Abstract
Little research has been done on the individual differences in reading comprehension ability in Chinese among grade six students in Hong Kong. In fact, relationships between ability to generate inferences during reading and the students' Chinese language competence are rarely explored. This study investigated the differences in various inferential performances among the grade six students. Children were divided into high-Chinese Language competence and average-Chinese Language competence groups and were tested on measures of word recognition, sentence reorganization, bridging inferences, macroelaborations and microelaborations. It was found that the means of the test scores of the high-Chinese Language competence group were significantly different from that of the average-Chinese Language competence group. Results showed that the power of lexical access of the high-Chinese Language competence group was uncorrelated with macroelaborations and microelaborations. On the contrary, word recognition, sentence reorganization scores of the average-Chinese Language competence group were correlated with the scores in inferences. These findings suggest that instructional intervention should be helpful in improving students' inferential skills if they were found to display differences in reading abilities and teaching reading strategies may enhance students' comprehension performance.
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