Which skill is being assessed when students are asked to draw inferences in the MoCA Language Arts section?

The skill being assessed when students draw inferences focuses on understanding the underlying meaning. This involves reading between the lines and interpreting information that may not be explicitly stated, allowing learners to go beyond surface-level comprehension. Making inferences helps students connect ideas, recognize themes, and discern authors' intents, providing a deeper understanding of texts.

This skill is crucial for critical thinking, as it encourages students to use evidence from the text, combined with their prior knowledge, to form conclusions or interpretations that enhance their overall comprehension. Such reasoning is essential in literature and other forms of text where implicit meanings often convey rich interplays of character, plot, and setting.