magazinelogo

Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science

ISSN Online: 2576-0548 ISSN Print: 2576-0556 CODEN: JHASAY
Frequency: monthly Email: jhass@hillpublisher.com
Total View: 4723809 Downloads: 1458455 Citations: 301 (From Dimensions)
ArticleOpen Access http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jhass.2025.12.013

Discourse Reading Inference Processing Mechanisms in Children with Hearing Impairment: A Review, Theoretical Debates, and Future Directions

Jiaosheng Qiu

School of Foreign Languages, Taishan University, Tai'an 217000, Shandong, China.

*Corresponding author: Jiaosheng Qiu

Published: January 13,2026

Abstract

Reading inference is a core cognitive process through which readers construct coherent mental representations of discourse. This paper systematically reviews the research landscape concerning the processing and revision mechanisms of inferences during discourse reading. It critically examines key debates surrounding inference generation, including issues of immediacy, automaticity, types, influencing factors, and memory representation, as well as related advancements in inference revision. Building on this foundation, the paper focuses on the specific learner group of children with hearing impairment, analyzing the current state of research on their reading comprehension processes, particularly lexical and phonological coding, and word segmentation mechanisms. The review reveals that current research primarily concentrates on typically developing adult populations, with a severe lack of studies targeting higher-level cognitive processing, especially inference generation and revision mechanisms, at the discourse level for children with hearing impairment. This paper argues that future research urgently needs to employ interdisciplinary methods from cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience to deeply investigate the unique cognitive mechanisms, influencing factors, and effective intervention strategies for inference processing in children with hearing impairment. This will fill theoretical gaps and provide empirical evidence for enhancing the quality of reading education for this population.

Keywords

Children with Hearing Impairment; Reading Inference; Inferential Revision; Discourse Comprehension; Cognitive Mechanisms

References

Baretta, L., Tomitch, L. M. B., MacNair, N., et al. (2009). Inference making while reading narrative and expository texts: An ERP study. Psychology and Neuroscience, 2(2), 137-145.

Cranford, E. A., & Moss, J. (2023). Representation of predictive inferences when multiple alternatives are available. Discourse Processes, 60(3), 181-201.

Currie, N. K., & Cain, K. (2023). Developmental differences in children’s generation of knowledge-based inferences. Discourse Processes, 60(6), 440-456.

Foucart, A., Romero-Rivas, C., Gort, B. L., & Costa, A. (2016). Discourse comprehension in L2: Making sense of what is not explicitly said. Brain and Language, 163, 32-41.

Hua, H. F. (2001). Knowledge extraction and information processing in reading comprehension. Foreign Languages and Their Teaching, 3, 19-21.

Liang, T. T. (2024). Characteristics of emotional word reading processing in hearing-impaired children: Evidence from eye movements (Master’s thesis, Henan University).
https://link.cnki.net/doi/10.27114/d.cnki.ghnau.2024.000076

Liu, S. H. (2001). An investigation on guessing word meanings in context. Chinese Language Learning, 1, 45-49.

Lu, Z. Y., & Peng, D. L. (2003). Research on discourse comprehension. Beijing Language and Culture University Press.

O’Brien, E. J., Cook, A. E., & Lorch, R. F. (2015). Inferences during Reading. Cambridge University Press.

Pérez, A., Cain, K., Castellanos, M. C., & Bajo, T. (2015). Inferential revision in narrative texts: An ERP study. Memory and Cognition, 43(8), 1105-1135.

Pérez, A., Schmidt, E., Kourtzi, Z., & Tsimpli, I. (2020). Multimodal semantic revision during inferential processing: The role of inhibitory control in text and picture comprehension. Neuropsychologia, 138, 1-13.

Ritchey, K. A., Jackson, C., & Davis, S. (2023). The role of text genre in the construction of generalisation inferences. Journal of Research in Reading, 46(3), 278-293.

Schmalhofer, F., & Perfetti, C. A. (2007). Higher Level Language Processes in the Brain: Inference and Comprehension. Psychology Press.

Trott, S., & Bergen, B. (2020). When do comprehenders mentalize for pragmatic inference? Discourse Processes, 57(10), 900-920.

Virtue, S., & Joss, L. M. (2017). Hemispheric processing of predictive inferences: The influence of reading goals and textual constraint. Cognitive Neuroscience, 8(1), 50-58.

Wang, W. J. (2023). A study on the revision processing of causal inference in Chinese discourse comprehension (Doctoral dissertation, Beijing Foreign Studies University).
https://link.cnki.net/doi/10.26962/d.cnki.gbjwu.2023.000037

Wang, Y. (2023). An eye-tracking study on the updating of causal relationship representations in Chinese narrative discourse by children with developmental dyslexia (Doctoral dissertation, Beijing Foreign Studies University).

https://link.cnki.net/doi/10.26962/d.cnki.gbjwu.2023.000005

Wang, Y. H., Li, H., Mo, L., Jin, H., Chen, L., & Qiao, J. J. (2012). The cognitive neural mechanisms of inference processing in expository text reading on familiar topics. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 44(11), 1443-1453.

Wright, H. H., & Newhoff, M. (2002). Age-related differences in inference revision processing. Brain and Language, 80(2), 226-239.

Wright, H. H., & Newhoff, M. (2004). Inference revision processing in adults with and without aphasia. Brain and Language, 89(3), 450-463.

Zhang, B. Y. (2004). The psychology of reading. Beijing Normal University Press.

How to cite this paper

Discourse Reading Inference Processing Mechanisms in Children with Hearing Impairment: A Review, Theoretical Debates, and Future Directions

How to cite this paper: Jiaosheng Qiu. (2025) Discourse Reading Inference Processing Mechanisms in Children with Hearing Impairment: A Review, Theoretical Debates, and Future Directions. Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science9(12), 2299-2304.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jhass.2025.12.013