Children’s development of conversational and reading inference skills: a call for a collaborative approach
In this perspectives article, we call for a collaborativeapproach to research on children’s development of conversational inferences andof reading inferences. Despite the clear commonalities in their focus, the tworich research traditions have remained almost entirely separate, primarily withinthe f...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Carnegie Mellon University Library Publishing Service
2024-01-01
|
| Series: | Language Development Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://lps.library.cmu.edu/LDR/article/id/637/ |
| _version_ | 1827345442590949376 |
|---|---|
| author | Catherine Davies Elspeth Wilson Holly Joseph Jenny Gibson Kate Cain Ludovica Serratrice Margreet Vogelzang |
| author_facet | Catherine Davies Elspeth Wilson Holly Joseph Jenny Gibson Kate Cain Ludovica Serratrice Margreet Vogelzang |
| author_sort | Catherine Davies |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this perspectives article, we call for a collaborativeapproach to research on children’s development of conversational inferences andof reading inferences. Despite the clear commonalities in their focus, the tworich research traditions have remained almost entirely separate, primarily withinthe fields of Developmental Psychology and Experimental Pragmatics, on the onehand, and Cognitive, Developmental and Educational Psychology on the other. We brieflysurvey research on conversational and reading inferences, and show how bothsimilarities and differences in theoretical approach, methodologies andfindings raise significant questions, including: What effect does both context(conversation or reading) and modality (oral, visual, written) have on the needfor children to make inferences, and for the opportunities for them to learn todo so? And how do linguistic and background knowledge, sociocognitive andenvironmental factors support different inferences across contexts andmodalities? We propose that a collaborative agenda is crucial, in which interdisciplinaryresearchers develop theoretical models of how different types of inferencecluster together and are supported or affected by the context, modality, andother linguistic, sociocognitive and environmental factors. And they must also developmethodologies which enable reliable and valid measures of inferencing abilitythat can capture quantitative and qualitative changes across development. Ultimatelythis will contribute to better understanding of children’s pragmaticdevelopment as well as teaching and intervention practices in communication andreading comprehension. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T23:07:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2a05284ec46c4ba1bf83345206b448a3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2771-7976 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T23:07:49Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Carnegie Mellon University Library Publishing Service |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Language Development Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-2a05284ec46c4ba1bf83345206b448a32024-02-21T21:13:53ZengCarnegie Mellon University Library Publishing ServiceLanguage Development Research2771-79762024-01-014110.34842/89as-7d31Children’s development of conversational and reading inference skills: a call for a collaborative approachCatherine Davies0Elspeth Wilson1Holly Joseph2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4325-4628Jenny Gibson3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6172-6265Kate Cain4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2780-188XLudovica Serratrice5Margreet Vogelzang6https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2811-5419Linguistics, University of LeedsUniversity of CambridgeUniversity of ReadingUniversity of CambridgeLancaster UniversityPsychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of ReadingUniversity of CambridgeIn this perspectives article, we call for a collaborativeapproach to research on children’s development of conversational inferences andof reading inferences. Despite the clear commonalities in their focus, the tworich research traditions have remained almost entirely separate, primarily withinthe fields of Developmental Psychology and Experimental Pragmatics, on the onehand, and Cognitive, Developmental and Educational Psychology on the other. We brieflysurvey research on conversational and reading inferences, and show how bothsimilarities and differences in theoretical approach, methodologies andfindings raise significant questions, including: What effect does both context(conversation or reading) and modality (oral, visual, written) have on the needfor children to make inferences, and for the opportunities for them to learn todo so? And how do linguistic and background knowledge, sociocognitive andenvironmental factors support different inferences across contexts andmodalities? We propose that a collaborative agenda is crucial, in which interdisciplinaryresearchers develop theoretical models of how different types of inferencecluster together and are supported or affected by the context, modality, andother linguistic, sociocognitive and environmental factors. And they must also developmethodologies which enable reliable and valid measures of inferencing abilitythat can capture quantitative and qualitative changes across development. Ultimatelythis will contribute to better understanding of children’s pragmaticdevelopment as well as teaching and intervention practices in communication andreading comprehension. https://lps.library.cmu.edu/LDR/article/id/637/pragmatic developmentpragmatic inferencereading comprehensionreading inference |
| spellingShingle | Catherine Davies Elspeth Wilson Holly Joseph Jenny Gibson Kate Cain Ludovica Serratrice Margreet Vogelzang Children’s development of conversational and reading inference skills: a call for a collaborative approach Language Development Research pragmatic development pragmatic inference reading comprehension reading inference |
| title | Children’s development of conversational and reading inference skills: a call for a collaborative approach |
| title_full | Children’s development of conversational and reading inference skills: a call for a collaborative approach |
| title_fullStr | Children’s development of conversational and reading inference skills: a call for a collaborative approach |
| title_full_unstemmed | Children’s development of conversational and reading inference skills: a call for a collaborative approach |
| title_short | Children’s development of conversational and reading inference skills: a call for a collaborative approach |
| title_sort | children s development of conversational and reading inference skills a call for a collaborative approach |
| topic | pragmatic development pragmatic inference reading comprehension reading inference |
| url | https://lps.library.cmu.edu/LDR/article/id/637/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT catherinedavies childrensdevelopmentofconversationalandreadinginferenceskillsacallforacollaborativeapproach AT elspethwilson childrensdevelopmentofconversationalandreadinginferenceskillsacallforacollaborativeapproach AT hollyjoseph childrensdevelopmentofconversationalandreadinginferenceskillsacallforacollaborativeapproach AT jennygibson childrensdevelopmentofconversationalandreadinginferenceskillsacallforacollaborativeapproach AT katecain childrensdevelopmentofconversationalandreadinginferenceskillsacallforacollaborativeapproach AT ludovicaserratrice childrensdevelopmentofconversationalandreadinginferenceskillsacallforacollaborativeapproach AT margreetvogelzang childrensdevelopmentofconversationalandreadinginferenceskillsacallforacollaborativeapproach |