Inferring Characters' Feelings and Motives

PROCEDURAL

English›Reading Comprehension|Ages 7—10|ID: mt_ukLvUD8DFA

Draw inferences from independently-read texts, such as inferring characters' feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence from the text

Mastery Evidence

Infer a character's feelings or motives from their actions and dialogue (e.g. 'She slammed the door — how is she feeling?')
Justify an inference by quoting or pointing to specific evidence in the text
Distinguish between what is explicitly stated and what must be inferred from clues in the text

Assessment Prompt

“After [child] reads a chapter of a novel, can they explain how a character was feeling and why — pointing to something the character said or did as their evidence?”

Curriculum Standards4 alignments

RI.4.1Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects

RI.4.1

Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

English Language Arts

RL.4.1Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects

RL.4.1

Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

English Language Arts

Eng.UKS2.Read.Comp.2cThe national curriculum in England

Draw inferences

Understand what they read by drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence.

English · Key Stage 2

Eng_LKS2_Read_Comp_11The national curriculum in England

Draw inferences

Understand what they read, in books they can read independently, by drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence

English · Key Stage 2

Prerequisites5

Predicting what happens next
softAges 4—10
Reading between the lines
hardAges 5—10
Self-Correcting While Reading
softAges 5—11
Story Sequence and Central Message
softAges 6—8
Domain Vocabulary Across Subject Areas
softAges 9—11

Show full prerequisite tree

Predicting what happens next soft
Drawing inferences about characters' feelings and justifying them with evidence is enriched by prior experience predicting what might happen next — both require reading ahead of the literal text
- Characters, settings, and events soft
  Story elements support prediction
  - Listening to Texts Read Aloud hard
    Need to engage with stories before identifying elements
Reading between the lines hard
Inferring characters' feelings/motives with evidence builds on identifying key details and making simple inferences
- Characters, settings, and events hard
  Need story elements to extract key details
  - Listening to Texts Read Aloud hard
    Need to engage with stories before identifying elements
Self-Correcting While Reading soft
Inferring and justifying inferences with text evidence requires the metacognitive habit of checking that the text makes sense as you read — a reader who doesn't self-monitor will miss the cues on which inference depends
- Monitoring Comprehension soft
  Self-correcting while reading requires the awareness that decoding correctly is not the same as understanding
  - Feeling of not understanding soft
    Noticing the decoding/understanding gap is the English-specific form of the universal comprehension-monitoring habit
    - Asking for Help hard
      Noticing confusion and acting on it requires already knowing that asking for help is a valid response to being stuck
  - Reading for Meaning hard
    Noticing the gap between decoding and understanding requires first having the foundational idea that reading means making meaning
    - Feeling of not understanding soft
      Understanding that reading means making meaning is the English-domain grounding of the universal habit of noticing when you don't understand
      - Asking for Help hard
        Noticing confusion and acting on it requires already knowing that asking for help is a valid response to being stuck
- Blending Sounds to Read Words hard
  Need basic reading ability to self-monitor
  - Single Letter Sounds hard
    Need GPC knowledge to blend
    - Knowing all letters hard
      Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
      - Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
  - Onsets & Rimes hard
    Phoneme awareness needed for blending
    - Rhyming words soft
      Rhyme awareness supports finer phoneme skills
    - Syllables soft
      Syllable awareness builds toward phoneme level
- Feeling of not understanding soft
  Checking that a text makes sense while reading and self-correcting is the reading-domain form of the universal comprehension-monitoring habit
  - Asking for Help hard
    Noticing confusion and acting on it requires already knowing that asking for help is a valid response to being stuck
- Building sentences soft
  Sense-checking uses sentence knowledge
- Reading with Expression and Accuracy soft
  Reading comprehension monitoring builds on earlier fluency skills
  - Building sentences soft
    Understanding sentence structure supports expressive phrasing
  - Alternative Spellings for Known Sounds soft
    Wider GPC knowledge supports fluent reading
    - Consonant Digraphs hard
      Must know consonant digraphs before learning alternative consonant GPCs
      - Single Letter Sounds hard
        Must know single letters before digraphs
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
    - Vowel Digraphs hard
      Must know common vowel digraphs before learning alternative representations
      - Single Letter Sounds hard
        Must know single letter sounds before vowel digraphs
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
    - Single Letter Sounds hard
      Must know single letter sounds before learning alternatives
      - Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
    - Blending Sounds to Read Words hard
      Alternative GPCs build on basic blending ability
      - Single Letter Sounds hard
        Need GPC knowledge to blend
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
      - Onsets & Rimes hard
        Phoneme awareness needed for blending
        
        Rhyming words soft
        Rhyme awareness supports finer phoneme skills
        
        Syllables soft
        Syllable awareness builds toward phoneme level
  - Reading fluently hard
    Expressive reading builds on basic reading fluency
    - Blending Sounds to Read Words hard
      Must be able to decode before fluency
      - Single Letter Sounds hard
        Need GPC knowledge to blend
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
      - Onsets & Rimes hard
        Phoneme awareness needed for blending
        
        Rhyming words soft
        Rhyme awareness supports finer phoneme skills
        
        Syllables soft
        Syllable awareness builds toward phoneme level
    - Reading High-Frequency Words by Sight hard
      Need sight word bank for fluency
      - Knowing all letters hard
        Need to recognise letters to read sight words
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
      - Blending Sounds to Read Words soft
        Blending helps attempt unfamiliar words but sight words bypass phonics
        
        Single Letter Sounds hard
        Need GPC knowledge to blend
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
        
        Onsets & Rimes hard
        Phoneme awareness needed for blending
        
        Rhyming words soft
        Rhyme awareness supports finer phoneme skills
        
        Syllables soft
        Syllable awareness builds toward phoneme level
Story Sequence and Central Message soft
Drawing inferences about motivations is enriched by the prior ability to understand and discuss the sequence of events and connections between them — inference relies on understanding what happened and in what order
- Main Topic of Informational Texts soft
  Understanding main topic and key details of informational texts supports discussing how items of information are related
  - Listening to Texts Read Aloud hard
    Listening comprehension foundational for informational text
- Reading between the lines hard
  Retelling key details builds on Y1 key details and inference
  - Characters, settings, and events hard
    Need story elements to extract key details
    - Listening to Texts Read Aloud hard
      Need to engage with stories before identifying elements
- Listening to Texts Read Aloud soft
  Listening comprehension supports understanding text structure
- Characters, settings, and events hard
  Sequence and central message build on Y1 story elements
  - Listening to Texts Read Aloud hard
    Need to engage with stories before identifying elements
- Reading with Expression and Accuracy soft
  Expressive reading supports comprehension of sequence and meaning
  - Building sentences soft
    Understanding sentence structure supports expressive phrasing
  - Alternative Spellings for Known Sounds soft
    Wider GPC knowledge supports fluent reading
    - Consonant Digraphs hard
      Must know consonant digraphs before learning alternative consonant GPCs
      - Single Letter Sounds hard
        Must know single letters before digraphs
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
    - Vowel Digraphs hard
      Must know common vowel digraphs before learning alternative representations
      - Single Letter Sounds hard
        Must know single letter sounds before vowel digraphs
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
    - Single Letter Sounds hard
      Must know single letter sounds before learning alternatives
      - Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
    - Blending Sounds to Read Words hard
      Alternative GPCs build on basic blending ability
      - Single Letter Sounds hard
        Need GPC knowledge to blend
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
      - Onsets & Rimes hard
        Phoneme awareness needed for blending
        
        Rhyming words soft
        Rhyme awareness supports finer phoneme skills
        
        Syllables soft
        Syllable awareness builds toward phoneme level
  - Reading fluently hard
    Expressive reading builds on basic reading fluency
    - Blending Sounds to Read Words hard
      Must be able to decode before fluency
      - Single Letter Sounds hard
        Need GPC knowledge to blend
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
      - Onsets & Rimes hard
        Phoneme awareness needed for blending
        
        Rhyming words soft
        Rhyme awareness supports finer phoneme skills
        
        Syllables soft
        Syllable awareness builds toward phoneme level
    - Reading High-Frequency Words by Sight hard
      Need sight word bank for fluency
      - Knowing all letters hard
        Need to recognise letters to read sight words
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
      - Blending Sounds to Read Words soft
        Blending helps attempt unfamiliar words but sight words bypass phonics
        
        Single Letter Sounds hard
        Need GPC knowledge to blend
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
        
        Onsets & Rimes hard
        Phoneme awareness needed for blending
        
        Rhyming words soft
        Rhyme awareness supports finer phoneme skills
        
        Syllables soft
        Syllable awareness builds toward phoneme level
Domain Vocabulary Across Subject Areas soft
Drawing inferences from complex texts requires academic vocabulary for reasoning about evidence and argument
- Discussing and Questioning New Words hard
  Academic and domain-specific vocabulary acquisition builds on the habit of discussing word meanings and linking new vocabulary to known words
- Defining Words soft
  Defining academic words requires the ability to define words by category and attribute
  - Discussing and Questioning New Words soft
    Context clues support defining words
  - Sorting & Categorising Words hard
    Defining by attributes builds on Y1 categorisation and antonyms
    - How Many in Total? soft
      Sorting and categorising objects uses the same counting/cardinality skills from maths
      - One-to-one counting hard
        Cardinality principle builds on one-to-one correspondence — you must count correctly to know the last number tells 'how many'

Unlocks9

Quoting Accurately from Texts
hardAges 10—11
Evidence Supporting Ideas
softAges 9—11
Historical Sources on Ancient Egypt
softAges 11—13
Using and Evaluating Textual Evidence
hardAges 11—14
Plot Structure and Character Development
hardAges 11—14
Justifying Views About Texts
hardAges 10—11
Character Traits and Motivation
hardAges 8—9
Literary Evidence in Writing
hardAges 9—11
Questioning Historical Sources
softAges 8—10