What component can enhance a student’s performance on reading comprehension?

Developing the ability to infer meaning from context is a vital component that can significantly enhance a student's performance in reading comprehension. This skill allows readers to understand and interpret texts beyond the literal meanings of words, which is essential for grasping the nuances and deeper meanings in complex passages.

When students can infer meaning from the context, they can make educated guesses about unfamiliar words or phrases and understand the author's intent, tone, and underlying themes. This ability also supports critical thinking and analytical skills, as students learn to connect ideas within the text and apply prior knowledge to draw conclusions.

In contrast, while reading only textbooks might improve vocabulary to some extent, it might not provide students with a broader range of context needed for deeper comprehension. Summarizing after reading can be beneficial, but it mainly focuses on recalling information rather than developing inference skills. Listening to audiobooks may help with fluency and comprehension in an auditory format, but it doesn't directly cultivate the analytical processing that inference does. Thus, the skill of inferring meaning from context stands out as the most impactful for enhancing reading comprehension.