The inference making ability of good and poor comprehenders were assessed by means of a think-aloud procedure. Inference making is the online process of connecting different parts of a text and the...Show moreThe inference making ability of good and poor comprehenders were assessed by means of a think-aloud procedure. Inference making is the online process of connecting different parts of a text and the connection of parts of the texts with background knowledge. Special interest of the current research was the role of vocabulary and working memory in inference making ability. The results indicated that good and poor comprehenders differ in their inference making ability. Poor comprehenders make more text repetitions while good comprehenders make more elaborative inferences. This seems to be influenced by vocabulary and working memory. Good comprehenders have a greater vocabulary knowledge and a greater working memory capacity and this stimulates elaborative inferencing. Poor comprehenders have less vocabulary knowledge and working memory capacity and this limitates their ability to make elaborative inferences. Vocabulary knowledge and working memory capacity affects the inference making ability and thereby affects the construction of a coherent mental representation of the text.Show less
