Original Research Article
Year: 2021 | Month: July | Volume: 11 | Issue: 7 | Pages: 272-280
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijhsr.20210737
Investigation of Inferential Skills in School Going Preadolescents
Grace Sara Abraham1, Lakshmy Rajasekharan2, Sabitha Anirudhan3
1Head of the Department, Institute of Speech and Hearing, Marthoma College of Special Education, Kerala University of Health Sciences, Kasargod, Kerala, India.
2Research Coordinator, Institute of Speech and Hearing, Marthoma College of Special Education, Kerala University of Health Sciences, Kasargod, Kerala, India.
3PG student, Institute of Speech and Hearing, Marthoma College of Special Education, Kerala University of Health Sciences, Kasargod, Kerala, India
Corresponding Author: Lakshmy Rajasekharan
ABSTRACT
Inferential skill plays an important part in the comprehension of language and enhances educational performance of school-aged children. We examined the role of age, gender and scholastic performances in inferential skills of preadolescent students attending English medium school (age range 8 to 12 years). In order to compare the inferential skills across age, gender and scholastic performances, t-test was used. There was a steady increase in the inference skills of students with increasing age. The inferential skills of male students were found to be better than female students. Students with above average scholastic performance made more inferences than students with below average scholastic performance. The higher scores in inferential skills across these three domains could be due to better vocabulary, reading comprehension and world knowledge. This paper emphasizes on the importance of inferential skills in educational success. It identifies the key factors influencing the inferential skills and the need to work on them by the school-based speech language pathologists (SLP).
Key words: Inferential skill, educational success, scholastic performance, preadolescent, inference.