ISSN: 2222-6990
Open access
Critical thinking skills are imperative in a 21st-century classroom. One of the ways to foster critical thinking skills is through the mastery of inferring strategy. Inferring is a method used to generate a useful conclusion by presenting evidence and facts. Marzano (2010) asserted that inferring is a ‘foundational skill’ that is essential for higher-order thinking. In order to cultivate inferring skills, A Bloody Reunion: A Murder Mystery Game is developed to place students in an environment where critical thinking is utilised at the optimum level. Before students are engaged with the murder mystery game, they are first given a pre-game activity focusing on understanding contextual clues. Mastering contextual clues can tremendously train effective inferring. After that, students are given a text that revolves around finding out who the murderer is based on the evidence found. This game was tested on three EFL students of CEFR B1 proficiency at an international university in Gombak, Malaysia . The findings from the interview conducted show that the game helps to foster inferring skills tremendously. Therefore, this murder mystery game can help teachers groom higher-order thinking skills among students by specifically tapping on inferring skills.
Banditvilai, C. (2020). The effectiveness of reading strategies on reading comprehension. International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, 10(2), 46-50.
Bormanaki, H. B., & Khoshhal, Y. (2017). The Role of Equilibration in Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development and Its Implication for Receptive Skills: A Theoretical Study. Journal of Language Teaching & Research, 8(5).
Creswell, J.W. & Creswell, J.D. 2018. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. Los Angeles:Sage.
dos Santos, L. S., de Lima Sobreira, P., Santiago, L. M. S., Abijaude, J. W., El Guemhioui, K., & Wahab, O. A. (2020). Gamification-Supported Collaborative Learning: A Systematic Literature Review. In 2020 IEEE World Conference on Engineering Education (EDUNINE) (pp. 1-5). IEEE.
Hamouda, A. (2021). The effect of lexical inference strategy instruction on Saudi EFL learners’ reading comprehension. Education Quarterly Reviews, 4(1).
Huyen, V. T. (2019). Effects of using contextual clues on English vocabulary retention and reading comprehension. International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences (IJELS), 4(5).
Howe, C., Hennessy, S., Mercer, N., Vrikki, M., & Wheatley, L. (2019). Teacher–student dialogue during classroom teaching: Does it really impact on student outcomes?. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 28(4-5), 462-512.
Ilahude, F. F., Fatsah, H., Luwiti, S. R., & Otoluwa, M. H. (2021). The influence of the use of context clues strategy on reading comprehension. International Journal of Education and Social Science Research, 4(6), 166-180.
Kaivanpanah, S., & Soltani Moghaddam, M. (2012). Knowledge sources in EFL learners’ lexical inferencing across reading proficiency levels. RELC Journal, 43(3), 373-391.
Kiew, S., & Shah, P. M. (2020). Factors affecting reading comprehension among Malaysian ESL elementary learners. Creative Education, 11(12), 2639
Landers, R. N., Armstrong, M. B., & Collmus, A. B. (2017). How to use game elements to enhance learning: Applications of the theory of gamified learning. Serious Games and Edutainment Applications: Volume II, 457-483.
Lee, J. W. (1978). Increasing Comprehension through Use of Context Clue Categories. Journal of Reading, 22(3), 259–262. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40028710
Marzano, R. (2010). Teaching inference. Educational Leadership, 67(7),80-01. Retrieved from
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr10/vol67/num07/Teaching Inference.aspx.
Mohammed, S. H., & Kinyó, L. (2020). The role of constructivism in the enhancement of social studies education. Journal of critical reviews, 7(7), 249-256.
Nazififard, S., Jafari, S. M., Matin, H. Z., & Yazdani, H. (2019, February). A model for utilizing the potential of gamification in learning. In 2019 5th Conference on Knowledge Based Engineering and Innovation (KBEI) (pp. 874-878). IEEE
Satriani, E. (2018). Reading comprehension difficulties encountered by english students of Islamic University of Riau. J-SHMIC: Journal of English for Academic, 5(2), 15-26.
https://doi.org/10.25299/jshmic.2018.vol5(2).1885
Stevani, M., Prayuda, M. S., Sari, D. W., Marianus, S. M., & Tarigan, K. E. (2022). Evaluation of Contextual Clues: EFL Proficiency in Reading Comprehension. English Review: Journal of English Education, 10(3), 993-1002.
Stolyarov Yu.N (2023). Support for Children’s Reading in Different Countries of the World. Review of the New Edition. https://doi.org/10.25281/0869-608X-2023-72-1-62-70
UNESCO (2023). ‘Read Your Way Out’: How reading can reduce a prison sentence
https://www.uil.unesco.org/en/articles/read-your-way-out-how-reading-can-reduce-prison-sentence
Webb, N.L. (2020). Cognitive Complexity. Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences.
Wuryaningrum, R., & Aziz, F. (2020). Constructing Meaning in Learning Containing the Living Environment. Pancaran Pendidikan, 9(1).
Shafie, B., Selvakumaran, Y., Hashim, H., & Yunus, M. M. (2024). From Clues to Conclusion: Using ‘A Bloody Reunion’ to Enhance Inferring Skills among University EFL Learners. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 14(8), 670–679.
Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s)
Published by HRMARS (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode