An Analysis of Students’ Difficulties in Making Inferences at English Department Universitas Negeri Padang

Abstract

Making inferences is an essential component of reading. Besides that, when the text asks the reader to know the facts behind it, the inference must be considered when reading. Inference becomes an important part of reading to be fluent. It is one of the key components to become fluent in reading. English language education students usually learn and apply inference when they are in advanced reading classes; they will learn a lot about it and make inferences from given text. However, when the researcher was in the class, he noticed that a few other students complained because they felt difficult when making inferences from the text. Some researchers have examined case studies about inference. However, prior research on comprehension of reading texts focused more on making inferences and inference strategies. This study aims to find out students’ difficulties in making inferences at English Language Education Universitas Negeri Padang. The researcher employs a descriptive quantitative research design that integrates quantitative and qualitative methodologies. This research involved 30 students of English Language Education at Universitas Negeri Padang from K4-2019. The random sampling was implemented in this research. The results showed that comprehending the role of grammatical in unknown words, having the highest percentage at 63.3%, then recognizing the author's bias at 60%, understanding the author's point of view at 56.6%, and making a conclusion from the facts in the text at 50%. The results indicate that almost all sixth-semester students at English Language Education Universitas Negeri Padang have difficulty in making inferences.