Abstract
There is general agreement that predictive inferences, inferences about future events and outcome, elaborate a reader's mental representation (Fincher-Kiefer, 1996). However, the characteristics and the timing of the inferences are not altogether clear. Hence, this study investigates how the nature of contextual information influences predictive inferences by EFL learners. Experiment 1 investigated using off-line tests that the effects of contextual support on readers' predictive inferences and mental representation. The result showed that EFL learners generated more-specific predictive inferences when there was strong contextual support. It also showed that text information concerning the inference tended to more firmly integrate into readers' mental representations. Experiment 2 investigated the effects of contextual support on the timing of predictive inferences with on-line methodology. The result showed that EFL learners did not activate predictive inferences during reading. The two experiments showed that the level of contextual support affects readers' mental representation after reading, but it does not enhance predictive inferences during reading.
