Abstract:

Facing the knowledge economy and a multiple perspective society, junior high students need to be able to process information gathered from multiple texts and think independently and read to learn. Multiple texts reading is a process of comparing and contrasting intra-texts and inter-texts to connecting, integrating, and understanding information (Bråten & Strømsø, 2011 ). Where inference is the core competency (van den Broek & Lorch, 1993) of reading comprehension. The purpose of this research is to understand the existing reading strategy of junior high school students used on multiple texts reading. In order to collect data of Multiple texts reading strategy from the on-line think-aloud instruction in three classes of 7th grade students. The rater consistency reliability is 0.87. The results showed that there are 8 classifications of inference strategy:Non inference, Facts-gathering, Elaboration, Referential inference, Causal inference, Comparing and contrasting, Coherence and integration, Meta-comments. There are significant differences between the eight strategies F(7,476)=72.47*** , p <.001 , eta=.516 . Junior high students utilize “facts-gathering” most frequently(23.54%), ”coherence and integration” secondly (21.39%), and “causal inference” thirdly (20.14%). The least utilized strategy is “meta-comment” (1.71%) , particularly the inter-textual comment strategy (0.09%). There are signification correlation about inference strategy and inferential understanding. The more the use of causal inference, the better intra-textual, inter- textual, and overall inferential comprehension performance（rs= .38, .26, .41, p <.05). The more the use of comparing and contrasting, the better the intra-textual inferential understanding performance（r= .26 , p <.05 ). The more the use of coherence and integration, the better overall inferential understanding performance（r= .24 , p <.05 ).The less the use of non-inference, the better the intra-textual and overall inferential understanding performance（rs= -.38, -.35 , p <.01). The multiple texts inference verification test designed according to textbooks provides a formative and summative assessment tool. In addition to assessing students’ inference thinking, it can be used by the classroom teacher as a tool for evaluation, diagnosis and feedback on instruction.

Keywords:

Multiple texts reading, Inference Strategy, Inferential understanding.