Inference in second language learning

Tēnā tātou,

Today I am going to look at the place of inference in second language learning. Inference is the practice of making meaning from what we are shown rather that what we are told explicitly. For example if I were to say that I put on my gumboots, raincoat and hat and went outside, we could reasonably predict what the weather conditions were at that time.

It was raining of course, but I did not explicitly say that. The conclusion is arrived at by combining the key words gumboots, raincoat, and hat with our knowledge that those

are the clothes we generally wear in the rain. This process of making meaning by thinking about what lies behind the words is critical for language learners trying to make meaning of a second language.

When faced with a phrase or chunk of language which is unfamiliar to the learner they have to think beyond the words to try and find what the speaker was trying to communicate. The reason for this is that very often words do not mean what they actually express. For example in Māori “ tino kino” if taken at face value means very bad, but used in idiomatic speech often expresses quite the opposite, “fantastic!” Only by using inferential clues does the listener understand the actual meaning.

Being able to make these decisions about meaning is a continuous and ever-important element in second language learning because it is one of the few tools we have in our toolbox that can make up for the lack of years of highly comprehensible input in that language.

By improving our children’s skills in drawing inferences in we can help them develop strategies for making meaning in the second language. We can do this by inviting them from time to time to explain what they think something means and why?

“ Jimmy, why do you think mum said take you should take your raincoat to school today?”

“She is worried it is going to rain and I might get wet.”

“How did you work that out?

“Well, raincoats are usually for rainy days.”

Some typical questions for this might be:

How did you know that?

How could you tell?

What words showed/told you…?

What other reasons/meaning could there be?

Does that make sense?

Noho ora mai ra,

Chris