How Strategic Questioning Can Increase Comprehension

Do you want to be successful in using questioning to increase students’ reading comprehension? The key is to move away from using questions solely to assess comprehension and instead ask strategic questions that help students make meaning.

The purpose of questions is usually to help us understand student comprehension. You probably ask questions that determine whether and/or how well students read the assignment. For instance, you might ask “what is…?” or “how did…?”

When students answer these questions, we can learn how well they understood (or whether they read) what was assigned. That’s okay! These questions are helpful. But you can also ask questions that can tell you how well students understood what they read and help improve their comprehension. The idea is to have students engage with background knowledge while reading. Here’s how to get students to anchor their new learning in prior knowledge.

Strategic Questioning

How can we flip something like “what are some interesting facts about ________?” to deepen comprehension?

Here’s How: Consider making it a compare and contrast question. “How does __________ compare to ___________ that you’re already familiar with?”

OR

“What do you already know about ___________?”

Questions like this activate background knowledge that can help new information make sense in students’ minds. When humans learn, new information needs an anchor point in the brain. Activating prior knowledge serves this purpose.

This type of question can also get students thinking critically about the new information. They must go beyond what they see on the page to make connections and draw conclusions. Likewise, by analyzing how new information compares to old information they are already familiar with, students must look back to be sure they truly know what the new information means.

Also, by making a comparison, not only are they thinking critically about the new information but they are also making meaning. When students can connect old learning with new learning, they can assign value judgments and categories that place the new information in a meaningful context.

Take it Further

Other types of questions that move students from proving they understand the reading to enhancing their understanding include:

• How did ___________ influence ___________?
• What about __________ reminds you of __________?
• Suppose you could ______________ about/to/for ______________, what would you do?
• What might happen if___________?
• Do you agree with ____________? Why or why not?
• What would need to change about _________ for it to be more like __________?
• Which is better? Why?

Comment on this post with more ideas and ways you change your assessment questions to meaning making questions.

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