What Is Making Predictions?

Making Predictions is a reading strategy used to make informed guesses on what the text will be about. We can also use them to predict what will happen next by using clues from the text itself. By making predictions, we prepare for what’s next while reading.

Making Predictions Process

Information you can get from the text type
→ What sort of text is it?

In a narrative text, we might:
• read a story with a beginning, a middle and an end;
• see different characters;
• see a specific setting.

In an informative text, we might:
• learn about a specific subject;
• have instructions to follow;
• read arguments for a specific point.

Information you can get from the text genre
→ What genre is it?

If it’s fantasy, we might:
• be in the past;
• see magic and mythical creatures.

If it’s science-fiction, we might:
• be in the future;
• see spaceships and aliens;
• see advanced technology.

If it’s a biography, we might:
• learn about a specific person.

If it’s a cooking book, we might:
• learn about how to cook specific recipes.

Information you can get from the author
→ Who is the author?
→ What kind of texts have they written before?

The author might:
• write a text in the same genre;
• write about similar themes.

Information you can get from the text setting
→ What is the setting?

If we are in the real world, we might:
• see events similar to current events;
• not see any aliens or weird creatures.

If we are in a different world:
• is it fantasy?;
• is it science-fiction?;
• check the genre section (coming soon).

Information you can get from the characters in the text
→ What are the characters like?
→ What kind of actions did they take before

They might:
• take actions that are similar in the future;
• learn from their mistakes;
• change their behaviour.