The role of text genre in the construction of generalisation inferences

Background

Generalisation inferences let readers identify a conceptually superordinate statement to represent multiple subordinate concepts. This study measures text genres' influence on the scope and timing of generalisation inferences.

Methods

To measure the scope, or breadth, of generalisation inferences, undergraduates (N = 266) read expository and literary texts containing target sentences that were consistent, inconsistent or off-topic in relation to the generalisation implied in each paragraph. To test when the generalisations were inferred, target sentences were placed either early or late in each paragraph.

Results

Readers drew broad generalisations early in the text and changed to specific generalisations later for exposition. The generalisations inferred from fairy tales were specific regardless of whether tested early or later in the text.

Conclusions

Readers construct generalisation inferences while reading both expository and literary texts, although the timing and scope of the inferences vary slightly by genre. Implications for theories of reading comprehension and applications for reading interventions are discussed.