A study of second-grade students' inferences during and following participation in three types of read aloud story sessions

This study described and compared second-grade students' processes of listening comprehension through inferences generated during and following three group listening activities, the Directed Listening-Thinking Activity (DL-TA), the Directed Listening Activity (DLA), and the Whole Text Method (WTM).;Subjects were interviewed to collect recalls about the story. Next, subjects were shown the appropriate videotape, which was stopped following the predetermined discussion points in the story. Subjects reconstructed their thinking during those portions of the lessons. Interviews were audiotaped and later transcribed and coded for inferences generated and information included in those inferences. Null hypotheses were tested statistically. A descriptive analysis was also made.;Statistically significant differences between groups were found in: (a) the quantity of intended-inclusive and appropriate inferences generated in the lessons, and the quantity of marginal inferences generated in the introspective reports; (b) the types of inferences generated during the three instructional contexts; and (c) the types of information included in inferences during the lessons, in recalls, and in introspective reports. This study concluded that the read aloud story session can be effective in facilitating the process of listening comprehension. This study also provided evidence that early instruction in reading may influence strategies that students use in the process of listening comprehension attainment.;Twenty-four subjects of average and above-average reading ability were assigned to three equal groups. Each group heard the same story book read aloud. The story session lessons were videotaped and later transcribed for purposes of analysis. The quantity and types of inferences and the quantity and types of information included in inferences were examined using the 1984 Wilkerson Taxonomy of Inferences.