teaching-comprehension-fostering-and-comprehension-monitoring
[4] Kintsch, W., “The Role of Knowledge in Discourse Comprehension: A Construction-Integration Model”, Psychological Review 95(2) (1988) — https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3375398/
[5] Common Core State Standards, Grade 4 Reading: Literature RL.4.1 — https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RL/4/